C’mon, Light Our Fire: Orgasm & the ECS on the Road to Vibrant Aging | GenX Hits Menopause, E13
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In “C’mon, Light Our Fire”, Heather and John dive deeper into the body’s most overlooked regulator of vitality: the endocannabinoid system (ECS). Spoiler alert—it’s not about getting high. It’s about unlocking the system your body already runs on to regulate pain, mood, sleep, metabolism, immune response, and, yes, orgasm.We explore how the ECS supports hormone balance, reproductive cycles, and even menopause itself—down to how estrogen and anandamide (the “bliss molecule”) team up to stoke desire. We unpack what really happens to your immune system during climax (hello, natural killer cells), and why 2AG, your body’s own cannabinoid, surges during orgasm to spark healing cascades.
Plus: Why orgasms are a longevity strategy, how ancient cannabis medicine connects to today’s ECS discoveries, and what we still don’t know—especially when it comes to topicals, sexual health, and aging. This episode is equal parts science, story, and self-empowerment.
Your fire’s already burning. We’re just helping you tend it.
Episode Highlights
we have only just discovered this
"I have to start off by saying I love that nowadays we're all calling the endocannabinoid system an ancient system. We never would say that about the endocrine system or the nervous system or the circulatory system or any of the other systems. It's just that we have only just discovered this. How did we miss... this system of homeostasis? Just put that right there at the top of our conversation. The endocannabinoid system is clinically defined as a system of balance. Okay, so what is it? It is a widespread cell signaling network in our bodies."
c'mon, light our fire: this makes us want to have sex
"Rising estrogen levels in a woman's body can suppress the enzyme FAAH, which is fatty acid amide hydrolase. This is important because this baby breaks down anandamide. Anandamide is known as the bliss hormone, but it is an endocannabinoid, meaning it's a cannabinoid that we make on our own. Less FAAH means more anandamide. When does that happen - rising estrogen levels in our cycle? When we're getting our period. So it can increase anandamide levels during the ovulatory phase. This makes us want to have sex when we're ovulating. After ovulation, as estrogen falls, fatty acid amide hydrolase, FAAH activity picks back up and anandamide levels drop. So we're not totally crazy horny all month long. Sorry."
that sense of satisfaction and satiety afterward
"... they spike during orgasm, which engenders all that bliss, all that relaxation. Then after orgasm, as 2-arachidonoylglycerol and the other neurochemicals subside, they probably contribute to that sense of satisfaction and satiety afterward. In a 2017 human study, it was demonstrated that masturbation to orgasm actually causes a surge in 2-arachidonoylglycerol."
longevity hack right here, folks
"[Topicals with full-spectrum hemp are a] longevity hack right here, folks. Huge. I'll scream it from any hilltop or valley or wherever. We got to fund this research, people. We got to fund it. Because, as I say all the time, I know people who, oh, yeah, they would love to experience beautiful fabulous, sexual, unbridled, all of it. But if they were to smoke, they'd be paranoid in the closet. They're not getting laid at all. It's not happening. "
c'mon, light our fire
"Orgasm activates such a powerful healing Like waterfall, right? We have the immune system, the hormones, we've got the emotional system. Everything is being activated, being triggered to find that beautiful state we call homeostasis."
