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.

[AppyPappy]

Yes I am. I'm not worried about the numbers of Muslims.

[Scarchin]

I was just about to post the same thing as you did.

[vetvetdoug]

The only reason a man bathes is so he will smell good and attract a female and have sex. The only reason a man builds a house and takes on a mortgage is so he can attract a female and have sex. The only reason a man works is so he can make money and afford to have sex. The only reason a man eats is so he can have the strength to have sex. The only reason a man does anything is so he can have sex...

This is my theory and I am sticking to it.

[RandallFlagg]

Actually it will be that, for some reason or another, the reasons NOT to outweigh the reasons TO do.

Where'd I put that credit card......

[unspun]

Sex within marriage is thorouoghly different than sex outside of a marriage.

[wideawake]

There is NO comparison between birth control and converting to ISLAM!

Of course there is - there is a practical comparison.

The practical effect of converting to Islam is to abandon your future to Islam.

The practical effect of having minimal or no children is to abandon your future to Islam.

The process is different, but the consequence a generation from now is the same.

[mysterio]

I'm not about to start having kids I'm not ready for yet just because someone of a different religion doesn't use rubbers.

[durasell]

And don't forget China, which is moving into Africa in a very big way.

[Pyro7480]

As I said earlier, lust blinds the intelligence, even the intelligence of "conservatives."

[teenyelliott]

Bravo.

What a brilliant answer.

[A Texan]

Nice post but how am I (or anyone else for that matter) suppose to decipher this is what you where referencing in your original blanket statement post? BTW, since I lack the ability to communicate telepathically and FR is not setup with web cams the only way to register shock or any emotion at all is is to type it.

As for the info you posted later, I do not believe this is a problem you can breed your way out of. The answer to the problem is to make immigrants assimilate to our society not just try to match them number to number.

[AppyPappy]

Yes there is only one Western child. How could I have been so foolish

[ArrogantBustard]

China is an interesting (and thoroughly messed up) place ... but I suspect its future is brighter (and I don't mean massive nuclear explosions) than we may think. Christianity is thriving there, despite persecution and being forced underground ... The Romans tried to destroy Christianity ... and ended up becoming Christian. I wouldn't be too surprised to see something similar happen in China over the next couple of generations.

[Myrddin]

Sex within marriage is thorouoghly different than sex outside of a marriage.

I have a calendar full of daily "funnies". On one a couple of women are sitting in the kitchen. One says, "What's the big deal about same sex marriage? My husband and I have been having the same sex for 25 years."

[spunkets]

"Don't cry to me then when the Mohammedan hordes run roughshod across the world."

I cry to anyone to save my ass and there hasn't been, nor is there now, a horde that scares me in the least.

The purpose of life is not war and the reason for giving the gift of life is not to generate allies in war.

[gridlock]

Let's see... What's missing from that list?

Hmmmm...

Actually, quite a few things are missing from that list, aren't they?

[N. Theknow]

What's foreplay?

It is what couples engage in after buying a home entertainment center from Frederick's of Hollywood.

Try some Halloween candy.

[wideawake]

Yeah and they are mindless robots who kill each other with amazing frequency.

They would be even more happy to turn that murderous rage on you and yours.

Already in Belgium, Holland, Scandinavia and the UK they are.

And in Holland in 10-15 years they will have enough votes to ensure that the continuing immigration of their brethren to Holland will never end until they are in full control.

But I'm sure the well-educated Dutch children are superior in every way to the jihadists' kids.

That's probably why they are voting with their feet.

But Westerners can only run to less direly-overrun portions of the West for so long, until we run out of Westerners or out of West.

Right now we're running out of both.

Voluntarily.

[gun_supporter]

<> AGREED!

[Campion]

I do not believe this is a problem you can breed your way out of. The answer to the problem is to make immigrants assimilate to our society

They don't want to assimilate. They want to take over. If everyone else is having only 1.2 children per woman, it won't take very long, will it?