sexual arousal
a state of physiological arousal elicited by sexual contact or by other erotic stimulation (e.g., fantasies, dreams, odors, objects), resulting in impulses being transmitted through the central nervous system to the sacral region of the spinal cord. The impulses also trigger the release of sex hormones, dilation of the arteries supplying the genital areas, and inhibition of vasoconstrictor centers of the lumbar nerves. The effects of sexual arousal are mediated through the hypothalamus. See sexual-response cycle.