Good Sex, Good Health

Let’s face it, sex makes you feel better, both about yourself and about your partner. But it can actually improve your health—especially if you have sex on a regular basis!

In a recent article from Women’s Health, Columbia University professor Dr. Hilda Hutcherson says, “having sex regularly can do more than make you feel closer to your partner—it can actually make you physically healthier.” How can that happen? Well, in several ways, including reducing stress.

Endorphins and oxytocin are released during sex, and these feel-good hormones activate pleasure centers in the brain that create feelings of intimacy and relaxation and help stave off anxiety and depression, says Laura Berman, Ph.D., an assistant clinical professor of ob-gyn and psychiatry at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University.

How else? Having sex can help you get to sleep. That’s because, the article says, the same endorphins that help you de-stress can also relax your mind and body, according to Cindy M. Meston, Ph.D., director of the Sexual Psychophysiology Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin. Plus, during orgasm, the hormone prolactin is released. “Prolactin levels are naturally higher when we sleep, which suggests a strong relationship between the two,” she says.

And sex is a workout as well, as cardiologists consider sexual activity comparable to a modest workout on a treadmill, according to a study published in The American Journal of Cardiology. So don’t feel bad if you skip the workout one morning and have sex instead

There are other ways that having sex can improve your health. Read about more about it here! 

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