Research finds another health benefit to having sex

New research reveals new sex benefits for women who make love more frequently as they could have better memory than those who don’t. Sex and more and more of it are actually very good for the brain.

The scientists from McGill University tested 78 heterosexual women, ages 18 to 29, on their ability to recall abstract words and faces.

The more sex the women reported, the higher their memory scores for words, but not faces.

After analyzing the results, the researchers noticed an interesting connection: The women who reported having penile-vaginal sex more frequently were significantly better at remembering the words previously presented than the women who reported having less sex.

The researchers found no association between sex frequency and remembering faces, and they believe this might be because penetrative sex — versus other types of sexual stimulation — could help neurogenesis (a.k.a the growth of new brain cells) in the hippocampus, an area in your brain that is linked to word memory.

The study looked solely at short-term memory, but study author Jens Pruessner, PhD, says he believes “the long-term memory effects should be similar.” And it gets better: Although this was not part of the study, Dr. Pruessner says sex may help improve other cognitive functions centralized in the hippocampus, such as spatial navigation (think: using landmarks to remember directions).

That said, these findings don’t mean that hitting the sheets will give you a photographic memory. The study had several limitations, including the fact that it was small and the sexual behavior data was self-reported by the participants, so more research is needed.

Agencies/Canadajournal