What are the scientific reasons for having sex?

The Register (UK) ^ | 10 oct 06 | Dr Stephen Juan

[white trash redneck]

What are the scientific reasons for having sex?

Asked by Jill Howard of Alexandria, Virginia, USA

The reasons for not engaging in sex include transmission of diseases, heart attack due to exertion, and many others. The reasons for engaging in sex are numerous. Among these are:

• Sex helps boost the immune system. According to Dr Carl Charnetski of the Department of Psychology at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, people who reported one or two sexual "episodes" per week enjoyed higher levels of Immunoglobin A. This is an antibody that helps fight disease.

• Sex helps boost longevity. In one study cited by Dr Charnetski, men who had more orgasms over a 10 year period boosted their longevity compared with those who had fewer.

• Sex helps ward off cancer. In another study cited by Dr Charnetski, men who had more ejaculations over a 35 year period had 33 per cent less prostate cancer compared to those with fewer ejaculations.

• Sex results in a more youthful appearance. According to a study by Dr David Weeks, a clinical neuropsychologist at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in Scotland and co-author of Superyoung (1999), men and women who reported having sex an average of four times per week looked approximately 10 years younger than they really were.

• Sex helps reduce stress. Numerous studies show that it does this through lowering anxiety levels, boosting relaxation, and aiding sleeping.

• Sex helps fight depression. A study by Dr Gordon Gallup of the Department of Psychology at the State University of New York at Albany found that women who regularly engage in heterosexual sex in which they come in contact with semen were significantly less depressed than those women that did not. he causal relationship is unclear. Dr Gallup speculates that "possibly because when absorbed through the vagina, semen may have an effect on mood in women". However, Dr Gallup is quick to point out: "Regardless of the findings, this study does not advocate that people abstain from using condoms. Protecting oneself from an unwanted pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease is far more important."

• Sex helps coping with middle age. This is the inference drawn from research by Dr GA Bachmann at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey and published first in 1995 in the International Journal of Fertility and Menopausal Studies and continuing in The Journal of Sexual Medicine in 2006.

• Sex is good exercise. Exercise helps circulation, lowers cholesterol, and releases helpful endorphins.

• Sex helps in losing weight. Well, at least a little. One burns approximately four to five calories per minute or perhaps 300 calories per hour during sex (depending upon how, shall we say, "vigorous" the sex is). About 7,000 to 8,000 excess calories must be burned to lose one kilogram of fat (3,500 to lose one pound). You do the calculations.

Stephen Juan, Ph.D. is an anthropologist at the University of Sydney.

[WV Mountain Mama]

:) Your probably right!

[Pyro7480]

What does it portend that everyone seems to take a demographic argument personally? Are we incapable of viewing trends and commenting on aggregate behavior?

It could be a symptom of a guilty conscience.

[Xenalyte]

Salacious Ping List ping!

And thanks to CholeraJoe for the heads-up!

[teenyelliott]

I see that you are sarcastically challenged.

You have my sympathy, you poor dear.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

The "scientific reason" is "I've got wood." What else do you need???

[teenyelliott]

I need a Cat Whisperer big time!

You rang?

[Pyro7480]

He can't help the fact you don't understand.

[Eagle Eye]

You are so busted on your dumbass statement that even though you tap danced better than Gregory Hines you still have all the precision of thought of Natalie Maines.

Yep, since using contraception is "practically no different" than converting to Islam, a young couple using the pill while avoiding unwanted pregnancy is practically turning over the West to Islam.

Yes, I understand that Europe has had population drops to the point of being unable to sustain their population but that doesn't mean that Islam is the logical result.

Your statement is about the most bizarre of statements I've ever seen from a supposedly sane person.

[Pyro7480]

Your post #235 was an excellent one.

[traditional1]

[Sparticus]

To paraphrase St. Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologica, "Lust blinds the intelligence."

Agreed. And nothing like abstinence to fan the flames of lust. :-)

[mysterio]

I thought my head was going to explode there for a minute. Sorry.

[Pyro7480]

Wideawake has gone out of his way to explain it to people on this thread. Read them all.

[Warren_Piece]

Nope - I'm a firm believer that demographics is destiny. The exceptions prove the rule.

I'm a southern, male, caucasian, married with children Nascar fan. Of course I'm a Republican.

I have a good friend who is a single, female, trial lawyer. Of course she's a Democrat.

Everybody says they don't want to be put in a box, but it's kind of funny how we all seem to fit into one. Even nonconformists seem to have a dress code.

[Xenalyte]

You're a cat whisperer? Really?

Are you close to Houston?

[Pyro7480]

Without grace, and without discipline, lust will indeed be enflamed.

[TightyRighty]

Alright, I'll do my duty. I'll stop taking the pill and go forth and multiply.

Oh wait, I can't afford anymore kids. But I can go on welfare and then you can support my family. It'll bog down our system, take away money from more important things like protecting our country, but hey, I'll be getting ahead of them Muslims!!

[GOP Poet]

I think part of it is just that this site is a political site and generates critical thinking. Which I think is good, just as your point is also critical of the first comments. That's my stab.

I think libs just come up with that stereotype about conservatives, to make their horrid over the top acting out behavior justified. You make a good point about women in monogamous relationships being the most satisfied and that is a very good point on the conservative end of things.

[oyez]

DUH...what about for making babies????

According to Huxley's "Brave New World" that was a horrible and unnecessary thing to do.

BTW, Did any one go to the Touchy-Feelies last night?

[GOPJ]

Thanks.