Some good news and some bad news from the world of sex research today.
First, the good news: having sexual intercourse several times a week helps to prevent life-threatening heart disease. Research published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, found that regular rolls in the hay help to prevent a build-up of the chemical homocysteine, which is linked to potentially deadly blood clots.
And the bad news? It only works for men. Researchers from the National Defence Medical Centre in Taiwan tracked more than 2,000 men and women, aged from 20 to 59. While the men who had sex at least twice a week had lower levels of homocysteine in their bloodstream compared to men who had sex less frequently, there was no significant variation detected in women.
The research promises to make the ‘I’ve got a headache’ line even more loaded in the future.
However, it’s not all give and no take for women plenty of pre-existing research suggests that having more sex has surprising health benefits for both sexes.
Here are eight reasons why you can go home this evening and tell your other half that you should both get frisky, for the good of your own bodies.
1. It could help you sleep better
We’re all trying to get more of it and now it turns out sex could be the answer. Yes, according to an expert in the field, getting busy between the sheets should help you sleep more soundly.
Dr Michele Lastella, a sleep researcher at Appleton Institute for Behavioural Science at Central Queensland University in Australia, spends his time looking into the way the body recovers. He told Australian news site SBS that his investigations into the link between sleep and sex show that the latter can help improve the former: From our preliminary data it appears that over 60 per cent of people indicate that their sleep improves after sex that is with a partner and involves an orgasm.
The only problem? As Dr Lastella delicately puts it, there can be an imbalance between the rate of orgasm among men and women in heterosexual relationships. On average men take between seven 14 minutes to reach orgasm by all methods of stimulation, but average two three minutes after initiating intercourse. Women on the other hand take between 10 20 minutes to reach orgasm.
2. It could make you look younger
In 2013, Dr David Weeks, former head of old age psychology at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, told a British Psychological Society conference that his research showed that men and women who have an active sex life look between five and seven years younger than their actual age.
Sexual satisfaction is a major contributor to quality of life, ranking at least as high as spiritual or religious commitment, Dr Weeks said.
3. It could prevent you having a heart attack
In 2010 scientists at the New England Research Institute in Massachusetts published the results of a 16-year study, the Massachusetts Male Ageing Study, which analysed over 1000 men. The study found that men who had sex at least twice a week were up to 45 per cent less likely to develop life-threatening heart conditions than men who have sex less than once a month. Researchers said the benefits of sex could be due to both the physical and emotional effects on the body.
4. It could boost your immune system
Researchers at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, found that people who have sex once or twice a week receive a boost to their immune system which could help ward off colds and flu. In the 1999 study, scientists measured levels of immunoglobulin A (IgA), an antigen found in saliva, and found a 30pc increase in IgA levels in those who had regular sex. However, Clifford Lowell, an immunologist at the University of California, warned that: Sexually active people may be exposed to many more infectious agents than sexually non-active people.
5. It could improve your brain function
In March 2013 scientists at the University of Pavia, Italy published the results of research which suggested that people who have regular sex, especially those in new relationships, displayed an increase in cranial nerve growth, crucial to mental alertness. The findings were supported by a separate study of male rats by scientists at Princeton University. Researchers divided the rats into two groups one of which had its sexual activity severely limited and found that the rats which mated more often displayed increased nerve growth.
Give Feedback About This Article