Lose weight. Reduce stress. Lower your cholesterol level. Improve
your circulation. Live longer. Stay younger. Sounds like an ad for a new
wonder drug right? In fact it's a partial list of the benefits of
humanity's oldest and most pleasurable pastime - sex.
Most of us
are aware of the feel-good benefits of sex while we're engaged in it,
but do you also know that there are benefits which carry on after the
sweaty bodies have dried and the sweet talk has reverted to sports? For
instance:
Maintaining Ideal Body Weight
There are 3500
calories in a pound of fat. For every 3500 calories you burn (that you
do not replace with food!) you will lose one pound of fat. Sexual
intercourse burns approximately 150 calories per half hour. Here's how
that stacks up against some other activities that may be part of your
fitness regime: yoga 114 calories per half hour, dancing - rock 129,
walking - 3mph 153, weight training 153, canoeing - 2mph 153, volleyball
174.
According to one survey reported by the Ottawa Citizen,
Canadians on average have sex 7.33 times per month, lasting
approximately 24.4 minutes. That means that "Joe Canada" is burning off
more than 10 thousand calories a year, or about 3 pounds, in a not
particularly active sex life. Those who are more sexually active, into
Tantra for instance where lovemaking lasts 4 hours, would burn up 600
calories a session. At once a week that's 31,200 calories or 9 pounds
per year. Considering that people put weight on gradually, slowly
gaining 5-10 pounds per year until they are overweight, it's not
unrealistic to assume that regular sexual activity is one way to help
maintain a healthy body weight.
Increased Blood Flow
Sex
helps increase the blood flow to your brain and to all other organs of
your body. Increased heart rate and deep breathing accounts for the
improvement in circulation. As fresh blood supply arrives, your cells,
organs and muscles are saturated with fresh oxygen and hormones, and as
the used blood is removed, you also remove waste products that cause
fatigue and even illness.
Lower Cholesterol
Lowering your
cholesterol is another of the "sex as exercise" benefits. Sex helps
lower the overall cholesterol level. Perhaps more importantly it tips
the HDL/LDL (good/bad) cholesterol balance towards the healthier HDL
side.
Stress Reduction, Relaxation and Improved Sleep
People
having frequent sex often report that they handle stress better, so the
normal stresses of living do not become distress. The profound
relaxation that typically follows lovemaking, with orgasm for women and
ejaculation and/or orgasm for men, may be one of the few times people
actually allow themselves to completely let go, surrender and relax.
Many indicate that they sleep more deeply and restfully after satisfying
lovemaking. In the relaxing afterglow you may be able to let go of
distracting thoughts. Being able to stop thinking has helped many to
overcome insomnia.
Sex as Pain Reliever
Through the touch
magic of sex the hormone oxytocin is secreted in your body which in turn
causes the release of endorphins. Because of these natural opiates sex
acts as a powerful analgesic, elevating the pain threshold and helping
to relieve the aches of conditions like arthritis, whiplash and
headaches. Now there's a novel approach, sex as a remedy for headache
rather than an excuse for abstaining!
With arousal and orgasm
oxytocin levels rise. They spike 3 to 5 times higher than usual just
before orgasm. In fact it is oxytocin that triggers the orgasm.
Measurements performed at the Masters and Johnson laboratories have
shown that the uterine contractions brought about by orgasm (triggered
by oxytocin) are just as powerful as those of child labor. Women can use
this extraordinary orgasmic contraction and relaxation of the uterine
muscle to relieve cramps during PMS and menstruation.
Live Longer, Stay Younger
A
British study of 1,000 men found those who had at least two orgasms a
week had half the death rate of their countrymen who indulge less than
once a month.
The hormone DHEA promotes sexual excitement and
increases in response to it. Dr Theresa Crenshaw author of The Alchemy
of Love and Lust says DHEA may be the most powerful chemical in our
personal world. It helps balance the immune system, improves cognition,
promotes bone growth, and maintains and repairs tissues, keeping your
skin healthy and supple. It may also contribute to cardiovascular health
and even function as antidepressant.
Prostate and Genital Health
Some
doctors believe that more than 75% of men over 50 have a somewhat
enlarged prostate, and that virtually all men will suffer from prostate
enlargement if they live long enough. This condition, called benign
prostate hypertrophy (BPH), is normal and usually not dangerous.
Unfortunately, some of these men develop prostate cancer, one of the
leading causes of death in older men. Regular sexual intercourse with
frequent ejaculations will help to keep the prostate healthy.
For
those men who practice delaying ejaculation, for example in the practice
of Tantra Sacred Sex, performing Kegel exercises (in which you contract
the muscles around your genitals), will tone these muscles, just as
exercising other muscles tones other areas of your body. More
importantly, these exercises will help keep the prostate healthy, by
moving the sexual energy up out of the prostate and circulating it
throughout your body. The technique is very simple and you can perform
hundreds of contractions per day for top sexual/physical fitness for
both men and women. Imagine you are urinating, but want to stop the flow
of urine, that's all there is to it.
Contracting your muscles in
this way is one of the healthiest exercises you could add to your
exercise regime. When 178 Belgian men with minor erection problems
participated in a 4-month daily rehabilitation program which primarily
focused on Kegel exercises, 74 percent showed improvement and 43 percent
were cured. For women, Kegels strengthen the entire urogenital tract,
aiding greatly in childbirth and preventing the onset of incontinence in
later life. They also sensitize the genital tissues, helping women to
become orgasmic and/or increase the intensity of their orgasms
Boost Testosterone and Estrogen
Regular
sexual activity boosts testosterone and estrogen levels in both men and
women. Besides boosting your libido testosterone fortifies bones and
muscles. Some physicians suggest that testosterone keeps hearts healthy
and good cholesterol high. Testosterone is what makes the sex drive in
men and women more aggressive. It makes you want to have sex, pursue
sex, initiate sex and perhaps dominate the lovemaking. Testosterone
seems to motivate both men and women to strongly desire specific genital
sex and release by orgasm. Because men have so much testosterone, they
seem obsessed with genitals, intercourse and ejaculation, but appear to
care less for romance and foreplay-touching, hugging, cuddling, eye
gazing, etc.
Sex increases women's estrogen levels keeping vaginal
tissues more supple and also protecting against heart disease. It is
estrogen that makes a woman sexually receptive and responsive to a man's
approach. It is estrogen that makes her want to be touched and feel
romantic, it is testosterone that makes her want to be penetrated.
Estrogen makes a woman soft-breasts develop in response to estrogen.
Estrogen is a powerful influence on how a woman smells. It influences
the degree to which she projects softness, openness, and interest in
sexual touching.
Men's bodies also produce estrogen. In fact
testosterone can be converted into estrogen in the man's body. Some
estrogen helps a man to develop the softer, more nurturing feminine
sides of their personalities. As men age, the testosterone/estrogen
balance begins to shift, with testosterone decreasing and estrogen
increasing, and this is one reason why so many men seem to mellow out as
they get older.
The Healing Power of Intimacy
Sex is good
for you, but sex with love is even better. According to Dr. Dean Ornish
author of 'Love and Survival: the Scientific Basis for the Healing Power
of Intimacy', "an open heart can lead to the most joyful and ecstatic
sex". His researches into intimacy and its effects on health have shown
that "anything that promotes feelings of love and intimacy is healing".
If you have someone who really cares for you and for whom you care in
return, someone you are intimately connected with in all ways -
emotional, physical and more -- then you may be three to five times less
likely at risk of premature death and disease from all causes.
Part
of this has to do with the positive effects of touch, what Dr. Crenshaw
refers to as Vitamin T. The chemical composition of your body is
changed by touch. Caressing, hugging, stroking, cuddling send a chain
reaction of chemicals to signal your brain that this is pleasurable,
nurturing, good.
There is strong scientific evidence demonstrating
the importance of touch to good health. In the 1930s, Dr. Rene Spitz,
attending physician at a number of nurseries, noticed that the illness
and mortality rates were quite a bit higher in some of the nurseries.
His observations and experiments led to the finding that the children
who were becoming ill and dying had nothing to do with hygiene or
nutrition, but rather had to do with the amount of touching the infants
received from the attending staff. He confirmed his findings by hiring
"grandmothers" to come into the nurseries to hold, fondle, and cuddle
the children. The illness and mortality rates declined rapidly.
Researchers
at Miami's Touch Research Institute (TRI) found that premature infants
who received three massages a day over 10 days gained 47 percent more
weight than preemies who weren't massaged. David Sebringsil, who writes
regularly for The Society For Human Sexuality (one of the best online
sources of excellent, sex-positive information), recommends Erotic
Massage become a part of or alternative to regular lovemaking. It is one
of the best ways to help someone achieve extended, multiple, or "whole
body" orgasmic states. Through erotic massage partners learn to give and
receive loving touch and extraordinary pleasure. It makes you healthier
and happier.
Healthy blood, healthy bones, healthy heart, healthy
body and a peaceful mind - all thanks to the healing powers of sex.
Next time you're in the mood let her know you've got the doctor on your
side!