Women who have sex less than once a week are more likely to die prematurely than those who have sex more regularly, according to new research. While no similar effects were found for men, the researchers noted that increasing the frequency of sex reduced the chance of premature death in both depressed men and women.
“Sexual activity is important for overall cardiovascular health because it reduces heart rate variability and increases blood flow,” the authors write. “Our findings suggest that sexual activity, broadly defined, may improve functional decline that occurs with aging and disease progression,” they add.
To reach these conclusions, the researchers analyzed data from 14,542 people in the United States who were recorded as part of the National Health Survey conducted between 2005 and 2010. A total of 2,267 people provided details of their health status. Sex life94.4% of respondents said they are busy at least once a month, and 38.4% said they are busy at least once a week.
Previous studies have shown that the average U.S. adult Sex That’s 54 times per year, or roughly once a week, so the researchers decided to categorize people as having more or less frequent sexual intercourse depending on whether they had more or less frequent sex than once a week (52 times per year).
Overall, women with infrequent sex were 1.7 times more likely to die from any cause by the end of 2015 than sexually active women.
Importantly, the study authors also noted that the effect followed a dose-dependent pattern — the less frequent a woman’s sexual activity, the higher her risk of death. And while they didn’t see a similar response in men, the researchers were surprised by their findings: Sexual intercourse There appears to be a “modifying relationship” to the adverse health effects of depression for both men and women.
Indeed, after controlling for confounding factors such as obesity, older age, and lower socioeconomic status, the authors found that people who both suffered from depression and had infrequent sex were nearly three times more likely to die during the follow-up period.
Of course, it’s important to note that causation cannot be inferred from correlations such as this, but previous studies have shown that people tend to experience improved mood and a greater sense of purpose in life. The day after having sexThese findings are consistent with those of another small study of Israeli adults, which found that having more sex was associated with improved depression and overall health. Increased chances of survival In people who have had a heart attack.
Overall, the study authors stopped short of concluding that having sex once a week could potentially save your life, but based on the evidence, it certainly can’t be harmful.
This study Journal of Mental Health.
