Is This Crucial Activity Missing From Your Wellness Regimen?

There's a wealth of medical data indicating that intercourse and orgasm not only maintain the lineage of our species, but they maintain our health in the years after childbearing. Here are five benefits of sex that are completely science-based:

None other than the Harvard Health Letter1 declared that "Sex is important to health. It revs up metabolism and may boost the immune system. Frequent sexual intercourse is associated with reduced heart attack risk." If this is true, doctors might want to start writing "more sex" on a prescription pad for preventive care visits.

In a research project called the Massachusetts Male Aging Study2, there was nearly a 50 percent increased risk of developing heart disease in men who had sex once a month or less compared with the group that had two or more weekly sessions, which would translate to about 100 times a year. In another study3, over 900 men in Wales were followed for 10 years; the risk of dying was reduced 50 percent in those with high orgasm frequency versus low. If a participant had eight sexual episodes monthly, the death rate was reduced by 36 percent, but the more sex participants had, the more the death rate dropped. This is called a dose-response curve, and very few "more traditional" medical therapies can boast lifesaving numbers like these.

In a recently published research4 analysis, frequency of sexual activity corresponded with better cognitive function in older adults. Memory, executive function, and verbal fluency were all better with more frequent sex in males and females. In another study5 just published, sexual frequency in over 2,000 men and women was inversely correlated to the blood concentration of an amino acid adverse to heart health called homocysteine. The frequency with which the person engaged in sex, the lower and more favorable their homocysteine levels were.

Higher testosterone levels are associated with longevity, and one theory for males is that testosterone levels increase6 during intercourse with a partner, not necessarily during masturbation. Unfortunately, less medical data is available on the role of sexual frequency in female health (which is something we'd all like to see change!), but there is plenty of reason7 to believe the advantages are much the same.

Here's how much real couples are actually having sex.