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Do you get the feeling that we are right on the verge of chaos?  With the government shutdown, the congressional budget deadline of the 17th, the EBT system under threat, and assorted “drills” that, if history proves to be any guide, could be a loose cover for an upcoming false flag, we could be looking at civil unrest in a matter of days.

These are all situations that we, as individuals, have little control over.

What we CAN control is our response to a crisis.

By planning ahead, we can avoid the fear, panic, and confusion that leads people to rush to the store and clear the shelves like a horde of hungry locusts.  We can stay away from the angry masses, the rioters who will use any excuse to steal, and the hungry people who are determined to feed their kids no matter who stands in their way.

Whether the next few weeks lead to pandemonium due to the welfare strings being cut or some type of martial law, a prepared mindset, a defense plan, and a well-stocked home can help to keep you and your family out of harm’s way.

In her article Anatomy of a Breakdown, Tess Pennington wrote:

“When you take the time to understand how a breakdown behaves and how it progresses, only then can you truly prepare for it.

This glimpse into a systemic breakdown is based on an isolated, limited disaster or event where emergency responders have been deployed. I must emphasize that all bets are off if the event is wide spread, affecting multiple tens of millions of people simultaneously.”

Here are the most vital things that you can do to be prepared for civil unrest.

Get home

In a perfect world, we’d all be home, watching the chaos erupt on TV from the safety of our living rooms.  However, reality says that some of us will be at the store, at school, or in the car when unrest occurs.  You need to develop a “get-home” plan for all of the members of your family, based on the most likely places that they will be.

Devise an efficient route for picking up the kids from school.  Be sure that anyone who might be picking up the children already has permission to do so in the school office.

Discuss the plan with older kids – there have been rumors that children could be moved by the schools to a secondary location in the event of a crisis.  Some families have formulated plans for their older kids to leave the school grounds in such an instance and take a designated route home or to another meeting place.

Keep a get-home bag in the trunk of your car in case you have to set out on foot.

Stash some supplies in the bottom of your child’s backpack – water, a snack, any tools that might be useful, and a map.  Be sure your children understand the importance of OPSEC.

Find multiple routes home – map out alternative backroad ways to get home as well as directions if you must go home on foot.

Find hiding places along the way.  If you work or go to school a substantial distance from your home, figure out some places to lay low now, before a crisis situation.  Sometimes staying out of sight is the best way to stay safe.

Avoid groups of people.  It seems that the mob mentality strikes when large groups of people get together.  Often folks who would never ordinarily riot in the streets get swept up by the mass of people who are doing so.

Keep in mind that in many civil disorder situations the authorities are to be avoided every bit as diligently as the angry mobs of looters. Who can forget the scenes of innocent people being pepper sprayed by uniformed thugs in body armor just because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Stay home

Once you make your way home or to your bug-out location …. STAY THERE.

By staying home, you are minimizing your risk of being caught in the midst of an angry mob or of sitting in stalled traffic while looters run amok.  In most scenarios you will be far safer at home than you will be in any type of shelter or refuge situation. (Obviously if there is some type of chemical or natural threat in your immediate neighborhood, like a toxic leak, a flood, or a forest fire, the whole situation changes – you must use common sense before hunkering down.)

This is when your preparedness supplies will really pay off. If you are ready for minor medical emergencies and illnesses, a grid down scenario, and a no-comm situation, you will be able to stay safely at home with your family and ride out the crisis in moderate comfort.

Be sure you have a supply of the following:

• Water
• Necessary prescription medications
• Food and an off grid way to cook it
• Or food that requires no cooking
• First aid supplies
• Lighting in the event of a power outage
• Sanitation supplies (in the event that the municipal water system is unusuable, this would include cleaning supplies and toilet supplies)
• A way to stay warm in harsh winter weather
• Over-the-counter medications and/or herbal remedies to treat illnesses at home
• Survival and first aid manuals (hard copies in case the internet and power grid are down)
• Alternative communications devices (such as a hand-crank radio) so that you can get updates about the outside world
• Off-grid entertainment:  arts and craft supplies, puzzles, games, books, crossword or word search puzzles, needlework, journals

Be prepared to defend your home

Sometimes despite our best intentions, the fight comes to us.  Even though we stay home, something about our place draws the attention of an unsavory person or group.  Defense is two-fold.  Your best defense is avoiding the fight altogether. You want to stay under the radar and not draw attention to yourself.  The extent to which you strive to do this should be based on the severity of the unrest in your area. Some of the following recommendations are not necessary in an everyday grid-down scenario, but could save your life in a more extreme civil unrest scenario.

Keep all the doors and windows locked.  Secure sliding doors with a metal bar.  Consider installing decorative gridwork over a door with a large window so that it becomes difficult for someone to smash the glass and reach in to unlock the door.

Put dark plastic over the windows. (Heavy duty garbage bags work well.)  If it’s safe to do so, go outside and check to see if any light escapes from the windows. If your home is the only one on the block that is well-lit, it is a beacon to others.

Don’t answer the door.  Many home invasions start with an innocent-seeming knock at the door to gain access to your house.

Keep cooking smells to a minimum.  If everyone else in the neighborhood is hungry, the meat on your grill will draw people like moths to a flame.

Remember that first responders may be tied up.  If the disorder is widespread, don’t depend on a call to 911 to save you – you must be prepared to save yourself.  Also keep in mind, as mentioned earlier in the article – the cops are not always your friends in these situations.

If, despite your best efforts, your property draws the attention of people with ill intent, you must be ready to defend your family.

Many preppers stockpile weapons and ammunition for just such an event.  When the door of your home is breached, you can be pretty sure the people coming in are not there to make friendly conversation.  Make a plan to greet them with a deterring amount of force.

Have a safe room established for children or other vulnerable family members.

Plan an escape route.  If the odds are against you, devise a way to get your family to safety.

*****

Every civil unrest scenario is different.  You must make a personal plan based on your environment, your neighbors, and the type of situation that triggered the unrest.  By thinking ahead, you’ve already increased your family’s chances at surviving unscathed.

Please feel free to share any pat of this article in part or in full, giving credit to the author and including a link to The Organic Prepper website and the following bio.

Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor.  Her website, The Organic Prepper, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca

Do you get the feeling that we are right on the verge of chaos?  With the government shutdown, the congressional budget deadline of the 17th, the EBT system under threat, and assorted “drills” that, if history proves to be any guide, could be a loose cover for an upcoming false flag, we could be looking at civil unrest in a matter of days.

These are all situations that we, as individuals, have little control over.

What we CAN control is our response to a crisis.

By planning ahead, we can avoid the fear, panic, and confusion that leads people to rush to the store and clear the shelves like a horde of hungry locusts.  We can stay away from the angry masses, the rioters who will use any excuse to steal, and the hungry people who are determined to feed their kids no matter who stands in their way.

Whether the next few weeks lead to pandemonium due to the welfare strings being cut or some type of martial law, a prepared mindset, a defense plan, and a well-stocked home can help to keep you and your family out of harm’s way.

In her article Anatomy of a Breakdown, Tess Pennington wrote:

“When you take the time to understand how a breakdown behaves and how it progresses, only then can you truly prepare for it.

This glimpse into a systemic breakdown is based on an isolated, limited disaster or event where emergency responders have been deployed. I must emphasize that all bets are off if the event is wide spread, affecting multiple tens of millions of people simultaneously.”

Here are the most vital things that you can do to be prepared for civil unrest.

Get home

In a perfect world, we’d all be home, watching the chaos erupt on TV from the safety of our living rooms.  However, reality says that some of us will be at the store, at school, or in the car when unrest occurs.  You need to develop a “get-home” plan for all of the members of your family, based on the most likely places that they will be.

Devise an efficient route for picking up the kids from school.  Be sure that anyone who might be picking up the children already has permission to do so in the school office.

Discuss the plan with older kids – there have been rumors that children could be moved by the schools to a secondary location in the event of a crisis.  Some families have formulated plans for their older kids to leave the school grounds in such an instance and take a designated route home or to another meeting place.

Keep a get-home bag in the trunk of your car in case you have to set out on foot.

Stash some supplies in the bottom of your child’s backpack – water, a snack, any tools that might be useful, and a map.  Be sure your children understand the importance of OPSEC.

Find multiple routes home – map out alternative backroad ways to get home as well as directions if you must go home on foot.

Find hiding places along the way.  If you work or go to school a substantial distance from your home, figure out some places to lay low now, before a crisis situation.  Sometimes staying out of sight is the best way to stay safe.

Avoid groups of people.  It seems that the mob mentality strikes when large groups of people get together.  Often folks who would never ordinarily riot in the streets get swept up by the mass of people who are doing so.

Keep in mind that in many civil disorder situations the authorities are to be avoided every bit as diligently as the angry mobs of looters. Who can forget the scenes of innocent people being pepper sprayed by uniformed thugs in body armor just because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Stay home

Once you make your way home or to your bug-out location …. STAY THERE.

By staying home, you are minimizing your risk of being caught in the midst of an angry mob or of sitting in stalled traffic while looters run amok.  In most scenarios you will be far safer at home than you will be in any type of shelter or refuge situation. (Obviously if there is some type of chemical or natural threat in your immediate neighborhood, like a toxic leak, a flood, or a forest fire, the whole situation changes – you must use common sense before hunkering down.)

This is when your preparedness supplies will really pay off. If you are ready for minor medical emergencies and illnesses, a grid down scenario, and a no-comm situation, you will be able to stay safely at home with your family and ride out the crisis in moderate comfort.

Be sure you have a supply of the following:

• Water
• Necessary prescription medications
• Food and an off grid way to cook it
• Or food that requires no cooking
• First aid supplies
• Lighting in the event of a power outage
• Sanitation supplies (in the event that the municipal water system is unusuable, this would include cleaning supplies and toilet supplies)
• A way to stay warm in harsh winter weather
• Over-the-counter medications and/or herbal remedies to treat illnesses at home
• Survival and first aid manuals (hard copies in case the internet and power grid are down)
• Alternative communications devices (such as a hand-crank radio) so that you can get updates about the outside world
• Off-grid entertainment:  arts and craft supplies, puzzles, games, books, crossword or word search puzzles, needlework, journals

Be prepared to defend your home

Sometimes despite our best intentions, the fight comes to us.  Even though we stay home, something about our place draws the attention of an unsavory person or group.  Defense is two-fold.  Your best defense is avoiding the fight altogether. You want to stay under the radar and not draw attention to yourself.  The extent to which you strive to do this should be based on the severity of the unrest in your area. Some of the following recommendations are not necessary in an everyday grid-down scenario, but could save your life in a more extreme civil unrest scenario.

Keep all the doors and windows locked.  Secure sliding doors with a metal bar.  Consider installing decorative gridwork over a door with a large window so that it becomes difficult for someone to smash the glass and reach in to unlock the door.

Put dark plastic over the windows. (Heavy duty garbage bags work well.)  If it’s safe to do so, go outside and check to see if any light escapes from the windows. If your home is the only one on the block that is well-lit, it is a beacon to others.

Don’t answer the door.  Many home invasions start with an innocent-seeming knock at the door to gain access to your house.

Keep cooking smells to a minimum.  If everyone else in the neighborhood is hungry, the meat on your grill will draw people like moths to a flame.

Remember that first responders may be tied up.  If the disorder is widespread, don’t depend on a call to 911 to save you – you must be prepared to save yourself.  Also keep in mind, as mentioned earlier in the article – the cops are not always your friends in these situations.

If, despite your best efforts, your property draws the attention of people with ill intent, you must be ready to defend your family.

Many preppers stockpile weapons and ammunition for just such an event.  When the door of your home is breached, you can be pretty sure the people coming in are not there to make friendly conversation.  Make a plan to greet them with a deterring amount of force.

Have a safe room established for children or other vulnerable family members.

Plan an escape route.  If the odds are against you, devise a way to get your family to safety.

*****

Every civil unrest scenario is different.  You must make a personal plan based on your environment, your neighbors, and the type of situation that triggered the unrest.  By thinking ahead, you’ve already increased your family’s chances at surviving unscathed.

Please feel free to share any pat of this article in part or in full, giving credit to the author and including a link to The Organic Prepper website and the following bio.

Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor.  Her website, The Organic Prepper, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca

SHTF Plan Editor’s Note: The following article from Chris Carrington of The Daily Sheeple poses an interesting scenario and one that every prepper has likely discussed with friends and family in their preparedness group. When the system fails how far are you willing to go to help your fellow man? We know what happens when resources run out and panic grips the populace. There will be riots, looting and violence. And despite the inherent good I’d like to believe exists in every human being, when people are at their wits end, hungry, and tired, they will do things they’d never have imagined during a time of peace and stability. 

This is why the following topic should be of interest. It is one covered by many survival and preparedness authors. My wife Tess has provided some tips and strategies for charitable giving in a post-collapse world in her 52 Weeks to Preparedness series. It’s easy for all of us to say “If a family with kids shows up looking for help I will gladly give them food.” But when it hits the fan and your life is really on the line, will you still be so generous? Will you risk your family’s safety just to be charitable? As with everything else preparedness, if you are adamant about charitable giving in an SHTF environment, consider the risks and weigh your options. James Rawles of Survival Blog, for example, suggests going through a local church or organization to make donations rather then providing it directly to people in need as an operational security measure. 

I know Chris Carrington. And I know Chris is the kind of person who will stop to render you medical aid if you are seriously injured and dying on a street while most others would simply walk on by. This is why I take this article seriously. I am certain Chris thought long and hard about this, as many of you have, and it wasn’t just slapped together. 

We welcome community discussion on this topic, because it is an important one, and because you will no doubt be faced with making this decision should the worst come to pass. 

Why I Won’t Be Charitable When The SHTF
By Chris Carrington

I have learned a great deal since I came on board here at The Daily Sheeple. I have read and listened to the opinions of many who are far further down the line of preparedness than I am, and although it may make me unpopular, I disagree with a some of what they say.

Of course agreeing or disagreeing with someone is purely personal choice. I am not saying they are wrong, just that I disagree with them.

Take for instance the charity aspect of prepping.

Many of the big names in prepping advocate that we should show solid Christian values in times of crisis and lay aside some essential items to give away to those that pass through who are less fortunate that ourselves.

NOT A CHANCE.

It has nothing to do with the fact that I have prepared, that I have scrimped and saved, and they possibly have not. It has nothing to do with greed on my part and to hell with all others. It has to do with the survival of my family.

A great deal is made on all prepping sites about OPSEC. Keeping low and not attracting attention, and this is where the trouble starts.

I know for a fact that if I had been given food, water and maybe a few other essential items by someone I passed along the way I would remember them.

I know that if the survival of my children was at stake and I couldn’t provide for them I would revisit the person that had assisted me in the hope of getting more supplies.

I know I would do anything I had to do to feed my kids, to keep them alive. Now if I could trade something, work for the food I would certainly do so. What happens though if the answer is no, we’re fine thanks, off you go?

Think about this. Put yourself in the position of the people you helped. You know this family had enough food to give some away. It’s unlikely you are the only people who have happened by. To a desperate man with starving children the logical conclusion would be that the family who helped you out had food to spare.

This is a situation that’s going to get ugly very fast.

Moving a little further into our imagined scenario. You helped the passers by as best you could. You are well armed and willing to defend your family and your supplies. The passers by you assisted know this, they know they couldn’t take you alone. So they come back with a mob. A mob of cold, hungry and armed people who want what you have got.

Once again it will get ugly very fast.

So, I will learn from those who know more than me, and I’m extremely grateful that they share their knowledge, but for me, charity really does begin at home if we are in a SHTF situation.

I will not risk blowing my OPSEC. I will not risk the lives of myself and my family in order to be charitable, it just isn’t going to happen. Every morsel of food I give away could keep my kids going for another day. Every item of clothing I give away could have kept my kids warm in the winter, could have wrapped my future grandchildren, could get passed on to the next generation who may have no access to new clothing.

We all know it’s not a case of if the SHTF, it’s a case of when. Be it a natural or man made disaster, there’s no reason to think we are the immune generation, that it won’t happen to us. We are not special in the grand scheme of things, we are no different to other generations that have faced war or famine or pandemic. The list of what can and does go wrong on this planet of ours is long, very long. Should one of these events occur, all of us, no matter how well prepared, are going to struggle to survive. Many of us won’t make it for one reason or another.

To attempt to survive, and even thrive after a catastrophic event is normal, it’s human nature, and while I pity those who have nothing I will not assist them with food, water or material items that could hasten the demise of me and mine.

There are many who will read this and decide I have no Christian values, I accept that , and I won’t argue with them, they are fully entitled to their opinion. What I will say is God gave me a brain and the ability to use it and that’s exactly what I’m doing.

Opening my door and handing out charity parcels when the grid is down or the food supply chain has snapped, when people are cold, hungry and desperate is to me akin to going to an ATM in a rough part of town and announcing loudly that you are taking out $1000 from an account that has $1,000,000 in it.

You just wouldn’t do it would you? You wouldn’t announce to every mugger in the neighborhood that you had a $1000 on you and there was plenty more where that came from.

In a collapse scenario your preps are worth more than that $1000. They are worth more than $1,000,000 in a situation where no amount of money can buy you what you need.

Think about this…how far would you go to protect you and yours?

I know for a fact I would do whatever I had to, including stealing from others. It’s not something I like to admit to, but it is the truth. Thinking this way also makes you realize you may not survive the encounter of taking from others and where would your family be then?

This is why I prep. To provide for myself and my family in times of trouble. To make sure they have enough water, food and clothing to see them through for as long as possible. To have enough seeds stored, and enough gardening knowhow that we can supplement our diets making our canned and dehydrated supplies last longer, far longer than they would have done otherwise.

It’s why we’ve opened up fireplaces and brought dynamo flashlights. It’s why the nieces and nephews join our own kids for ‘craft’ sessions where they are taught to knit, sew and fix things up with hammers and nails. they think this is so cool as none of their friends get to do it.

They make bread and pick produce they have grown. They are learning what they can and cannot eat from the hedgerows.

All of this is why I prep and I’ll be damned if I am going to risk all that because I give a bottle of water and a couple of cans of beans to passing strangers.

Delivered by The Daily Sheeple

Chris Carrington is a writer, researcher and lecturer with a background in science, technology and environmental studies. Chris is an editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!

SHTF Plan Editor’s Note: The following article from Chris Carrington of The Daily Sheeple poses an interesting scenario and one that every prepper has likely discussed with friends and family in their preparedness group. When the system fails how far are you willing to go to help your fellow man? We know what happens when resources run out and panic grips the populace. There will be riots, looting and violence. And despite the inherent good I’d like to believe exists in every human being, when people are at their wits end, hungry, and tired, they will do things they’d never have imagined during a time of peace and stability. 

This is why the following topic should be of interest. It is one covered by many survival and preparedness authors. My wife Tess has provided some tips and strategies for charitable giving in a post-collapse world in her 52 Weeks to Preparedness series. It’s easy for all of us to say “If a family with kids shows up looking for help I will gladly give them food.” But when it hits the fan and your life is really on the line, will you still be so generous? Will you risk your family’s safety just to be charitable? As with everything else preparedness, if you are adamant about charitable giving in an SHTF environment, consider the risks and weigh your options. James Rawles of Survival Blog, for example, suggests going through a local church or organization to make donations rather then providing it directly to people in need as an operational security measure. 

I know Chris Carrington. And I know Chris is the kind of person who will stop to render you medical aid if you are seriously injured and dying on a street while most others would simply walk on by. This is why I take this article seriously. I am certain Chris thought long and hard about this, as many of you have, and it wasn’t just slapped together. 

We welcome community discussion on this topic, because it is an important one, and because you will no doubt be faced with making this decision should the worst come to pass. 

Why I Won’t Be Charitable When The SHTF
By Chris Carrington

I have learned a great deal since I came on board here at The Daily Sheeple. I have read and listened to the opinions of many who are far further down the line of preparedness than I am, and although it may make me unpopular, I disagree with a some of what they say.

Of course agreeing or disagreeing with someone is purely personal choice. I am not saying they are wrong, just that I disagree with them.

Take for instance the charity aspect of prepping.

Many of the big names in prepping advocate that we should show solid Christian values in times of crisis and lay aside some essential items to give away to those that pass through who are less fortunate that ourselves.

NOT A CHANCE.

It has nothing to do with the fact that I have prepared, that I have scrimped and saved, and they possibly have not. It has nothing to do with greed on my part and to hell with all others. It has to do with the survival of my family.

A great deal is made on all prepping sites about OPSEC. Keeping low and not attracting attention, and this is where the trouble starts.

I know for a fact that if I had been given food, water and maybe a few other essential items by someone I passed along the way I would remember them.

I know that if the survival of my children was at stake and I couldn’t provide for them I would revisit the person that had assisted me in the hope of getting more supplies.

I know I would do anything I had to do to feed my kids, to keep them alive. Now if I could trade something, work for the food I would certainly do so. What happens though if the answer is no, we’re fine thanks, off you go?

Think about this. Put yourself in the position of the people you helped. You know this family had enough food to give some away. It’s unlikely you are the only people who have happened by. To a desperate man with starving children the logical conclusion would be that the family who helped you out had food to spare.

This is a situation that’s going to get ugly very fast.

Moving a little further into our imagined scenario. You helped the passers by as best you could. You are well armed and willing to defend your family and your supplies. The passers by you assisted know this, they know they couldn’t take you alone. So they come back with a mob. A mob of cold, hungry and armed people who want what you have got.

Once again it will get ugly very fast.

So, I will learn from those who know more than me, and I’m extremely grateful that they share their knowledge, but for me, charity really does begin at home if we are in a SHTF situation.

I will not risk blowing my OPSEC. I will not risk the lives of myself and my family in order to be charitable, it just isn’t going to happen. Every morsel of food I give away could keep my kids going for another day. Every item of clothing I give away could have kept my kids warm in the winter, could have wrapped my future grandchildren, could get passed on to the next generation who may have no access to new clothing.

We all know it’s not a case of if the SHTF, it’s a case of when. Be it a natural or man made disaster, there’s no reason to think we are the immune generation, that it won’t happen to us. We are not special in the grand scheme of things, we are no different to other generations that have faced war or famine or pandemic. The list of what can and does go wrong on this planet of ours is long, very long. Should one of these events occur, all of us, no matter how well prepared, are going to struggle to survive. Many of us won’t make it for one reason or another.

To attempt to survive, and even thrive after a catastrophic event is normal, it’s human nature, and while I pity those who have nothing I will not assist them with food, water or material items that could hasten the demise of me and mine.

There are many who will read this and decide I have no Christian values, I accept that , and I won’t argue with them, they are fully entitled to their opinion. What I will say is God gave me a brain and the ability to use it and that’s exactly what I’m doing.

Opening my door and handing out charity parcels when the grid is down or the food supply chain has snapped, when people are cold, hungry and desperate is to me akin to going to an ATM in a rough part of town and announcing loudly that you are taking out $1000 from an account that has $1,000,000 in it.

You just wouldn’t do it would you? You wouldn’t announce to every mugger in the neighborhood that you had a $1000 on you and there was plenty more where that came from.

In a collapse scenario your preps are worth more than that $1000. They are worth more than $1,000,000 in a situation where no amount of money can buy you what you need.

Think about this…how far would you go to protect you and yours?

I know for a fact I would do whatever I had to, including stealing from others. It’s not something I like to admit to, but it is the truth. Thinking this way also makes you realize you may not survive the encounter of taking from others and where would your family be then?

This is why I prep. To provide for myself and my family in times of trouble. To make sure they have enough water, food and clothing to see them through for as long as possible. To have enough seeds stored, and enough gardening knowhow that we can supplement our diets making our canned and dehydrated supplies last longer, far longer than they would have done otherwise.

It’s why we’ve opened up fireplaces and brought dynamo flashlights. It’s why the nieces and nephews join our own kids for ‘craft’ sessions where they are taught to knit, sew and fix things up with hammers and nails. they think this is so cool as none of their friends get to do it.

They make bread and pick produce they have grown. They are learning what they can and cannot eat from the hedgerows.

All of this is why I prep and I’ll be damned if I am going to risk all that because I give a bottle of water and a couple of cans of beans to passing strangers.

Delivered by The Daily Sheeple

Chris Carrington is a writer, researcher and lecturer with a background in science, technology and environmental studies. Chris is an editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!

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Please Spread The Word And Share This Post

January 21, 2013  |  

It was once assumed that women didn't have orgasms, or at least that they were very different from what men experienced. Thankfully, nowadays we know that women have all the equipment required to produce sexual pleasure - and that there's nothing wrong with enjoying it. Still, most statistics estimate that about 30 percent of women have trouble achieving  orgasm. 

Whether you're a woman who's diving into improving your sexual experiences, or you're a guy who's wondering why your lady isn't getting off as often as you'd like, you're probably looking for the big secret to female pleasure. That's a great start, but the answer goes deeper than you might expect ...

The Hidden Workings of the Female Orgasm

To discover the secrets to orgasm, you need to understand what’s going on under the hood (pun absolutely intended!). The most common way for a woman to reach orgasm is through clitoral stimulation, although some women also orgasm from stimulation of their  G-spot, nipples, or even less obvious erogenous zones like earlobes or neck. 

Orgasms are a full-body experience that includes rhythmic muscle contractions in and around the vagina, faster heart rate and breathing, raised blood pressure, and other exciting stuff like goosebumps or flushed, rosy skin. In fact an  orgasm activates almost every part of the brain, so it really can be mind-blowing! (Get some surprising facts about a woman's body in  10 Things You Don't Know About Vaginas.)

The Secret Is ...

Let's get this out of the way right off the bat: Health problems can get in the way of an orgasm. So, if something more than your sex life feels off, you should visit a doctor. In absence of a medical problem, however, a woman's orgasms, or the lack of them, go way beyond what's going on with her body. That means the main secret to a woman's orgasms is that they’re as individual as the woman herself. Learning to bring yourself or your female partner to a climax, therefore, can be a learning process, where's there's always room for improvement. Here are three common things that can boost a woman's orgasmic potential - and that couples tend to overlook. 

Set the Stage

Women using "too tired" as an excuse for not having sex is so common it's become a cliche. That's no doubt because it's true; 33 percent of women in the U.S. report being too tired for sex. And when you're not into it, an orgasm probably isn't happening. When you don’t sleep enough, your stressed, exhausted body isn’t prepping itself for orgasmic nirvana; it just wants to know when it can roll over and pass out.

According to statistics from sleep company Zeo, getting seven or more hours of sleep per night increases youthfulness and physical vigor, while a sleepless night reduces attractiveness by 4 percent and elevates a stress hormone called cortisol by 37 percent, leading more frustration, irritability and unhappiness. Sex is a great stress reducer and sleep aid, but the irony is that in order to really enjoy it, you need to be well rested. Setting the stage for sex means setting the stage for sleep, so don't be ashamed to make sleep a priority for both you and your partner. Better sex will surely follow. (See some other ways to lay proper groundwork in  8 New Year's Resolutions for the Best Sex Ever.)

Take Your Time

You might not have thought about this one, but feeling time-pressured is one of the top orgasm killers for women. This is especially true when it comes to oral sex, as sexologist Yvonne Fulbright explains in her bestselling book  The Best Oral Sex Ever - His Guide to Going Down.

This is where there's a big difference between men and women. Men can rush to the finish line - many women can't. In fact, most women need an average of  20 minutes of suitable stimulation before they achieve orgasm. Problem is, that 20 minutes can feel like a year when women spend it worrying - about their bodies, about their sexual abilities, or about whether their partner is getting bored. Women's bodies work differently than men's, which means that it takes more time to bring them to orgasm. Ladies, you aren't taking too long. And men, try to be patient - you can't hurry love!