All according to science

Scientists have named five unexpected facts about sex

Alfiya Yenikeeva, RIA Novosti

For links, see the original article – VM.

Sex is not only pleasure, but also health. According to several studies, sexually active people live longer, get sick less and generally feel happier. Therefore, experts take the questions how many times a week, with whom and how seriously and give scientifically based answers.

The more, the better

In the early 1980s, a group of British scientists came to a small Welsh town and interviewed 918 local men aged 45 to 59 about their health, habits and lifestyle.

In the next decade, 150 of them died – some from a heart attack, some from chronic diseases or accidental injuries. And everyone was united by one circumstance – most of them had a rather modest sex life. According to the researchers' calculations, it turned out that men who make love twice a week have a half lower risk of premature death than their peers who have sexual contact only once a month.

This work, one of the first on a similar topic, caused a flurry of criticism. Opponents pointed out that high sexual activity indicates that the body is strong from birth. Therefore, do not overestimate the effect of sex on longevity. However, later several more studies confirmed the conclusions of British experts. At the same time, the authors made an amendment to both health indicators and bad habits.

So, an international team of scientists, analyzing the data of more than 15 thousand American adults, also found a correlation between an active sex life and a low risk of death from all causes, including cancer and heart disease. Why this happens is not yet clear. One of the possible explanations, according to the authors of the work, is the hormones of happiness endorphins, which are produced in large quantities during sexual intercourse. It is known that they increase immunity and, as a result, improve protection against inflammation and infections. And internal inflammation is just considered likely causes of cancer.

In healthy sex, a healthy body

Sex lengthens life and reduces the risk of premature death, because in general it has a positive effect on the body, experts say.

American researchers have noticed that couples who make love at least twice a week, on average, are less likely to suffer from respiratory infections. The reason is class A immunoglobulins (IgA), which protect the mucosa from viruses. In the saliva of sexually active volunteers, the levels of these antibodies are almost twice as high as in their peers who rarely have sexual contact.

In addition, frequent sex prevents serious heart problems. As experts have found out, people who make love no more than once a month have elevated levels of homocysteine. Accumulating in the body, this substance attacks the inner wall of the arteries. As a result, blood clots and atherosclerotic plaques are formed, due to which cardiovascular diseases develop.

But those who often practice sex, the concentration of homocysteine is much lower, so they are less likely to suffer from such disorders. Moreover, even patients from risk groups, as well as those who have undergone heart surgery, are 27 percent less likely to die if they have sex at least once a week.

Natural painkiller

Sex reduces headaches, and sometimes even relieves them altogether – this is the conclusion reached by German scientists after interviewing almost a thousand patients with chronic migraines. It turned out that 60 percent of them feel significant relief after sexual intercourse, and some pain sensations disappear altogether. Some respondents admitted that they use sex as a therapeutic tool when medications stop helping.

The authors suggest that the analgesic effect is associated with the action of endorphins, the production of which increases during sexual intercourse.

A scientific approach to orgasm

Getting pleasure from sex is usually easier for men than for women. However, as scientists from Indiana University recently found out, there are four proven techniques that help women experience orgasm. These are "Angling", "Rocking" (Rocking), "shallow depth" (Shallowing) and "Pairing" (Pairing).

The first involves intense movements of the pelvis and hips during sexual intercourse – it stimulates erogenous points at different angles. The features of the techniques of "rocking" and "shallow depth" are clear from the name. But "combining" implies using two or three methods at once at the same time.

The researchers made these conclusions after interviewing more than three thousand women aged 18 to 93 years about their sex life. Specialists were interested not only in the regularity of sexual contacts, their duration, but also in the pleasure received – how often the respondents experience orgasm and in what circumstances.

As it turned out, at least one of the described techniques is used by 70 to 87 percent of respondents.

The ideal duration of sex

However, almost 17 percent of women say they never have an orgasm. The reason for this is the insufficient duration of sexual intercourse. According to some estimates, on average it is a little more than five minutes, according to others seven, according to the third – about twelve.

However, in order for both a man and a woman to enjoy sex, it should last at least 13 minutes – more precisely, 13.41. And some need almost half an hour.

At the same time, as American scientists have found out, the longer the sexual intercourse, the better and more cheerful the partners feel. If it takes less than ten minutes to do everything about everything, then a person most often experiences a decline in strength and then does not want to do anything.

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