The many health benefits of frequent sex

     Loving is good for you! Having read a variety of clinical studies on the subject, it has occurred to this fitness examiner that someone is having a lot of fun in these clinics! The breadth of varying studies is amazing, but all of the results are conclusive: Sex is good for just about every cell in our body, and there are tests with conclusive results to prove it!

     As a fitness editor, as with any exercise, the number of calories burned must be reported. The amount of calories burned, of course, depends on the weight of the participants, as well as how circus-worthy the acrobatics being performed are. Roughly, however, one half hour of sex burns eighty-five calories. That doesn't sound like a lot, until you start adding it up, over the weeks and months.

     Frequent sex dramatically improves a man's chances against a fatal heart attack. Having sex twice or more a week reduces the risk of a man suffering from a fatal heart attack by fifty per cent. Sexual intercourse lowers diastolic blood pressure, but here, women are a little luckier: Hugs lower their blood pressure dramatically, and hugs during sex lower women's blood pressure even more. (The saying that "eight hugs a day will prolong your life" has been clinically proven for women!)

     One amazing study, conducted in Australia and published in the British Journal of Urology International, states that if men in their 20's engage in sex frequently, they will better their odds against getting prostate cancer when they're older, by as much as one third. This study went on to say that sex habits of men in their 30's, 40's, and 50's did not seem to alter their chances at all, yet men enjoying frequent sex in their sixties and seventies were slightly lessening their odds of getting prostate cancer.

     Sex is a great stress reliever. In one study, where half of the participants engaged in stressful activities after sex, and the other half did not, the luckier half had decidedly lower blood pressure, during the stressful activities, such as speaking publicly.

     Sex raises our levels of oxytocin, the "love hormone," which helps us feel more generous, and helps us to bond and nurture. Oxytocin is powerful; in a clinic where participants breathed in oxytocin fumes, their pain levels decreased by as much as 50%. Sex boosts our self esteem; we feel better about ourselves when lovemaking is part of our lives. Sex also boosts our immunity, raising our levels of immunoglobin A. This keeps us from getting as many colds and infections. We sleep better after sex, and sleep is good for everything, from keeping our weight and blood pressure down, to managing our lives more comfortably. Loving love and joy to all.