Afterglow is the loose, warm stretch of time after orgasm when muscles unclench and the room looks softer. Skin stays flushed. Breathing slows. Some people get chatty. Others go quiet and heavy-limbed. The feeling can last minutes or linger as a mood for the rest of the evening.

Hormones help write that mood. Oxytocin and endorphins do not clock out the second the contractions stop. A partner who jumps up to check a phone can snap the spell. A partner who stays put often gets a second kind of intimacy that has nothing to do with technique.

Not every orgasm produces afterglow. A hurried climax, a stressful setting, or a body that is still braced for the next task can skip it. People who anorgasmic still report afterglow after close, unhurried touch. The glow tracks connection and release as much as a textbook peak.

If sleep comes fast, that is afterglow too. Let it. The laundry can wait twenty minutes.