Endorphins are the body's natural pain medication hormones. These are discovered within our brains. Endorphins, when they are released, make us feel better, improve our mood, increase pleasure, and minimize pain. They are actually the body's natural 'happy drugs' which really make us feel good.

The blissful feeling one often experiences after making love is due to the body's production of endorphins. In fact, endorphin production can increase 200% from the beginning to the end of sexual activity. Recent studies have documented the connection between orgasm and endorphins, although ongoing physical contact, and not just sex alone, also helps produce endorphins, along with the hormone oxytocin (oxytocin is a hormone that brings us everything from orgasms (in both sexes) to the delightful contractions of period pain, childbirth and breastfeeding. It also manages to give us feelings of attachment and maternal instinct). Together, they are like natural opiates and help stabilize a relationship between a loving couple by inducing "a drug like dependency." Although there are many reasons why two people choose to maintain a close and loving relationship, endorphins may be a factor.

There could also be a connection between good sex, endorphins and staying young. In a 10-year study involving 3500 people, Dr. David Weeks, a neuropsychologist at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital and author of Secrets of the Super Young (Berkley, 1999) found that men and women who have sex four to five times a week look more than 10 years younger than the average person, who has sex twice a week. Dr. Weeks believes that the pleasure derived from sex was a crucial factor in preserving youth. "It makes us happy and produces chemicals [endorphins and oxytocin] telling us so." However, he found that indulging in promiscuous sex did not have the same benefits of enjoying loving sex in a long-term relationship, and it was more likely to promote the aging process rather than reduce it.

Endorphins allow us to maintain a loving, stable relationship with our partner by cultivating trust and security associated with the above feelings. The lessened response to excitatory chemicals and the increase in attachment chemicals in the brain is often referred to as the shift from the attraction stage to the attachment stage of the relationship. Also, the chemical oxytocin plays a large part in building the emotional attachment associated with a long-term relationship. Oxytocin is a chemical released by the body during sexual stimulation, and its levels peak at orgasm. Sexual encounters between lovers tend to cause bonding, contributing to the desire to remain together for the course of a lifetime. The continual release of oxytocin in small amounts occurs while we spend time with our partner, encouraging the attachment we feel to a long-term partner.