I was reading a great article by Anna Hodgekiss on IOL Lifestyle about how having regular sex helps you to live longer.
It’s a great way of alleviating neck and shoulder tension. I’ve noticed the relaxing effects of sex on my muscles myself. I always carry my stress in my neck and shoulders. Sometimes, I can do a very good impression of the Hunchback of Notre Dame with one shoulder significantly higher than the other as they both seek to achieve contact with my ears. And it works for men too with a powerful orgasm being the equivalent of having a 2-3mg shot of diazepam (or Valium), a muscle relaxant – which is why so many men nod off after finishing.
However, I was not so impressed with the comment of Dr Arun Ghosh, a GP specialising in sexual health at the Spire Liverpool Hospital that blurred vision after sex can mean that you need to get glasses. I always thought that it was just a natural response to the blissful effects of all that intensity but he says: “What’s happened is that, like all the other muscles in the body, the eye muscles have relaxed and are performing at their true ability, rather than straining and squinting as they would normally.”
Recent studies have also found that having sex three times a week could halve the risk of heart attack or stroke and women who have two orgasms a week are up to 30 percent less likely to have heart disease than their sisters who don’t have such a good time.
Fluctuating levels of oestrogen in peri- and Menopausal women are renowned for causing depression, which has been linked to an increased risk of heart attack, but the happy hormone, serotonin, which released during sex neutralise the stress hormones in the body and reduce the risk of heart disease. But it is the endogenous ‘orgasm’ endorphin, which creates a sense of bliss for five to ten seconds in men and four to five minutes in women which really works the magic. Thinking back to times when I would arrive at Ruf’s almost beside myself with unhappiness at the futility of my existence and with no libido whatsoever, he would gently comfort me and relax me before giving me the full benefits of his attentions. I always felt so much better afterwards and my bi-weekly excursions to his manly lair helped me to survive the heartbreak of my marriage for far longer than I would otherwise have been able to endure.
That lack of oestrogen also causes problems with bone health as its protective effect is reduced after Menopause with the possibility of osteoporosis. However, research in the US has found that regular sex increases the production of oestrogen with women who have sex every week having double the levels of those who do not.
For men of a certain age, midlife prostate problems can also be improved by a regular sex life as researchers at Nottingham University, who studied celibate monks, discovered that they had a higher chance of developing prostate cancer and suspect that clearing the prostate out regularly could be behind this.
Regular sex as both sexes age is important for both prevention of incontinence and impotence – it’s that pelvic floor exercise thing so women need to be active during sex, squeezing and working that pelvic floor to guard against leakage and prolapse later in life, both of which are very common. And for men, keeping a regular blood flow to the penis to stop atrophy of the delicate tissues there is vital – a Finnish study of 1000 men aged 55-75 has revealed that men who have sex less than once a week are twice as likely to develop erectile dysfunction as those who had it at least once a week and those who had sex more than three times per week lowered their risk by 400%.
Use it or lose it – in effect, sex is another form of exercise, no matter how old you are.
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