Considering how miniscule the human egg is, it’s amazing how many misconceptions there are about its release! When I first got my period at age 12, and for several years thereafter, I was convinced that if I just looked hard enough, I would find the tiny egg nestled on the sanitary napkin amidst the red blood. So when I was older and learned that the unfertilized egg never actually came out with the menstrual flow, I was frankly a little disappointed.

As I got older, it seemed that there were always concepts (or were they just myths?) swirling around about a woman’s eggs. I’ve picked the question of orgasms triggering ovulation because, well, it’s just a juicy concept, but is it true?

No, no, and no! Orgasms and ovulation are unrelated. In order to ovulate, estrogen gradually builds up, usually over a period of several days to a week or so. Once the estrogen passes over a threshold, it triggers an LH surge that ultimately causes the egg to be released. And once ovulation occurs, it will not happen again until the following cycle.

Orgasms, on the other hand, don’t typically last several days, but if yours do, please do share your secret with the rest of us. In reality, orgasms can occur at any time in the cycle, although many would be surprised to learn that only a small percent are capable of having them through intercourse alone, but I’ll save that for another blog!