Your Bed and Your Body

Your Bed and Your Body

Please note: Any opinions rendered are strictly those of the author, and are not meant to infringe on any other opinion. This is a treatise on the female Bed and Body. Please allow for artistic leeway as well as for providing candid information. Thank you. 

YOUR BED

We spend much of our time in our human bodies and in our beds. We should spend as much time understanding them as we do when preparing for a driving test. 

Most of us sleep in a bed. Let us discuss Your Bed. Not intended as an all-inclusive list:

(1) For the healthy, Your Bed is a place of sleep, relaxation, lying with the cat, curling up on a rainy day with a book, and having sex. You may be in your bed only when you want to be in your bed. In the USA, your privacy may be optimal, as you may have your own room with its own door.

(2) For the Chronically Ill, Your Bed may be a place of insomnia, pain, daytime naps, and times of sadness and curling up to cry. Or Your Bed can be used for bed exercises, talking on the phone, communicating with others on the Internet, and having sex. Your Bed may be a place of safety and isolation. Few visitors may be at your bedside, especially if you have orthostatic intolerance or chronic pain. Your privacy may be fully realized to the point such that you are lonely and alone much of the time.

(3) For the hospitalized and bed-ridden, Your Bed is your 'home'. In the USA, Your Bed may be surrounded by essentials like a flat-screen TV, fluids, snacks, DVDs, hand sanitizer, a bedside commode, a fall-proof mat, and people. The people may want something from you, or they may want to do something to you: draw your blood (phlebotomy), obtain a urine sample, do a lumbar puncture for spinal fluid (cerebral spinal fluid, CSF), and echocardiogram (sound waves of the heart, to determine anatomy and some physiology, especially the Ejection Fraction (EF ~ 30% is normal). Or Your Bed can also be a place of transport for an x-ray, an operation, or movement to another part of the hospital. In the USA, your privacy may be severely limited by having to share a hospital room with another patient. If you have your own hospital room without a roommate, this is considered to be a great thing.

(4) For Nursing Home residents, Your Bed may be shared by random residents who unknowingly wander into it. You may be sharing more than what you were prepared to share, especially your shoes and your eye glasses. But Your Bed is still your sanctuary, and we hope you are not in it all of the time. Recreational Activities are encouraged, as well as meal times, Field Trips away from the facility, and classes. Your privacy may be severely limited.

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But let us look at Your Bed a little more. What is Your Bed?

Do you know about: The Marriage Bed?  Themarriagebed.com is a comprehensive website geared to discuss sex for married, Christian couples. There are no photos. If you subscribe to receive Tweets, you can receive 12 tips per day to help you in your Marriage Bed. Even if you don't need 'help' in the marriage bed, there are many topics that are available for discussion and sexual edification. More on this later.

A cursory look here at this read may lead one to believe that this blog is directed to married women (and men). For those who are not married, keep on reading. Some insight into the sexual relationship between man and wife can be gleaned and applied to you, for one can see how sexuality in marriage is intertwined with both partners. Also, we shall refer you to a different read on the changing trends in marriage, specifically this fact: In the USA today, there are fewer married men than in any other time in the last 50 years (1).

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YOUR BODY

With this in mind, let us turn to Your (Female) Body. Before any discussion of sensuality or sexuality can be elucidated, one must know Your Body. A more complete discussion can be found on a webpage on the female genitals, by Paul and Lori Byerly (2).

ANATOMY:

External: The mons veneris, vulva, labia majora (e.g., outer lips), labia minora (e.g., inner lips), clitoris, clitoral hood.

Internal: The vagina, urethral opening, hymen, Bartholin's glands, pubococcygeus muscle, the G-Spot/Paraurethral Gland, cervix, uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries.

PHYSIOLOGY:

Mons veneris: fat pad at the level of the pubic bone; protective during thrusts of intercourse. Has nerve endings, therefore this area can cause pleasure.

Vulva: darkens in color and swells during orgasm; likened to a water-bed in that touching one area can lead to a ripple effect and additional pleasure in the entire area.

Labia majora: darken and engorge with blood during orgasm, as there are many blood vessels here.

Labia minora: contain sweat glands, oil glands, and many blood vessels and nerve endings, so they are capable of sensitivity during intercourse and orgasm. During orgasm, the labia minora become darker and darker in color as the orgasm proceeds.

Urethral Opening: must not be forgotten during intercourse. This is where urine exits the female body. The hand, penis, or other objects can introduce bacteria into the urinary tract. Forceful thrusts may cause bruising and/or bleeding. Bacteria can go upstream into the urinary tract from here, leading to urinary tract infections. Special note: Eschericia Coli bacteria from the rectum can contaminate the urethra, leading to E. Coli urinary tract infection (UTI). To help prevent this, never introduce an object from the rectum into the vagina, where the anatomy of the urethra is so close by that a UTI can occur.

Clitoris: has more nerve endings than its counterpart, the penis. For many women, it is too sensitive to directly touch, especially after orgasm. In the beginning of arousal, the clitoris swells; after arousal, it shrinks and is covered by its hood. During this immediate period after arousal, the 'shrinking head' signifies a time of increased arousal, not decreased arousal.

Clitoral Hood: protects the sensitive head of the clitoris. This fold of skin also provides additional clitoral stimulation when it is moved, but there is no need to retract the hood to fully expose the clitoris. The clitoris is painful to the direct touch, for most women. 

Vagina: has many blood vessels, but few nerve endings so that leads one to think that it is not directly available for sexual pleasure. However, the vagina changes in structure with orgasm so that the vagina lengthens: (1) the entrance moves outward as the labia majora swell, and (2) the posterior vagina goes past the cervix and (3) a vaginal conformation occurs. The conformation is such that the vaginal response to arousal is divided into thirds. The upper 2/3 of the vagina opens up, and the lower 1/3 of the vagina closes down. This conformation may account for part of the sensation of 'vaginal orgasm' as the change in anatomy makes the whole area feel engorged and displaced in a pleasurable manner.

Bartholin's Glands: secrete minimal fluid at the beginning of orgasm; thought to alkalinize the sperm.

Pubococcygeal (PC) muscles: Stronger PCs are correlated with stronger orgasms. These are the muscles of vaginal contraction that involuntarily contract the anus, vagina, and urethra. The PCs can also be voluntarily contracted (hence the Kegal exercises) (3). Weak PC muscles may render a woman incapable of orgasm, especially coital orgasm. If you do not have orgasms, this may be the first place to look. PCs are a woman's friend.

The G-Spot AKA The Paraurethral Glands: described since Ancient Roman times. Specific descriptions on how to stimulate it are found in (2). Perhaps the counterpart to the male prostate gland, female ejaculation may arise from here. Too much information to list here, so please see (4) for a concise description by Paul Byerly. The author is also commended for his depiction of the Anatomy of the G-Spot in relation to the female genitalia. The G-Spot continues to mystify many women. We need to know where our G-Spot is. More on this later. But for now, please read Paul Byerly's wonderful and informative article on Female Ejaculation (5). We promise it will be educational and exciting. This is definitely a topic deserving of its own blog, The Promise of Female Ejaculation.

Regarding female ejaculation, a topic too important to hit some bullet points, please note the following: 

Reports of women excreting fluid at climax was first described 2,000 years ago (6). This is the same period of time as Chinese Herbal Medicines. Fourth Century Chinese Taoist writings describe it. In about 300 B.C., Aristotle described it. It was described again by others. Then it was forgotten. Today, it has been re-discovered. Scientists now know that the fluid is not urine. It is chemically similar to prostate fluid, and the G-spot, remember, is considered to be a remnant of the male counterpart, the prostate gland. 

The Cervix: has a plethora of nerve cells whose stimulation cycles with menstruation. Connected with coital pleasure and is sexually stimulated during orgasm. Since stimulation varies, one keeps in mind that a PAP smear of the cervix may or may not be painful in the same person. It may just depend on the time of the menstrual cycle.

The Uterus: The uterus is a muscular structure, and the entire uterus participates in female orgasm.  The uterus may contain benign fibroid masses that interfere with sexual pleasure, menstruation and excess bleeding, and the ability to procreate. Orgasm may intensify muscular contraction around the fibroids, leading to pain. More studies need to be performed to delineate how fibroid masses affect a woman's ability to experience orgasm, before and after surgical removal of fibroid masses.

In conclusion, Your Bed and Your Body matter. They are part of your life time. Every body has a bed, and every body has a body. We hold that the more time you spend having positive times in Your Bed and with Your Body, the better the Quality of Life. 

Future studies are needed to determine the amount of time spent in bed, the positive and negative times, and how changing the circadian rhythm of the Bed Lifestyle can impact one's general mental and physical health. 

Here is to You! Onward and Forward in 2012!

REFERENCES:

(1) Greenwood, Michael and Adam Looney. The Marriage Gap: The Impact of Economic and Technological Change on Marriage Rates. http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2012/0203_jobs_greenstone_looney.aspx; Tuesday, February 21, 2012.

(2) Paul and Lori Byerly. The Female Genitals (no images). http://site.themarriagebed.com/female-no-images; Sunday, January 1, 2006.

(3) Lori Byerly. Kegals and Female Pelvic Muscle Health. http://site.themarriagebed.com/kegels; Sunday, January 1, 2006.

(4) Paul Byerly. The G-Spot. http://site.themarriagebed.com/the-g-spot ; Sunday, January 1, 2006.

(5) Paul Byerly. Female Ejaculation. http://site.themarriagebed.com/female-ejaculation ; Sunday, January 1, 2006.

(6) Korda JB, Goldstein SW, and Sommer F. The History of Female Ejaculation. The Journal of Sexual Medicine 7(5): pp 1965-1975; http://www.mendeley.com/research/the-history-of-female-ejaculation/ ; (2010).