Everyone enjoys sex, but is that where the benefits to your wellness end? Absolutely not! Let’s take a look at some of the scientifically proven ways in which sex is good for you:
1. Exercise: Sexual health expert and private GP Dr Arun Ghosh argues that sex is ‘not emphasised enough as a really good form of exercise.’ If you make it last long enough, Graham Jackson, a consultant cardiologist and president of The Sexual Advice Association, asserts that sex could form part of your overall, varied fitness programme. ‘A typical game of tennis or squash is around 40 minutes of sustained cardiovascular activity,’ he points out. ‘So to compare these to sex in fitness benefits you would need to perform your peak periods of sex for around the same amount of time.’ A vigorous 30 to 40 minutes means ‘you could get a good cardiovascular workout during sex,’ Dr Jackson adds. ‘Sexual activity is meant to compliment other more sustained forms of exercise. You can’t say, “I have sex, I won’t exercise”.’
2. Brain Function: Scientists at the University of Maryland found that rats’ brain function improved after long periods of sexual activity, specifically in the hippocampus area where new memories are formed. According to Dr. Ghosh, ‘A huge amount of brain stimulus occurs during intercourse. It’s why we feel so overtaken when we orgasm. When researchers do MRI scans on people in orgasm, they observe both sides of the brain being stimulated, including parts of the brain we wouldn’t normally use.’ However, as the study was done on rats, we still don’t know if the same results would be found in people. Dr Simon Ridley, of the Alzheimer’s Research Council, notes, ‘Plus, any improvements in brain power were lost once the animals’ sexual activity stopped, so we can’t assume any benefits to their brains will be long-term…There’s as yet still no compelling evidence to support the idea that regular sex can help stave off dementia or cognitive decline in humans.’
3. Stronger Pelvic Floor: Not only does a strong pelvic floor make sex itself more enjoyable; Andrew Hextall, a consultant who specialises in genito-urinary medicine at Spire Bushey Hospital, points out that, a stronger pelvic floor can help reduce your risk of prolapse of the womb, which affects half of women over 50, and your risk of stress incontinence, which affects one in four women over 40. Mr Hextall explains, ‘During intercourse, the muscles in a woman’s pelvic floor naturally contract and squeeze. This increases muscle tone in the area, as the pelvic floor is like any other muscle, it responds to use by getting stronger. The recommendation for exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor are to squeeze the pelvic floor only eight times at any one time. It’s likely that during sex you will be contracting your pelvic floor at least that many times, so there’s no need for prolonged sex sessions to get these benefits.’
4. Lower Anxiety and Depression: A study published in the Archives of Sexual Behaviour discovered that young women felt more depressed the longer they hadn’t had sex. Stuart Brody, professor of psychology specialising in sexual behaviour at the University of the West of Scotland, surmises that this could be because of the vaginal absorption of hormones in semen such as prostaglandins, testosterone and luteinizing hormone, which improves women’s moods. Dr Ghosh details, ‘Routinely now, when our patients – male or female – are diagnosed with depression or anxiety we encourage them to maintain their sex lives because it’s so beneficial for mental wellbeing’.
