These Women Giggle, Cry, and Sneeze When They Orgasm

Explore

Orgasm can make people do funny things. The surge of otherworldly pleasure that comes with the so-called “little death” can break a person’s composure. In the heat of the moment, some people go wild, yell random things, or make crazy, awkward faces. But for a small fraction of women, climax has a range of additional extraordinary physical and emotional side effects: giggling, yawning, sneezing, crying, headaches, tingling, foot pain, nosebleeds.

“Some people laugh hysterically when they have an orgasm,” explained Northwestern University professor Lauren Streicher in a recent video she posted to social media, “and nothing was funny.” Streicher, who studies sexual health, created the video to recruit women to an anonymous 6-question survey she was conducting about these so-called peri-orgasmic phenomena.

Streicher urged viewers to share the video with promises of prizes, including copies of some of her books about menopause and sexual health or a somewhat obscene coffee mug of a woman taking a crotch selfie. She was inspired to investigate peri-orgasmic phenomena after stumbling on a scientific article in 2017 titled, “Did You Climax or Are You Just Laughing at Me?” “Well that definitely got my attention,” she joked.

Read more: “Love Is Biological Bribery”

Of the 3,800 women (aged 18 and above) who responded to her survey, just 86, or about 2.3 percent, said they have these unusual orgasmic flights. Of those who reported having them, some 61 percent had physical symptoms and 88 percent had emotional ones. The most common physical symptoms were headache, muscle weakness, and foot pain or tingling, but some women also had pain, itching, or tingling in their faces, and others experienced sneezing, yawning, ear pain, and nosebleeds. Crying, feeling sad, and laughing were the most common emotional responses. A tiny fraction of women also experienced hallucinations.

Most of the women only experienced the weird sensations and symptoms when they were having sex with a partner, and more than half of the respondents experienced more than one symptom. Around 21 percent had both physical and emotional symptoms.

Streicher, who is also the author of a science-based guide to sexual health for practitioners and healthcare professionals titled “COME AGAIN,” published her results in the Journal of Women’s Health. She said she wanted to raise awareness and reassure women that these reactions are normal parts of sexual response. 

For some at least, it seems as though the little death has an afterlife.

Enjoying  Nautilus? Subscribe to our free newsletter.

Lead image: Nadiiiya / Shutterstock

• Kristen French

  Posted on January 6, 2026

  Kristen French is an associate editor at Nautilus. She has worked in science journalism since 2013, reporting and writing features and news for publications such as Wired, Backchannel, The Verge, and New York Magazine. She has a masters degree in science journalism from Columbia University.