Kelly Ripa made headlines earlier this month after saying on “Live with Kelly” that her husband, Mark Consuelos, is “mean” after sex, and while she backpedaled Wednesday by clarifying he is simply “disinterested” afterward, the damage had already been done. Ripa’s Feb. 9 admission, whether in jest or not, has been trending on various news sites, including this one, ever since.

Regardless of Ripa’s intention, her observations about her husband’s post-sex behavior beg the question: Do men really get disinterested after sex? And if so, why?

Popular science’s explanation for men rolling over after ejaculation is a hormonal response alone, Dr. Raj Dasgupta, a professor of pulmonary and sleep medicine at the University of Southern California, and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, told Fox News.

However, experts argue the answer isn’t so simple.

In fact, Dasgupta said, the conditions under which couples have sex often have as much to do with whether men or women get sleepy after sex as do their postcoital hormonal differences.

“It’s a balance of both,” Dasgupta said.

Dasgupta explained that most couples have sex at night, potentially in cool, quiet rooms, likely in a comfortable bed — in other words, the perfect environment for sleeping. And for those men who may have sleep apnea, the aforementioned conditions can create the perfect environment for dozing off.

“If you have a male who has undiagnosed sleep apnea, they’re gonna be more tired than the average person, so it doesn’t take a lot to tip them over,” Dasgupta said.

According to data from the Cleveland Clinic, that may be a fair assessment. The hospital estimates nearly 22 million Americans suffer from sleep apnea — a condition marked by shallow breathing that impacts quality sleep, and can lead to drowsiness and fatigue — and men over age 40 are primarily at risk.

Hormones may also play a role in human behavior after sex, though.

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