What health benefits does regular sex bring? – healthmag.gr

Regular sex (and especially orgasm) brings serious health benefits:

It can treat insomnia, relieve pain, and reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, depression, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, bladder problems, and more.

If sex is a miracle drug, however, few researchers have worked out what the “best” dose is—the amount needed for maximum benefit. While studies examining the effects of orgasms on mortality and health often find a linear relationship (more sex, better health, period), research often considers two or more orgasms per week “frequent.”

Can there be an upper limit?

A study of 112 couples shows moderation is key. Carl Charnetski, a psychologist at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania, found that couples who had sex twice a week had 30% higher levels of an important antibody for fighting immune problems than couples who did it less. Opioid peptides, which are released during pleasurable experiences, may account for Charnetski’s rather puzzling results.

Normally, such peptides boost the immune system, but in excess they can act as immunosuppressants. It’s unclear whether sex alone could raise the peptides to dangerous levels, but studies suggest a link between excess endorphins (an opioid peptide that increases during the act) and depression, psychosis, and even of immobility.

However, don’t adjust your schedule just yet: Men who ejaculate the fewest (zero to three times per month) and the most (21 or more times per month) times have the lowest relative risk of prostate cancer. Groups right in the middle are more likely to develop the disease, according to an article in the The Journal of the American Medical Association.

How much sex do Americans have?

It’s hard to say, since surveys rely on participants’ memory—and honesty. But Debby Herbenick, a sex researcher at Indiana University, believes not everyone can always be so honest about sexual their behavior.

• Among 30-year-olds, more than 77% of husbands have sex twice a month. For singles, this is true for 36% of men and 17% of women.
• Young people are busy. Forty-three percent of married men in their late 20s have sex twice a week or more, while 7 percent of spouses over 70 have sex.
• The most active: married couples aged 18-24. Over 60% have sex twice a week or more.