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Why Moaning Makes Us Feel Better
Moaning can help us manage pain and enhance sexual pleasure.
Updated March 9, 2025 Reviewed by Monica Vilhauer Ph.D.
When I was young, I used to make jokes about something I called “old man noises.” I will not go into detail about the litany of sounds that fell into this category, but suffice it to say that moaning and groaning during simple everyday activities like getting out of a chair or into a car were key components of my comedic repertoire.
Now that we have grown old together, my wife and I still joke about this, but somehow the jokes do not seem as funny as they once did.
And so, I recently began to wonder about why we moan so much, and whether or not it does us any good.
Moaning Is a Tool for Pain Management
Not surprisingly, we moan most often when we are in pain or when we feel sick, and there are many other vocalizations, such as screaming, groaning, and crying, that are also associated with these unpleasant experiences. Auditory signals of distress have certain qualities in common, with the signature features being that they get delivered more loudly than most other utterances and are usually expressed in a higher-pitched voice.
Most languages have a word, or at least a sound like the English word “ow,” for expressing pain, and these sounds are remarkably similar across cultures. The universality of these exclamations and their similarity to the distress calls of many species of mammals lead some researchers to believe that such sounds go so far back in our evolutionary history that they precede the appearance of formal human language.
And there is evidence that saying “ow” actually has an analgesic effect, so moaning and similar sounds of agony help us feel better by directly influencing our nervous system. For example, moaning may trigger the release of endorphins to help us deal with pain or stress (laughing out loud can have the same effect), and it may also increase the brain’s production of cortisol. Cortisol is very helpful for dealing with short-term stressful situations, but long-term elevated levels of cortisol has negative effects on one’s heart, brain, and immune system, which is one of the reasons why prolonged stress can be so debilitating.
Moaning also requires muscle movements that raise and lower the rib cage, which may help to moderate pain, and simply being able to hear your own moans actually seems to make us feel better.
Given the physiological benefits of moaning, it is not surprising that women in labor frequently report that moaning helps them manage the painful contractions that are an unavoidable part of giving birth.
Moaning Is Also a Form of Communication
Moaning can serve as an emotional release that helps us deal with the experience of pain, but it can also be an effective way of communicating our discomfort to other people who may be able to help us. Curiously, sick men are more likely than sick women to employ this tactic, so there may be a kernel of truth to the stereotype of men acting “like a baby” when they are ill.
Moaning may be an especially effective way of signaling pain or illness for individuals who may not be able to verbally communicate their distress to others. Older, cognitively impaired persons or very young children may not be able to accurately describe their feelings in words, so moaning may take on greater significance for these individuals.
It is unclear right now, however, to what extent vocalizations such as moaning are valid indicators of levels of pain.
Why Do We Moan During Sex?
Given all that has just been said about the usefulness of moaning under unpleasant circumstances such as illness or pain, it may seem counterintuitive that moaning would also be associated with sexual pleasure.
The short response to this conundrum is that moaning can help to synchronize the levels of pleasure experienced by lovers. Moaning may enhance the experience of intimate sexual encounters by communicating to your partner that you are enjoying what is going on, and it can be used as a positive reinforcer to get your partner to continue doing something that you find pleasurable.
In short, moaning may not be a sign of weakness after all, so the next time you are sick and feel guilty about moaning, let yourself off the hook; it may really be helping you feel better.
