The health benefits of making love

The Importance Of
Sex To Your Health

It's no secret that sex is a pleasurable activity, but what about the health benefits? Regular love-making can be beneficial in many ways, from increasing immunity to improving your skin. Read on to see how sex can benefit you.

Sexy couple in bed

Sex is fun — but if you need another reason to get busy, there's a long list of potential health benefits in having sex, as well. So, read up, then grab your partner and hit the sheets. Keep sexually active and enjoy better health.

Heart health

Keep your heart health in order with a good sex life. Having a regular sex life reduces blood pressure and helps to balance your good and bad cholesterol. Throw in the fact that sex gets your heart pumping, and you have a trifecta of positive heart benefits.

Shed some weight

Want to burn off that dessert from dinner? Depending on the intensity, an average person can burn about 200 calories per hour of love-making. So, yes — it's OK to skip the gym once in a while and have a romp in the sack instead.

Pain reduction

Due to the increase in oxytocin before an orgasm and the release of endorphins after, sex is an effective pain killer. Forget about not having sex because you have a headache — have sex to alleviate it.

Give your immunity a boost

Stave off colds and infections by having sex once or twice a week. This will increase the levels of the immunoglobulin-A antibody in your system, thought to help your immune sytem fight off nasty colds and flus.

Combat stress and improve your mood

Feeling stressed-out lately? A natural solution is to engage in a little adult-style canoodling. Sexual intercourse releases endorphins, those wonderful feel-good chemicals that help reduce stress and make us feel great. You know that deep feeling of relaxation after? Chalk it up to endorphins. Another plus for women is that absorbing semen through the vagina may help fight depression.

Get a better night's sleep

The secretion of oxytocin during orgasm will help lull you into a good night's sleep, and the benefits of sleep are well documented. Mental clarity, weight management and a lowered risk of heart disease are just a few.

Strengthen muscles

Depending on your body positions during intercourse, several muscles will be used and therefore toned and strengthened. The muscles of the pelvic floor get a great work-out, which is important to prevent incontinence later in life.

Look younger

Regular sex can make you look younger. A boost of increased hormones is responsible for improving the look and feel of hair, skin and nails, while the increased blood circulation helps to brighten our skin's appearance, creating that afterglow affect. In addtion, sex helps increase the production of collagen, which provides anti-aging benefits to the skin.