When turning to stress reduction techniques, it turns out, nothing is more failsafe than the tried and true natural approach to having a ‘brawl’ between the bed sheets with your significant other. Whether involved in a serious relationship, or just practicing safe casual sex with a close friend, here are twelve medically supported health benefits that will help justify that extra jump in your ‘mojo’ this summer into the fall season. 

Herein are twelve health benefits to having sex...

Health Benefit #1 – Cut Risks of Life Threatening Attacks In Half

A positive sigh of relief for all men out there, last year Forbes Magazine reported that a study conducted at Queens University in Belfast shows that men who engage in sexual intercourse at least three times a week cut their risks of heart attack and stroke in half.

A similar study conducted at Queens University also suggests that sex hormones, when at it’s most active, help develop neurons in the brain that lead to a heightened sense of smell. Queens is not the only university to have reached the same conclusion in their studies, putting more meaning to the phrase “wake up and smell the flowers”.

A more commonly known benefit to sex is that it is a very good workout, with certain sessions burning about the same as 15 minutes on a treadmill. It’s a great form of both physical and psychological exercise. As reported on WedMD’s Health and Sex column, ‘Thirty minutes of sex burns 85 calories or more and is a great mode of exercise according to Patti Britton, PhD, a Los Angeles sexologist and President of the American Association of Sexuality Educators and Therapists.’

Needless to say, sex also boosts the production of a steroid hormone from the androden group. The name of that hormone? Testosterone. A greater production of testosterone leads to stronger bones and healthier muscles.

Having trouble sleeping at night? An article in the Health and Sex column of WebMD.com reports that according to medical research, the oxytocin released in your brain during an orgasm helps promote better sleep. Putting to rest any other home remedies you’re mom might have suggested to you as a kid [i.e. warm milk?]

Suffering from a bad headache? As it turns out, the very same oxytocin which help you go to bed at night also release endorphins as they surge throughout your body. This release of endorphins is a natural painkiller, which can help alleviate headaches, reduce Arthritic pains as well as reduce Menstrual cramps.

As reported on WebMD.com, one big health benefit of sex is lower blood pressure and overall stress reduction. Researches in Scotland found that subjects had better response to stressful situations (i.e. public speaking, verbal arithmetic) when engaging in sexual intercourse beforehand.

It is commonly promoted in the medical world that having sex during pregnancy can trigger natural labour when the time is right. According to AOLHealth.com, Sex can trigger the onset of labour when you’re at term. “Semen contains prostaglandins, when they’re against the cervix, prostaglandins help it dilate and induce natural labor.”

Many members within the medical profession would agree, a healthy sexual life could reflect positively on a healthy physical life. According to WebMD.com, a study at Wilkes University shows that having sex several times a week has been linked with higher levels of an antibody called immunoglobulin A [or IgA] which ‘can protect you from getting colds and other infections’. The study showed that college student who claimed to practise abstinence had much fewer immunoglobulin A in their saliva samples than those who claimed to be sexually active.

Published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, a study conducted by the University of Texas, ‘Boosting self-esteem was one of 237 reasons people have sex. WebMD.com has this to say on the finding. ‘That finding makes sense to Gina Ogden, PhD, a sex therapist and marriage and family therapist in Cambridge, Mass., although she finds that those who already have self-esteem say they sometimes have sex to feel even better. “One of the reasons people say they have sex is to feel good about themselves,” she tells WebMD. “Great sex begins with self-esteem, and it raises it. If the sex is loving, connected, and what you want, it raises it’.”

Last year, Australian researches reported that frequent ejaculations, particularly in men in their twenties, may reduce the risk of prostate cancer later in life. When the research was followed men diagnosed with prostate cancer and those without, they found men who had roughly 20 or more ejaculations a month while in their twenties reduced their risk of getting prostate cancer later in life by a third.

Holding on to your youth life grim death? Well the solution to that youthful beauty you’re looking for might just be found in-between the bed sheets. According to Dr. David Weeks, a clinical neuropsychologist at Scotland’s Royal Edinburgh Hospital, there are clear signs that suggest that an active sex life may help us live longer. Conducting a study of over 3000 people of ages ranging from 18 to 102, Dr. Weeks publishes his results in his book Secrets of the Super Young. “Sex actually slows down the aging process.”