7 Ways Having Sex Can Save Your Life — Literally
Get thee to the bedroom!
VGstockstudio / Shutterstock Sex. It's the most two or more people can have on their own without pants on. (I mean, unless you count naked water balloon fights, and I don't because they've been known to turn hostile. My butt still burns from my last water balloon battle.)
When you're having good sex, you feel like you're being transported. Your body and their body fuse and connect, and there are fluids and sheet gripping, and it so isn't a Hollywood sex scene, and you so don't care.
Good sex can be straight-up transformative. It turns out that it can also totally save your life.
This list made me nervous enough to repeatedly text my boyfriend and ask about his... habits. Hopefully, it will make you just anxious enough to get laid and keep living your best life.
Here are 7 ways sex can save your life.
1. It can lower your stress levels.
Studies show that men who had sex the night before a stressful day reported less stress. This is due to the skin-on-skin contact that happens during most sex.
So the next time he won't spoon, just start screaming about how you are saving his life.
2. It lowers your risk of cancer.
Men who ejaculate seven times a week are over a third less likely to get prostate cancer. That's right: the dude in the bar who said he needed to have sex with you tonight or he'd die? He was totally telling the truth.
Proper flushing out of the essential glands keeps the cells healthier for longer.
3. It relieves pain.
Sex releases endorphins, nature's candy, by which I mean painkiller. If you want to banish that headache or crush his migraine, get to the bedroom!
The natural release of chemicals is almost better than mixing Advil with cheap champagne.
4. It helps you look younger.
Liz Phair once sang, "Give it to me, don't give it away, without you I'm just another Dorian Gray.
It turns out Phair was onto something. A study out of Edinburgh shows that couples who have sex four times a week look ten years younger.
I have sent this information to my boyfriend. I withheld the details that that sex releases human growth hormones that fight free radicals that cause aging, but only because he doesn't need the added incentive.
5. It protects you from the common cold.
A study from Wilkes University found that having sex twice a week boosts your levels of immunoglobulin A, protecting you from the common cold and countless other infections.
Sex isn't dirty! It's so clean we might as well be surgical gloves rubbing up on each other!
6. It lowers your risk of heart disease.
The American Journal of Cardiovascular Health released a study stating that men who had sex at least twice a week were less likely to suffer from heart disease.
I am writing this post while I am also texting my boyfriend, becoming more and more panicked that if we do not have sex immediately he will die.
7. It eases depression.
Back to the good ol' endorphins. What do endorphins do besides make us feel no pain? They make us feel good!
Chocolate ice cream also does this, but it very much does not help with heart disease, so if you're going to pick a vice, stick to sex.
RELATE: 10 Things That Happen To Your Body When You Stop Having Sex
Rebecca Jane Stokes is a freelance writer and the former Senior Editor of Pop Culture at Newsweek with a passion for lifestyle, geek news, and true crime.