Science says sex is good for your health: not only does it help combat stress and anxiety, it also promotes sleep, contributes to good cardiovascular health, and helps burn calories.
US researchers now suggest that sexual activity may also play a role in life expectancy. More specifically, their work shows that women who are not very sexually active – i.e. who have sex less than once a week – are more likely to die prematurely.
To reach this conclusion, scientists from Walden University analysed data from 14,542 male and female participants aged 20 to 59, taken from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2010. This included consolidated interview and physical-examination data on obesity, depression and sexual activity.
Focusing on sexual frequency, participants were asked: “In the past 12 months, how many times have you had sex?” There were several possible answers, from “never” to “365 times or more”.
The authors classified the participants into two categories for the analysis of a possible relationship between sexual activity and life expectancy: namely those who had sex less than once a week and those who had sex more than once a week.
Published in the Journal of Psychosexual Health, their research shines light on “the long-term effect of low sexual frequency on premature mortality after long follow-up in a large-scale nationally representative population”.
Women more than men
More concretely, the researchers observed a 70% higher risk of premature death in women who had sex less than once a week, compared with those who had more sustained sexual activity. After adjusting for multiple factors, this risk was 46% higher, thus remaining significant.
“The findings are similar to a smaller-scale study conducted in Israel, where it was found that despite confounders, sexual activity after a myocardial infarction was inversely related to mortality,” the researchers wrote.
It’s also worth noting that the risk of premature death jumped even more significantly – by 197% – in people with both depression and low sexual activity levels, compared to those suffering from depression alone.
Finally, the researchers specify that the link between low sexual activity and mortality is “not significant” in men, without detailing specific reasons.
The researchers concluded that their findings warrant “additional research to ascertain causal pathways for premature mortality in individuals with low sexual frequency”.