BDSM hurts so good — study says it will blow your mind

Like, literally.

Consensual BDSM (that’s bondage/discipline, dominance/submission and sadism/masochism, Grandma) can transport the lucky participants into an altered mental state, according to a small new study.

The researchers published in the journal Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice spoke with people who mix pleasure with pain through spanking, pinching or verbal tongue-lashing, as well as restricting movement through handcuffs or hand ties.

 Members of the BDSM community told researchers that their sexual activities often took them into a state of flow, a transcendent mental state often achieved by athletes and artists. So researchers at Northern Illinois University studied seven BDSM couples across the sexuality spectrum — including two who were in a long-term relationship, two in polyamorous relationships, two who were friends and one pair who were total strangers. The team measured each person’s mood, level of stress and mental flow before and after their close encounters, and found they reported lower stress, happier moods and a high level of mental flow after their BDSM romps.

“The rest of the world drops away and someone is completely focused on what they’re doing,” study author Brad Sagarrin, a psychology professor, told Time. He theorized that, “the intense sensations and potentially because of the restriction of movement, may have the ability to put someone in the here and now in a way that they may find more difficult to achieve through other means.”

A dominatrix explained to the Huffington Post over the summer how BDSM is a form of meditation for her clients.

“My submissive clients describe it as an altered state of consciousness in which they feel completely liberated from stress,” Dr. Sandra Lamorgese wrote in her post. This state has also been called subspace or being rope drunk. “It’s a practice that allows you to completely let go of internal and external stress so that you can fully immerse yourself in the present moment. As the Dominatrix, I also experience a corresponding mental state of relaxation from my deep focus and concentration.”

And a 2013 study also found people who practice bondage were less neurotic and more secure in their relationships than more vanilla-sex couples.

So maybe “Fifty Shades of Grey” was onto something, after all.