If somebody wants to relax for up to a week, e.g. before any stressful occasion such as public speaking, having sex may be a good idea. An international tennis player enjoyed doing it even minutes before the match. It is also said that a couple of Olympians decided to stop having sex in the nights before competitions.
If somebody wants to relax for up to a week, e.g. before any stressful occasion such as public speaking, having sex may be a good idea. An international tennis player enjoyed doing it even minutes before the match. It is also said that a couple of Olympians decided to stop having sex in the nights before competitions.
Nowadays, British psychologists announce that penetrative sex with a partner before sticky moments could minimize or even kill stress.
In a research that appeared in New Scientist magazine, University of Paisley scientists compared the influence of various sexual activities on blood pressure when people later sustained heavy stress.
It appeared that those who had penetrative sex felt less stressed and their blood pressure went back to usual level than those who had non-coital intercourse.
Those who didn’t have sex showed the highest blood-pressure reaction to stress.
For two weeks, 24 women and 22 men wrote diaries about their sexual life - how often they had sex, masturbated or had any other sexual activity except intercourse.
Later, they were tested for stress by verbal arithmetic and public speaking.
Volunteers’ individual neuroticism, anxiety, relationship satisfaction and work stress were taken into account. It showed up that differences in sexual behaviour perfectly explain the range of stress reactions.
Stuart Brody, the main researcher stated the effects were not caused by simple short-term relief through orgasm but existed at least for a week.
Brody said that the release of the hormone oxytocin among partners may cause the effect of calm.
Head of neuropsychology at La Trobe University, Professor Simon Crowe finds this discoveries truly interesting and prominent.
Crowe said: “The physiology of sex is very complicated and one we know surprisingly little about given how much it affects our behaviour. But the different stress responses between penetrative sex and masturbation suggests the biology of one person affects another. It follows that the relationship between people should also make a difference and casual sex wouldn’t have the same calming effect.”.
