7 Ways Sex Can Improve Your Physical (and Mental) Health

Jan 02, 2018

For most of us, sex is a pleasurable experience, but many of us don’t know that sex is actually beneficial to our health. From burning calories to fighting off illness, here are some of the ways sex can improve your health:

Improves Natural Immunity

A study at Wilkes University found that students that were engaging in sexual activity more than once per week showed elevated levels of certain antibodies, while less sexually active students showed no such increase.

Remember though, the boost to your immune system will essentially be negated if you’re not being safe. Always use protection when sleeping with someone if you don’t know their sexual/medical history

Improves Bladder Control in Women
Sex is a really good workout for the pelvic floor muscles, which are responsible for bladder control. If there is disfunction in the pelvic floor, it can even cause incontinence, so it is important to maintain strength and function of those and the surrounding muscles.

It’s Pretty Much Cardio
Sure, you shouldn’t cancel your gym membership, but sex is an activity that can boost your cardiovascular health. Sex burns around 5 calories a minute (that’s 5 times the amount that you burn while sedentary) and it gets your heart pumping. Like most other exercises, the longer the activity, the better the outcome.

Eases Stress and Depression
Being intimate with your significant other releases endorphins, which affects the pleasure center of your brain. While that won’t cure depression by any means, it surely can ease the symptoms that most depressed individuals regularly live with. It can also help ease anxiety. Trust is a big part of a sexual relationship, and being intimate with your sexual partner can help make you feel at ease, which helps to reduce stress and anxiety.

Pain Relief
When you orgasm, a hormone is released that causes your pain threshold to raise. But stimulation without climax can also help. A study conducted at Rutgers University in New Jersey showed that vaginal stimulation could block lower back pain, and participants in the study also stated that it could help reduce menstrual cramps, arthritic pain, and, in some cases, relieve headaches.

Increase Libido
This is a simple concept, and also a catch-22. By having sex, you get better at sex. By getting better at sex, sex becomes more enjoyable. When sex is more enjoyable, you want to have more of it. If you currently have little-to-no libido, it seems the best way to change that is just by engaging in sex. Now, if you’re regularly intimate with your significant other, and you still don’t enjoy sex, then you may just not enjoy sex, that is completely possible and nothing to be ashamed of, but if it’s been a while, you might just need a reminder of how great it really is. Practice makes perfect.

Lower Blood Pressure
There have been numerous studies that show a link between sex and lower blood pressure (this could have to do with the cardiovascular exercise involved in sex, or it’s stress relieving properties), but strangely, self-stimulation seems to have no effect on blood pressure.

While sex does have intrinsic health benefits, there are reasons to be careful and use protection until you know for sure what your partner’s sexual/medical history is. Now, get out there and do some cardio. Have fun!

http://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/guide/sex-and-health#1               –http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/11/18/11-sex-health-benefits.aspx                                  –http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/health-benefits-of-sex