Having great sex later in life could help keep your brain healthy as people aged between 62 and 74 with ‘very pleasurable and satisfying’ sex lives are found to have better cognitive health scores five years later, study suggests
- For those between the ages of 75 and 90, sex didn’t have to be that good — just frequent
Having good sex later in life may help keep the brain healthy, a study suggests.
Researchers found that men and women ages 62 to 74 who described their sex lives as “highly enjoyable and satisfying” had better cognitive health scores five years later than those who rated their bedroom behavior less enthusiastically.
The results may be due to the stress-relieving benefits of good sex, the researchers said, as well as the release of the pleasure hormone dopamine.
“Stress prevents the new formation of neurons (neurogenesis) in the hippocampus, an area of the brain associated with memory,” they wrote in their research paper.
“Older adults who enjoy satisfying sexual activity may experience reduced stress which in turn may protect neurogenesis.”
Researchers found that men and women ages 62 to 74 who described their sex lives as “highly enjoyable and satisfying” had better cognitive health
The researchers from Hope College, Michigan, USA added: ‘Sexual satisfaction is associated with orgasm, and orgasm releases a rush of dopamine.
“Thus, people in more sexually satisfying relationships may experience higher levels of dopamine, which has been linked to improved memory in older adults.”
The study involved 1,683 people age 62 and older, and cognitive scores were a combined assessment of six key areas, including working memory, attention and visual-spatial skills.
And there was even better news for people between the ages of 75 and 90, the study found. Their sex didn’t even have to be that good – it just had to be frequent.
The team found that those in this age group who had some sexual activity — not necessarily intercourse or having an orgasm — scored higher on the cognitive tests once a week compared to those who hadn’t had sex in the past year.
The size of the effect was similar to the benefit of a longer education – that is, going to college compared to not finishing high school – “another factor known to positively impact cognitive function in this age group,” they said.
“That sexual frequency matters in older ages may be because having sex in these later years, regardless of sexual quality, is beneficial for health outcomes,” they wrote in their paper, published in the Journal of Sex Research.
The magnitude of the effect of good sex later in life was comparable to the benefit of a longer education – that is, going to college compared to not finishing high school.
‘Sexual activity can promote cognitive health because it is a form of physical activity.
‘This may be particularly the case at older ages as physical inactivity increases with age and older adults have high levels of sedentary behaviour.
“So any circulatory benefits from sex could be important in very old age.”
The researchers used data from a long-running population study in the US called the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project and analyzed the results in a way that showed that people with better cognitive health did not simply have more/better health. sex first.