Life for many can become cluttered and busy;
focusing on careers or family or trying to remember if you left the stove on or
fed the cat. For some it is easy to forget about themselves and their
significant other or lack there of. So when it comes to sex, is it detrimental
to your health to abstain from such acts? Or were our junior high teachers
right when they said sex is bad? Well Professor Stacy Lindau of obstetrics and
gynecology from University of Chicago helped clear things up.
When speaking to the audience of her seminar she
asks, "Would you rather cut off your dominant hand or give up sex for
life?" Surprisingly 82% said they would remove their hand, yet when an
anonymous poll was taken of how many times a year people copulated the number
averaged below 25. Such a low average number for such a large percentage in my
opinion. Why do people think sex is so necessary?
Well from a physiological standpoint its not. The human body can
abstain from sex and still live a long successful life. It is not like food, or
water, or shelter. However, sex does provide some health benefits. Studies have shown that regular sex has a
protective effect on the heart, lowering the risk of heart attack in men. Other
benefits include increased blood flow to the genitals and "probably"
is beneficial to the immune system. But the psychological side of sex can have
just as many health benefits. Sex can reduce stress levels by releasing
"feel good" hormones of oxytocin and dopamine, while reducing levels
of cortisol. This can, in-turn, improve sleep, increasing energy
levels while simultaneously preventing Alzheimer's disease (see earlier
blog post).
The disadvantages to
not having sex are mostly geared toward women I am sad to say. Not having sex
can lead to atrophying of the unused vaginal or hip muscles. Vaginismus is a
common condition characterized by hypersensitivity of the muscles around
the opening of the vagina.
So when it comes
down to it, abstinence will not kill you and a person can live a very happy and
healthy life this way. Just turns out that conjugating may have some beneficial
attributes
Crane, Kristine. "Is Abstinence
Unhealthy?" US News. U.S.News & World Report, 7 July 2014.
Web. 02 Dec. 2014.
<http://health.usnews.com/health-news/health-wellness/articles/2014/07/07/is-abstinence-unhealthy>.
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