More Sex, Longer Life: Coincidence? Or Cause and Effect?

Compared with people who have sex just once a year, those who make love weekly or more suffer only half the risk of dying from all causes. Half. That’s what researchers from the U.S., England, and Europe found in a recent study that tracked the health and sexual frequency of 15,269 U.S. adults for up to 11 years using data from two large, ongoing studies of Americans’ attitudes and lifestyles. As sexual frequency increased, risk of death steadily decreased. The researchers concluded: “Sexual activity was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality.”

So, we have a correlation—more sex, longer life. But what does that really mean? Is the association coincidental? Or cause and effect? And if the latter, what’s the cause, and what’s the effect? Does more sex produce better health that boosts longevity? Or does better health encourage people to have more sex?

Many Long-Lived People Don’t Have Much Sex

Sexual frequency and health don’t correlate perfectly. Plenty of healthy, long-lived folks don’t have much sex. And plenty of people who are at elevated risk for death from smoking, excessive drinking, and lack of exercise have frequent sex. But in general, sexual frequency tracks health.

Compared with those who have chronic health problems, healthier people tend to have more sex. So maybe it wasn’t more sex that extended the lives in this study. Perhaps it was the fact that the participants were healthier to begin with and, as a result, had more sex. The researchers declined to speculate. They documented the association between more sex and longer life, and left it at that.

The idea that more sex is good for health contradicts a good deal of traditional advice about health and well-being. The Apostle Paul wrote: “It is good for a man not to touch a woman.” He urged celibacy for both spiritual and health reasons. Traditional Indian and Chinese physicians viewed ejaculation as a drain on men's vitality. In traditional Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine, as men aged, they were advised to ejaculate less and less. And in French, orgasm is “le petit mort,” the little death, not exactly an endorsement of sex’s health benefits.

Corroboration

However, the recent report is not the only study to document a link between sexual frequency and longevity:

• Swedish researchers followed 392 elderly residents of Gothenburg (166 men, 226 women) from age 70 until 75. During that five-year period, those who stopped having partner sex had significantly greater risk of death from all causes.

• English researchers surveyed the sexual frequency of 918 reasonably healthy male residents of the Welsh village Caerphilly who were aged 45 to 59 when the study began (1979-83). A decade later, they checked back with the men, then 55 to 69. Death had taken 150, with 67 dying from heart attack and 83 from other causes. Based on the men’s sexual frequency when originally surveyed, those who reported having sex twice a week had only half the death rate, compared with the men who had sex just once a month. Again, more sex, longer life

But the English researchers went further than the other investigators. They carefully assessed their participants’ health. The men with the highest and lowest sexual frequencies showed no significant differences in smoking, weight, blood pressure, or heart disease. So compared with the least sexual men, the most sexual did not appear to be significantly healthier.

The only health difference involved cholesterol. Some men were high, others low. But we would expect the men with the highest cholesterol to have a high death rate from heart attack. In fact, high-cholesterol men in the group with the greatest sexual frequency had among the lowest death rates from heart disease. The researchers’ conclusion: In middle-aged men, regular sex helps prevent death.

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Why?

Why would frequent sex prolong life?

• Lots of sex usually means a happy intimate relationship. Many studies show that close personal ties enhance health and extend longevity.

• Sex is exercise. Regular exercise is a cornerstone of health and longevity.

• Orgasm is deeply relaxing. Many studies show that regular stress-management regimens are good for health.

• And frequent sex improves immune function. At Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, researchers surveyed 111 young adults about their frequency of partner sex, and then tested their saliva for a key component of the immune system, immunoglobulin A (IgA). Compared with participants who reported partner sex less than once a week, those who had sex once or twice a week had significantly higher IgA levels, meaning less risk of infections.

This research adds new spin to the slogan Nike uses to promote sneakers: “Just do it.” Yes, if you’re so inclined and have a willing partner, do it. Regular sex is good for you—and just might prolong your life.