More Sex, Higher Brain Power: Study of Older Adults Suggests

Sharon Moore March 10, 2016

Who says romance ends by the time you reach 50 or 60? Not only does it strengthen your relationship even more but having more sex can actually benefit your cognitive health - which may be at risk as your age increases.

The new study, published in the journal Age and Ageing, found a positive association between sexual activity and cognitive function in adults over the age of 50. Researchers looked at data of 6,800 men and women ages 50 to 89 in England who participated in a long-term study on ageing.

For the current study, participants were asked how often they had sex in the past 12 months. ‘Sex’, in this research, covered different forms such as intercourse, masturbating, petting or fondling.

Participants then completed two cognitive tests - one designed to measure memory and the other their executive function. Researchers from the Centre for Research in Psychology, Behaviour and Achievement at Coventry University in England found that sexually active men and women scored higher than sexually inactive adults on the word-recall and number-sequencing tasks.

For men, more sex was correlated to memory and executive function even after considering other factors like age, education, financial status, health, physical activity and loneliness. Among women, more sex was linked to better memory.

According to the researchers, the difference between the cognitive benefits of sex in men and women may be due to their hormonal differences.

While the study shows a strong link, it doesn’t suggest a cause-and-effect relationship, the researchers note. The researchers will be conducting more studies in the future to delve deeper into the sex and brain function link. They hope to understand the effects of several factors, such as the frequency and type of sexual activity, as well as relationship satisfaction — on cognitive function scores in older adults.

Source of this article:

Sex Tied To Better Brain Power In Older Age