SEX may help middle-aged men reach old age by reducing the risks of heart disease and other illnesses, according to findings from Bristol University.
A study divided 918 middle-aged men into groups of high sexual activity (those who said they had an orgasm more than twice a week), intermediate and low (less than once a month). After analysing death rates in the study group ten years later, the researchers found the risk of death in the high-activity group was only half that of the low-activity group. This was more marked in relation to heart disease.
Researchers concluded that, while sex has been known to cause heart attacks, sexual activity does seem to be good for middle-aged men. The correlation seemed to hold even after adjustment to take account of other factors such as smoking and diet. The researchers point out, however, that men who were ill at the time of the survey may have engaged in less sex because of their ill health. The results of the study, Sex and death: are they related?, are published in the current issue of the British Medical Journal.