Marvin Gaye was a soul singer, not a scientist.
But there’s growing evidence his proposition in “Sexual Healing”–“Sexual healing is good for me/Makes me feel so fine, it’s such a rush/Helps to relieve the mind, and it’s good for us”–was right.
Sex is good for you.
“A good sexual relationship is essential to good health,” says Dr. Barbara Bartlick, a psychiatry professor who founded the Human Sexuality Program at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.
Even apart from its psychological benefits, having sex creates physiological changes that relieve anxiety, mask pain, aid sleep, reduce stress, foster fitness, boost immune systems, stave off heart attacks, maybe even promote longevity, experts say.
New studies range from clinical to whimsical. A Scottish paper says women who have sex three times a week have fewer wrinkles. Others say it gives the heart an aerobic workout.
In describing how lovemaking helps, increasing attention is being given to three neurotransmitters released by the brain before, during and after sex.
– Oxytocin, the “cuddle” hormone, which promotes emotional bonding.
– Endorphins, which dull the perception of pain, relieve stress, strengthen immune systems and provide that well-known “runner’s high.”
– Serotonins, which foster the feeling of satiety, the “afterglow” of sex.
The three work in different ways.
Oxytocin promotes sexual bonding, keeping marriages alive. It boosts non-sexual bonding–the instant adoration of a mother for the infant who has just put her through the pain of childbirth. Oxytocin triggers the physical contractions of childbirth and breast-feeding in women and orgasm in both women and men.
How it promotes social attachment is less clear. Some say it triggers other brain opiates, making that contact warmer and fuzzier. In humans, oxytocin can be stimulated by touch–massage or simply holding hands. It can attract a woman to a man across a crowded room because his facial features are similar to those of a past lover.
“Your brain focuses on things your earlier experiences predict will produce a good sexual reward,” says Dr. Jim Pfaus, research psychologist at Concordia University in Montreal.
Endorphins provide natural relief from the pain of arthritis, injury, even migraines.
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Dr. Beverly Whipple, sex educator and professor emerita at Rutgers University, said that endorphins are part of the reason that stimulating a woman’s G-spot, her center of sexual pleasure, elevates her pain threshold by 40 percent–or more than 100 percent if she has an orgasm.
Endorphins enhance the immune system by fighting stress, dampening the harmful hormones that stress stimulates.
After endorphins have induced that lovely “high,” serotonins kick in to create feelings of satiety that come after a good meal or good sex, bringing relaxation and also relieving stress, Pfaus says.
“You never sleep better than after good sex,” Bartlick says. “Some of my patients use it as a sleeping aid.”
Little research exists into the benefits of lovemaking in same-sex couples.
The federal government shies away from funding sex studies in general for fear of controversy, Bartlick says, and drug companies express little interest unless a study might lead to a profitable product such as Viagra.
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale ([email protected]) and Kris Karnopp ([email protected])