Matt White
10-28-2006, 11:36 PM
http://books.aol.com/feature/_a/why-do-men-fall-asleep-after-sex/20060811164509990001
AOL Book Maven Bethanne Patrick Interviews Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg, M.D.
Why don't women have Adam's apples? Do dogs have belly buttons? What purpose do freckles serve? These and countless other questions are the ones that keep novelist Mark Leyner and physician Dr. Billy Goldberg, authors of 'Why Do Men Fall Asleep After Sex? More Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Whiskey Sour' (Crown) awake at night -- and often, at the same time, instant messaging each other. 'We consider anything in our books,' says Leyner. 'That's one of the principles that we base our books on -- [that] there is no such thing as a stupid question. People think of really weird stuff and they should have a forum to ask questions and get some answers, both informative and humorous answers.'
Leyner, best known for hjs satiric novels 'The Tetherballs of Bougainville' and 'My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist' might seem an unlikely source of medical information -- which is why it’s a good thing he met Goldberg, an emergency room physician who is on the faculty of a New York teaching hospital. As noted in their book's subtitle, it's often after a drink or three that people start asking things like: If I hold in intestinal gas, will I explode? If I hold in pee on a long car trip, will my bladder explode? If I hold in a burp or a belch will I blow my torso off?
The one thing that is dangerous, the pair found, is very common: sneezing, which if held in check could result in facial damage. 'A sneeze comes out at about 100 miles an hour,' says Goldberg. 'I really feel bad for the guy who has to hold the radar gun up to some sick person.'
Now, on to the interview:
Bethanne Patrick: Hi this is AOL's Book Maven Bethanne Patrick and today I'm speaking with Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg, M.D. about their book 'Why Do Men Fall Asleep After Sex?' So guys, why do men fall asleep after sex?
Billy Goldberg: The whole sex thing is a fantastic series of events. After you have an orgasm, your body produces certain hormones. And those hormones can make you sleepy: oxytocin, prolactin, there is something called gamma amino butyric acid. Also you body burns energy when you have sex. And men tend to have more muscle mass than women so they burn a little more energy.
Bethanne Patrick: So it is not just that men are more active during sex, muscle mass changes the amount of energy burned off.
Billy Goldberg: That is because men are made up of more muscle. There are some people that would argue that men are more active but I'm going to leave that up to everyone's personal experience. There is a really interesting tantric idea about sex that the yogis will tell you. The male orgasm is this external outward explosion where the female orgasm is an inward explosion, which to me denotes that men lose energy when they have sex and women gain energy, which is an interesting theory that isn't scientifically based.
Mark Leyner: If you think about human sexuality a little bit, there is another element to the calculus of this whole thing which is that ... when you have an orgasm there is this cascade of hormones the prolactin, oxytocin and gamma amino butyric acid and all the things that Bill said and glycogen depletion in the muscles ... all of this that give you a sense of serenity and fatigue -- sleepiness. That happens to all human beings. So it is useful and very simple just look at which gender has more frequent [orgasms] and it is easier to achieve orgasm -- men, obviously.
Bethanne Patrick: I knew there was a disparity between the sexes, but it has never been so clearly stated. How about a corollary to that? We have already heard from Billy, why women don't fall asleep after sex, which is a very different experience with different muscle mass. But why do men sleep more than women, overall?
Billy Goldberg: It is all about the estrogen. Women are basically programmed to sleep better. Estrogen makes women's sleep better and that's been scientifically studied. Things kind of even out as menopause kicks in, and women have sleep problems associated with that. The other thing that interrupts women['s] sleep is pregnancy. Pregnancy notoriously leads to difficulty in sleeping. In general men don't sleep as well as women because of estrogen.
Mark Leyner: Sleep patterns are fascinating. We have a chapter in the book about puberty. And it is interesting for me to muse about right now because my 13-year-old daughter is fast asleep. She will probably sleep -- unless I go and poke her and prod her up there -- until noon or one or two or something ridiculous.
Bethanne Patrick: What is that all about?
Mark Leyner: It's because during puberty the circadian rhythms of a person change. In adolescence the time that people start getting tired gets pushed significantly up. We are use[d] to kids getting sleepy -- even though they fight it -- about 8[PM], 9[PM], 10[PM] and when your child reaches adolescence, that's pushed way up to 11[PM], 12[PM], 1[AM]. Also, the times that their bodies are awakening is pushed way up. The whole circadian itinerary for adolescence is shifted.
Bethanne Patrick: I want to point out that we have some other questions that address animals in the book. What was your favorite question that you heard about pets and other animals? My favorite: Do dogs have belly buttons?
Billy Goldberg: That is a fantastic question. It is something that you don't think about. The second you hear the question you are like, 'Ya know, I don't think I've ever seen a dog's belly button.' You know what is going to happen because of this book, there are going to be dogs on their backs everywhere with the owners searching for the belly button.
Bethanne Patrick: Will they find it?
Mark Leyner: Yes
Billy Goldberg: Dogs are placenta mammals so they are attached to the placenta; they should have a belly button. You can find it half way between the end of the ribcage and the hip bone. You just have to look and peel back the fur and give her a little scratch while you are down there.
Bethanne Patrick: Here is another one that I think at this time of year everyone wants to know about. We are sweeter to mosquitoes; some people are sweeter than others. Why is that? And why are those darn bugs attracted to light?
Mark Leyner: The mosquito question is a fascinating one for me because I love bugs. We also talk about why the mosquito's bite is itchy. More interestingly, why you don't feel the mosquito biting you? I'll just give you that answer really quickly because it intrigues me. I'm so impressed.
Bethanne Patrick: Yeah, because you really don't feel the mosquito biting you.
Mark Leyner: You don't feel it because the weapons technology of the mosquito is advanced. When a mosquito bites you it is actually just sucking blood from you. It [has] something called the sucking proboscis. Through this sucking proboscis the mosquito injects you with two things: 1. An anti-coagulant so it can slurp up the blood so the blood doesn't coagulate, 2. The other is an anesthetic so you don't feel it. If you felt it you would swat at the mosquito in mid-meal. It really is an unbelievable engineering that mosquitoes are wielding there. The question about whether some people are sweeter than others is another great one. Mosquitoes basically hone in on a number of things: carbon dioxide -- which we exhale, lactic acid -- which is produced through the utilization of our muscles and sweat. The only person [who] wouldn't be sweet to a mosquito is someone [who] doesn't exude carbon dioxide, lactic acid and sweat which would be a dead person.
Bethanne Patrick: I was just about to say, 'how could I become that person?' But now I won't ask it.
Mark Leyner: There are some things that people can do to make them less seductive to the mosquito. It is wearing less sweetly fragrant colognes, perfumes, aftershave lotions and things like that. Other than that, if you are [a] living human being and you are out and about a mosquito will find you.
Bethanne Patrick: Now if you are [a] living human being you are also going to be interested in questions about lactation. Can men lactate? Can fake boobs lactate? Can you breast feed with a nipple piercing? Why do you think people are so fixated Dr. Freud ... oh I mean Dr. Leyner?
Mark Leyner: Oh you are asking ...
Billy Goldberg: She just made you a doctor ... a degree from the AOL School of Medicine.
Bethanne Patrick: I know. I promoted you.
Mark Leyner: When people call me a doctor, I never disabuse them of that. It feeds me; my self-delusions. This is my theory. I won't go on a long time because Billy will make fun of me.
Billy Goldberg: Wait, wait, wait ... news flash ... just in ... Leyner will not go on a long time.
Mark Leyner: I think that human beings have over centuries distinguished themselves from other mammals to such a degree that the things that we do that are just exquisitely mammalian like providing milk for our offspring are just endlessly fascinating. We can see ourselves as just nursing, suckling creatures and it is sort of stunning to people -- the idea that our bodies can produce food. We are use to seeing beehives and ant hives and discovery documentaries about animals nursing -- there we are ... I think it is just one of those revelations that people get ... yes, we are connected. We are in the great lineage of other mammals. People ask us these questions all the time.
AOL Book Maven Bethanne Patrick Interviews Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg, M.D.
Why don't women have Adam's apples? Do dogs have belly buttons? What purpose do freckles serve? These and countless other questions are the ones that keep novelist Mark Leyner and physician Dr. Billy Goldberg, authors of 'Why Do Men Fall Asleep After Sex? More Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Whiskey Sour' (Crown) awake at night -- and often, at the same time, instant messaging each other. 'We consider anything in our books,' says Leyner. 'That's one of the principles that we base our books on -- [that] there is no such thing as a stupid question. People think of really weird stuff and they should have a forum to ask questions and get some answers, both informative and humorous answers.'
Leyner, best known for hjs satiric novels 'The Tetherballs of Bougainville' and 'My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist' might seem an unlikely source of medical information -- which is why it’s a good thing he met Goldberg, an emergency room physician who is on the faculty of a New York teaching hospital. As noted in their book's subtitle, it's often after a drink or three that people start asking things like: If I hold in intestinal gas, will I explode? If I hold in pee on a long car trip, will my bladder explode? If I hold in a burp or a belch will I blow my torso off?
The one thing that is dangerous, the pair found, is very common: sneezing, which if held in check could result in facial damage. 'A sneeze comes out at about 100 miles an hour,' says Goldberg. 'I really feel bad for the guy who has to hold the radar gun up to some sick person.'
Now, on to the interview:
Bethanne Patrick: Hi this is AOL's Book Maven Bethanne Patrick and today I'm speaking with Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg, M.D. about their book 'Why Do Men Fall Asleep After Sex?' So guys, why do men fall asleep after sex?
Billy Goldberg: The whole sex thing is a fantastic series of events. After you have an orgasm, your body produces certain hormones. And those hormones can make you sleepy: oxytocin, prolactin, there is something called gamma amino butyric acid. Also you body burns energy when you have sex. And men tend to have more muscle mass than women so they burn a little more energy.
Bethanne Patrick: So it is not just that men are more active during sex, muscle mass changes the amount of energy burned off.
Billy Goldberg: That is because men are made up of more muscle. There are some people that would argue that men are more active but I'm going to leave that up to everyone's personal experience. There is a really interesting tantric idea about sex that the yogis will tell you. The male orgasm is this external outward explosion where the female orgasm is an inward explosion, which to me denotes that men lose energy when they have sex and women gain energy, which is an interesting theory that isn't scientifically based.
Mark Leyner: If you think about human sexuality a little bit, there is another element to the calculus of this whole thing which is that ... when you have an orgasm there is this cascade of hormones the prolactin, oxytocin and gamma amino butyric acid and all the things that Bill said and glycogen depletion in the muscles ... all of this that give you a sense of serenity and fatigue -- sleepiness. That happens to all human beings. So it is useful and very simple just look at which gender has more frequent [orgasms] and it is easier to achieve orgasm -- men, obviously.
Bethanne Patrick: I knew there was a disparity between the sexes, but it has never been so clearly stated. How about a corollary to that? We have already heard from Billy, why women don't fall asleep after sex, which is a very different experience with different muscle mass. But why do men sleep more than women, overall?
Billy Goldberg: It is all about the estrogen. Women are basically programmed to sleep better. Estrogen makes women's sleep better and that's been scientifically studied. Things kind of even out as menopause kicks in, and women have sleep problems associated with that. The other thing that interrupts women['s] sleep is pregnancy. Pregnancy notoriously leads to difficulty in sleeping. In general men don't sleep as well as women because of estrogen.
Mark Leyner: Sleep patterns are fascinating. We have a chapter in the book about puberty. And it is interesting for me to muse about right now because my 13-year-old daughter is fast asleep. She will probably sleep -- unless I go and poke her and prod her up there -- until noon or one or two or something ridiculous.
Bethanne Patrick: What is that all about?
Mark Leyner: It's because during puberty the circadian rhythms of a person change. In adolescence the time that people start getting tired gets pushed significantly up. We are use[d] to kids getting sleepy -- even though they fight it -- about 8[PM], 9[PM], 10[PM] and when your child reaches adolescence, that's pushed way up to 11[PM], 12[PM], 1[AM]. Also, the times that their bodies are awakening is pushed way up. The whole circadian itinerary for adolescence is shifted.
Bethanne Patrick: I want to point out that we have some other questions that address animals in the book. What was your favorite question that you heard about pets and other animals? My favorite: Do dogs have belly buttons?
Billy Goldberg: That is a fantastic question. It is something that you don't think about. The second you hear the question you are like, 'Ya know, I don't think I've ever seen a dog's belly button.' You know what is going to happen because of this book, there are going to be dogs on their backs everywhere with the owners searching for the belly button.
Bethanne Patrick: Will they find it?
Mark Leyner: Yes
Billy Goldberg: Dogs are placenta mammals so they are attached to the placenta; they should have a belly button. You can find it half way between the end of the ribcage and the hip bone. You just have to look and peel back the fur and give her a little scratch while you are down there.
Bethanne Patrick: Here is another one that I think at this time of year everyone wants to know about. We are sweeter to mosquitoes; some people are sweeter than others. Why is that? And why are those darn bugs attracted to light?
Mark Leyner: The mosquito question is a fascinating one for me because I love bugs. We also talk about why the mosquito's bite is itchy. More interestingly, why you don't feel the mosquito biting you? I'll just give you that answer really quickly because it intrigues me. I'm so impressed.
Bethanne Patrick: Yeah, because you really don't feel the mosquito biting you.
Mark Leyner: You don't feel it because the weapons technology of the mosquito is advanced. When a mosquito bites you it is actually just sucking blood from you. It [has] something called the sucking proboscis. Through this sucking proboscis the mosquito injects you with two things: 1. An anti-coagulant so it can slurp up the blood so the blood doesn't coagulate, 2. The other is an anesthetic so you don't feel it. If you felt it you would swat at the mosquito in mid-meal. It really is an unbelievable engineering that mosquitoes are wielding there. The question about whether some people are sweeter than others is another great one. Mosquitoes basically hone in on a number of things: carbon dioxide -- which we exhale, lactic acid -- which is produced through the utilization of our muscles and sweat. The only person [who] wouldn't be sweet to a mosquito is someone [who] doesn't exude carbon dioxide, lactic acid and sweat which would be a dead person.
Bethanne Patrick: I was just about to say, 'how could I become that person?' But now I won't ask it.
Mark Leyner: There are some things that people can do to make them less seductive to the mosquito. It is wearing less sweetly fragrant colognes, perfumes, aftershave lotions and things like that. Other than that, if you are [a] living human being and you are out and about a mosquito will find you.
Bethanne Patrick: Now if you are [a] living human being you are also going to be interested in questions about lactation. Can men lactate? Can fake boobs lactate? Can you breast feed with a nipple piercing? Why do you think people are so fixated Dr. Freud ... oh I mean Dr. Leyner?
Mark Leyner: Oh you are asking ...
Billy Goldberg: She just made you a doctor ... a degree from the AOL School of Medicine.
Bethanne Patrick: I know. I promoted you.
Mark Leyner: When people call me a doctor, I never disabuse them of that. It feeds me; my self-delusions. This is my theory. I won't go on a long time because Billy will make fun of me.
Billy Goldberg: Wait, wait, wait ... news flash ... just in ... Leyner will not go on a long time.
Mark Leyner: I think that human beings have over centuries distinguished themselves from other mammals to such a degree that the things that we do that are just exquisitely mammalian like providing milk for our offspring are just endlessly fascinating. We can see ourselves as just nursing, suckling creatures and it is sort of stunning to people -- the idea that our bodies can produce food. We are use to seeing beehives and ant hives and discovery documentaries about animals nursing -- there we are ... I think it is just one of those revelations that people get ... yes, we are connected. We are in the great lineage of other mammals. People ask us these questions all the time.