Think you know everything to do with women and sex? Think again. New research has uncovered some rather surprising facts about female sexuality, which TIME's Healthland points out in this list below:

1. Cycles of light affect our fertility

If your menstrual cycle has been a little off lately, you might want to reduce your artificial lighting and bright screen exposure. Back in the day, women used to menstruate during the new moon (when it’s dark at night) and ovulate during a full moon (when it’s light). To get their periods back on track, some women are even altering the lights in their bedrooms to mimic the moon lighting.


2. Women can get pregnant five to eight days after having sex

Sperm might be small, but these critters can live anywhere from five to eight days after sex in the cervical mucus crypt before the egg is actually fertilized.


3. Wearing high heels can negatively affect a woman’s orgasm

This has to do with high-heeled shoes that have been designed to approximate the arch in a woman’s pelvis when she is having an orgasm. Wearing these too often results in a contraction in the pelvic floor, making it harder to contract further during an actual orgasm.


4. Orgasms can make women more creative

Need a little creative inspiration? Research shows that orgasms can make women more confident, productive and creative. Even better, women achieve fuller orgasms when they are being creative. Win-win!


5. Birth control pills dampen the libido

Sometimes women even have trouble conceiving once they’re off the pill because while they may have been attracted to their partner on the pill, they’re not actually compatible with each other biochemically without the extra hormones.


6.  Sitting in chairs can arouse women

This has to do with the pudendal nerves is located just underneath the buttocks and sitting bones. Since these pudendal nerves are and linked to all your sexual organs, pressing in a certain way can lead to sexual arousal.


7. But it can also dampen their orgasms

To much of a good thing can be bad as well. Sitting in chairs all day shortens the pelvic floor and psoas muscles, making it harder for women to achieve a full-body orgasm.


8. Women have three erogenous zones

These would be the clitoris, G Spot, and opening of the cervix, although a little nipple action wouldn't hurt either.


9. Nerve endings are distributed differently in every woman’s vagina

This means every woman needs to employ slightly different methods to achieve orgasm.


10. The pulsations a woman feels during orgasm are actually her uterus trying to gather sperm

During orgasm, the round ligaments that end in the labia majora will “rock the uterus back and forth ... so that the cervix has the opportunity to potentially scoop semen up that may have pooled in the back of the vagina to enhance fertility.”


11. Being well hydrated leads to better orgasms

Since the body is mostly fluid, being hydrated will effectively enhance your ability to achieve orgasm.


12. All woman can achieve orgasm

As Dr. Eden Fromberg of SoHo OBGYN explains, “Women have the innate machinery programmed to have orgasms... But not everybody learns how to use that machinery well.” So here's hoping that this list gives you a little help in that department!

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