An article in today’s health section of the Wall Street Journal attempts to separate fact from myth with regards to numerous sexual health studies conducted in past years.
We were intrigued by the title of the article, ‘The Joy of Researching the Health Benefits of Sex’, then slightly caught offguard by the bizarre choice of graphics which accompany the piece (awkward), then once again intrigued.
What were were most surprised by were the conclusions drawn from the research, most specifically, that while there are some clearly defined benefits of having sex, there are also absurdly simple alternatives which apparanetly produce the same results. Fascinating. We have excerpted the gems below.
“Arousal boosts dopamine, which activates the brain’s centers of craving and reward “just like chocolate and winning at gambling,” says Erick Janssen, a senior scientist at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University…”
“Sex does increase heart rate and blood pressure—as high as 125 beats per minute and to 160 peak systolic rate—about as much as walking up a flight or two of stairs…”
“Although couples obviously differ, sex generally burns an estimated five calories per minute, or roughly 50 to 150 calories total. Calculated another way, orgasm uses 3 to 4 METs (metabolic equivalent tasks, a measure of physical intensity)—the equivalent of light housekeeping.”
Wow. AHA! We can have sex OR not have sex, eat chocolate, walk up stairs, do light housework and gamble and still live to be 80? Sounds like good news to us!
There are other gems in the article, so we encourage you to read it in full. To access the article via WSJ click here. To leave comments, click through to the post via the date above.
Xo SFAR