{"id":786,"date":"2021-05-30T16:19:45","date_gmt":"2021-05-30T15:19:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/?p=786"},"modified":"2021-05-30T16:22:29","modified_gmt":"2021-05-30T15:22:29","slug":"does-sex-provide-health-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/30\/does-sex-provide-health-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Does sex provide health benefits?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n<\/div>\n

\n

Medically reviewed by\u00a0Janet Brito, Ph.D., LCSW, CST<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Written by\u00a0Nicole Galan, RN<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Sex give a boost to certain aspects of people\u2019s well-being and physical health, some research suggests. However, several studies on the subject are now outdated, and not all potential benefits apply to everyone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Scientific research has highlighted several possible benefits besides procreation that come with sexual intercourse. These pluses include preserving heart health in some people, reducing\u00a0blood pressure<\/a>, and boosting immunity.<\/p>\n

Sex can also improve mood, relationships, and mental well-being<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

In this article, we look at the possible health benefits of sex and highlight relevant research, focusing on the physical rather than emotional aspects.<\/p>\n

Helping heart health<\/strong><\/p>\n

Partnered sex appears to have some protective effect on cardiovascular health, especially in women.<\/p>\n

A 2016 study looked at the potential health benefits of sexual activity with a regular partner.<\/p>\n

This\u00a0research foundTrusted Source<\/a>\u00a0that sexually active women have a lower risk of cardiac events later in life.<\/p>\n

However, the study also concluded that high levels of sexual activity might increase the risk of cardiovascular events in men. This conclusion contradicts most earlier research, and further studies are necessary to verify this risk.<\/p>\n

Males and females with heart problems should ask a doctor about how much sex is safe for them. They should also be specific about the regularity and intensity with which they have sex, as this may affect the potential strain on the heart.<\/p>\n

Reducing blood pressure<\/strong><\/p>\n

The same 2016 study also measured blood pressure as one of the markers of heart health. The researchers found that older women who expressed satisfaction with their sex lives were less likely to have\u00a0high blood pressure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the study authors did not find the same results in older men.<\/p>\n

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), high blood pressure can affect both libido and a man\u2019s ability to achieve and maintain an erection.<\/p>\n

Medication for high blood pressure can also\u00a0reduce libido<\/a>\u00a0and cause\u00a0erectile dysfunction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While this does not confirm a benefit, it may show a link between blood pressure and sexual health.<\/p>\n

Many people with high blood pressure, or\u00a0hypertension<\/a>, have safety concerns when it comes to sexual intercourse.<\/p>\n

While it is always important to speak with a doctor, it is usually safe for people with high blood pressure to have sex.<\/p>\n

If hypertension medication is causing sexual difficulties, a person can talk to their doctor who may be able to prescribe a different medication or dosage to relieve the adverse effects.<\/p>\n

Boosting the immune system<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some\u00a0early research<\/a>\u00a0found that regular sex increased the effectiveness of the immune system.<\/p>\n

Researchers found that people who had frequent sex, which they defined as one to two times per week, had more immunoglobin A (IgA) in their system than others. IgA is an antibody that lives in the mucosal tissue, such as the salivary glands, nose, and vaginal tissue.<\/p>\n

However, it is important to recognize that this study appeared in 2004, and researchers have not repeated it since. A new study might yield different results.<\/p>\n

A more recent study looked at a small group of women to see if there were differences between the immune activity of those who were sexually active and those who are not.<\/p>\n

The study\u00a0examined<\/a>\u00a0their immune system\u2019s ability to kill different infectious pathogens at various points in the menstrual cycle.<\/p>\n

While the results suggest that there might be some differences between the groups, the authors say more research is necessary before drawing any conclusions.<\/p>\n

Reducing prostate cancer risk<\/strong><\/p>\n

An early study, again from 2004, found that high frequency of ejaculation may reduce the risk of\u00a0prostate cancer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The study investigated almost\u00a030,000 malesTrusted Source<\/a>, looking at how often they ejaculated at different points in their life.<\/p>\n

They concluded that those who ejaculated more than 21 times per month had a lower risk of prostate cancer than men who only ejaculated 4\u20137 times per month.<\/p>\n

In 2016, the researchers extended this study for an\u00a0additional 10 yearsTrusted Source<\/a>\u00a0to continue their research on the participants\u2019 risk for developing prostate cancer.<\/p>\n

This follow-up confirmed the initial findings. The males who ejaculated most frequently had a lower risk for prostate cancer those who ejaculated less often.<\/p>\n

Relieving stress<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sex can serve as a natural way to relieve\u00a0stress<\/a>. A\u00a02019 study<\/a>\u00a0looked at the effect that intimacy with a partner had on cortisol levels. Cortisol is a steroid hormone that circulates the body in response to stress.<\/p>\n

The researchers found that expressions of intimacy, whether sexual or not, helped to bring cortisol levels in both males and female back within normal range.<\/p>\n

Sex triggers the release of\u00a0oxytocin<\/a>, endorphins, and other \u201cfeel-good\u201d hormones, which may be responsible for this stress reducing effect.<\/p>\n

Here, learn more about stress.<\/a><\/p>\n

Improving sleep<\/strong><\/p>\n

The National Sleep Foundation\u00a0suggest<\/a>\u00a0that sexual activity has hormonal benefits for sleep.<\/p>\n

The same hormones that reduce stress and\u00a0anxiety<\/a>\u00a0are also responsible for inducing sleepiness. Sex leads to the release of oxytocin, dopamine, and endorphins throughout the body.<\/p>\n

After a person has an orgasm, another hormone called prolactin starts to circulate. Prolactin induces feelings of satisfaction and relaxation.<\/p>\n

Precautions<\/strong><\/p>\n

While sex can be a pleasurable and potentially healthful activity, it is essential to remember that sex without protection can pose a risk to overall health.<\/p>\n

People who have sex without using contraceptives have a risk of\u00a0sexually transmitted infections<\/a>\u00a0(STIs) and unplanned pregnancies. Using a condom or other contraceptive method can reduce the risk of these outcomes.<\/p>\n

If a person has multiple partners, they can bring down the risk by reducing the number of people with whom they have sexual contact.<\/p>\n

If sex becomes painful or causes bleeding, a person should talk to a healthcare professional.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Medically reviewed by\u00a0Janet Brito, Ph.D., LCSW, CST\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Written by\u00a0Nicole Galan, RN\u00a0 Sex give a boost to certain aspects of people\u2019s well-being and physical health, some research suggests. However, several studies on the subject are now outdated, and not all potential benefits apply to everyone. Scientific research has highlighted several possible benefits besides procreation that come with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"yoast_head":"\nDoes sex provide health benefits? - Alimosho TV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/30\/does-sex-provide-health-benefits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Does sex provide health benefits? - Alimosho TV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Medically reviewed by\u00a0Janet Brito, Ph.D., LCSW, CST\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Written by\u00a0Nicole Galan, RN\u00a0 Sex give a boost to certain aspects of people\u2019s well-being and physical health, some research suggests. However, several studies on the subject are now outdated, and not all potential benefits apply to everyone. Scientific research has highlighted several possible benefits besides procreation that come with […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/30\/does-sex-provide-health-benefits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Alimosho TV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/alimoshotv\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/alimoshotv\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-30T15:19:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-30T15:22:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/couple-having-sex.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"734\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/alimoshoTv?s=08\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alimoshoTv\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/\",\"name\":\"Alimosho TV\",\"description\":\"Alimosho stories & beyond.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/30\/does-sex-provide-health-benefits\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/couple-having-sex.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/couple-having-sex.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":734},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/30\/does-sex-provide-health-benefits\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/30\/does-sex-provide-health-benefits\/\",\"name\":\"Does sex provide health benefits? - Alimosho TV\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/30\/does-sex-provide-health-benefits\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-30T15:19:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-30T15:22:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cf8b0df9fc443b78c5c46e81b1d0af2a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/30\/does-sex-provide-health-benefits\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/30\/does-sex-provide-health-benefits\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/30\/does-sex-provide-health-benefits\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"item\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"item\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/30\/does-sex-provide-health-benefits\/#webpage\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/#\/schema\/person\/cf8b0df9fc443b78c5c46e81b1d0af2a\",\"name\":\"altvadmin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb234a93a660c7b272cfa1192c099c6689534bc9ca24e4537433ab328731d855?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eb234a93a660c7b272cfa1192c099c6689534bc9ca24e4537433ab328731d855?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"altvadmin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/alimoshotv\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/alimoshoTv?s=08\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/author\/altvadmin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/couple-having-sex.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":789,"href":"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786\/revisions\/789"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alimoshotv.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}