I Heard That Orgasms Are Better on the 14th Day of Your Cycle, So I Tested It Out

Any day seems like a great day for some intimate "me" time (or time with your partner, but I'm going solo at the moment) to have a mind-blowing orgasm, right? Well, not so fast. According to a study in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, people who menstruate might be able to have the most amazing orgasm you can imagine around day 14 of their cycle. Why? Since the clitoris grows bigger and becomes more engorged, you'll feel hornier during this time and can have an easier time climaxing.

Italian researchers looked at 24 people who menstruate between the ages of 18 and 35, and using ultrasound equipment, they measured each person's clitoris and the artery that feeds blood into the clitoris, which excites it and raises libido. They performed the measurements at the beginning, middle, and end of the women's menstrual cycles and found that on day 14 of their cycles, the clitoris grew larger in size. Like, a lot larger. In fact, it swells by 15-20 percent on average. The clitoral artery also becomes less restricted, so more blood can travel to your clit, which means hello, better orgasms!

Once I read this, I knew I had to try it. And I'm already pretty good to myself. I know my body, how it works, what it likes, and so if I'm masturbating, I always finish. Yet, sometimes it's easier than others, or there's more or less arousal going on to begin with. And with a partner, other factors come in, and I've had my fair share of amazing orgasms and nothing at all. So for this experiment, I decided to go the masturbation route on the 14th day to test it out.

Did I have the best orgasm of my life? I don't really know! I don't know how to compare it to all the other days, and there have been times during sex with previous partners or by myself where it's been freaking awesome (with multiple ones). Yet, I also had multiple orgasms on this exciting evening of the 14th day of my cycle when I was ovulating, my boobs felt a bit larger, and I was all around way hornier. Noticeably. All of those I'm sure helped, along with my fabulous Le Wand vibrator (it's expensive, but totally worth it).

I decided to ask an expert if what I was feeling was actually true and if it would make sense that I would be more aroused on this day, halfway through my cycle, and if the orgasms should be super, super good. According to Kim Langdon, MD, a now-retired ob/gyn at Parenting Pod, "around the 14th day or earlier, the hormones, estrogen, progesterone, luteinizing (LH), follicle stimulation hormone (FSH), and testosterone are at their peak levels. Progesterone and testosterone positively affect libido and sexual response while estrogen keeps the cervical mucus thin and enhances the lubrication necessary for arousal and orgasm. So the increase in clitoris size [in the study] probably came from the elevated hormones on this midcycle-day 14."

Yes and no. Feeling-wise, it was a great orgasm, and that day might really make for amazing orgasms guaranteed, but scientifically, perhaps it's not significantly better than other days. "I could not find any scientific studies that confirm orgasms are more intense on day 14," Dr. Langdon said. "The sexual response is dependent on a multitude of variables such as state of the relationship, psychological issues, degree of foreplay and arousal, duration, medications, positions, and other medical conditions."

For instance, "women on hormonal contraception may in fact have a poorer orgasm due the fact that their normal hormone response is stopped because ovulation is halted, and overall hormone levels are lower," she explained. "On the other hand, women with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) might have a higher sex drive due to their elevated androgens such as testosterone." And people who have more sex are more likely to know how to have orgasms and thus how to make them better.

Still, though, from an evolutionary standpoint, it makes sense. "If orgasms are better at ovulation, this would support the propagation of the species," she says. "So if a woman wants to get pregnant, then it makes sense that orgasms would be better at mid-cycle because this encourages sperm movement due to contractions in the uterus after orgasm."

Dr. Langdon's takeaway? "It's highly variable between women," she said. "It's possible that there is increase blood flow to the vagina and other pelvic organs, which can enhance orgasms and if the clitoris is enlarged." All I can say regarding my experience was that the couple rounds of orgasms I felt were intense, and I kept going because I was so aroused that day. And I'm not sure if that arousal came from anticipation of the experiment or from actual physiological and hormonal effects in my clitoris, but either way, I enjoyed my evening. So to all orgasm-seekers out there, definitely mark your calendars for day 14 of your cycle, and treat it as a sexy, personal holiday each month.