More sex means living longer, says science. One doc claims it can add up to eight years to your life.
by Philip Weiss
At a school reunion last summer, one former classmate looked 10 years younger than the rest of us. Someone finally asked his secret. “Three orgasms a week,” he said, to laughter. Later I asked him if he was serious, and he referred to a study showing that, when all the various scientific claims for improving longevity are fed into one database, you gain two extra years by flossing every night and three years by having more than three orgasms a week. It went against all the negative folk wisdom I’d heard about how having too much sex could drain me of my “chi,” bring on depression, or even lead to a stroke.
As it turns out, the benefits of sex are a factor in all three categories of male mortality — heart disease, cancer, and environmental causes (stress, accident, suicide) — and plenty of scientists are pushing the idea that the more sex you have the longer you’ll live. The Johnny Appleseed of the theory is Michael Roizen, a 62-year-old doctor who chairs the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic.
“For men, the more the better,” he says. “The typical man who has 350 orgasms a year, versus the national average of around a quarter of that, lives about four years longer.” And more than those extra four years, Roizen says, the men will feel eight years younger than their contemporaries. Is there an optimal number of orgasms for the average man? Roizen suggests, with a straight face, that 700 a year could add up to eight years to your life. This is an ambitious prescription: The average American adult male has sex just 81 times a year.
Roizen’s formula may be new, but the benefits of sex and orgasms have been tracked for years, and there’s some compelling hard evidence to back Roizen’s claims. A Swedish study done in the ’80s found that 70-year-olds who made it to 75 were the ones still having sex, and a Duke University study that followed 252 people over 25 years concluded that “frequency of intercourse was a significant predictor of longevity.”
Do it now:
Have sex for up to 13 minutes. A recent survey from Penn State University in Erie found that seven to 13 minutes of intercourse (from the time the penis enters the vagina until ejaculation) was most enjoyable. Respondents, who consisted of psychologists and doctors, among others, also found that one to two minutes was too short and 14 to 30 minutes too long.
But the big kahuna of longevity studies was completed just 10 years ago in Wales. British scientists interviewed nearly 1,000 men in six small villages about their sexual frequency, then arranged for all death records to be forwarded so the scientists could record their life spans. Ten years later they determined that men who had two or more orgasms a week had died at a rate half that of the men who had orgasms less than once a month. “Sexual activity seems to have a protective effect on men’s health,” the researchers concluded.
Skeptics will tell you that these studies don’t actually prove that people live longer because of sex. “Maybe healthier people have more orgasms, instead of the other way around,” says Erick Janssen of the Kinsey Institute. His colleague Debby Herbenick points out that the Wales study failed to even ask whether the men were in relationships; science makes a strong case that good marriages improve men’s longevity. “Studies are demonstrating that there are longevity health benefits to sex,” says Beverly Whipple, professor emerita at Rutgers and co-author of the book The Science of Orgasm. “But we can’t say there’s a definite cause and effect.”
Which raises the question: What exactly is the science behind all these studies? An orgasm is a major neurological and physiological event (Alfred Kinsey once described it as “the expulsive discharge of neuromuscular tensions”). The bloodstream is flooded with hormones such as oxytocin and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). At its height just a few minutes after ejaculation, oxytocin may increase bonding, leading people to fall in love, but it also reduces stress and brings on sleep. DHEA is actually a steroid and has been shown to reduce the risk of heart attack in middle-aged men. Both hormones have been shown to reduce depression.
Sex, even as little as once or twice a week, also increases immunoglobulin levels — the stuff in your blood that fights infection and disease — as much as 30 percent higher than in those who abstain.
Interestingly, most orgasm studies blur the line between sex and masturbation, referencing both as “sexual expression.” Roizen believes masturbation is, at the very least, “a good supplement to monogamous sex,” and prostate cancer rates have been proven to directly correlate to frequency of ejaculation. Scientists say ejaculating at least four times a week can reduce one’s risk by up to 30 percent.
Although Roizen’s 700 orgasms per year is unrealistic for most of us, research suggests that two to three orgasms a week will still yield benefits. And yet another study has shown that those having sex three times a week on average appear seven to 12 years younger than their actual ages. Remember that before your next high school reunion.
This article originally appeared in the February 2009 issue of Men’s Journal.
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May 3rd, 2009 at 11:45 pm
If the same is true for women, then this finally explains why I still get carded for lottery tickets and still can’t get into a bar at almost 40 years old. I’ve always wondered if it was all the preservatives I eat…ha ha - guess not. What good news! But if it’s all about a hormone/steriod rush, then doesn’t that mean there’s a chance of addiction. That would be an interesting 12-step program.
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June 17th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Am I to understand that the vast majority of people have fewer than 3 orgasms a week, if any? That doesn’t sound right to me…even if it were the case, you know, it’s not like it’s difficult…prolly way easier than sticking to a diet, unless you’re a woman who has trouble having orgasms in the first place…
In any case, if you’re having more orgasms than your friends, bravo!
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July 17th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
I believe that good sex and regular sex keeps you feeling younger, or maybe it is simply the way one is suppose to feel, and the lack of orgasm makes you feel older before your time! My sex life has never been better and I owe this primarily to learning about deliberate orgasm. It is a whole approach to your sex life that quite literally saved my relationship. I am happier than I have ever been.
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December 10th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
I truly agree with you concerning this subject. Nice entry. Already bookmarked for future reference.
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December 15th, 2009 at 5:53 am
Feel some major benefits are the sharing of male and female energy, fluids, even emotional energy, combined into the organism makes it an excellent life enhancer, and a fun one at that~ So the more couples have, learning how to enjoy, help each other enjoy both the journey as well as that Rockin’ destination make it the best natural medicine for life extension.
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December 28th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
I’m 40y/o and my wife and I have had sex 265 this year. She for some reason would put a star in her calander everytime we had sex and just started keeping track. We have always been very active but this year she kept track and we have been married for 15 yrs. We both get complimented on how young we look. I get most of my compliments from my male friends, they always ask what’s my secret? Well I’m in good shape and I use the the love muscle like I was 18. I think the more you use it just like any other muscle, the better it stays in shape. Good cardiovascular blood flow so staying in good shape provides oxygen to the muscles weather it be lifting, running, or sex. It allows me to keep a good strong erection for 30 min. And for a women staying in shape I feel gets the same results, she can provide greater blood to the clitorial area and my wife is also in good shape. So even though my knees ache sometimes I feel like I can still compete with any 25 y/o in all areas….and that was 265 times together not including masterbation and yes she was masterbating too and I know because she tells me.
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January 9th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Hmmm…I think it’s pretty shortsighted to assume that all orgasms are equal in their effects when so much research shows that close, trusted companionship and affectionate touch are what soothe our nervous systems best (and would easily account for greater longevity and lower rates of illness as a consequence.
Also, prostate cancer research does NOT consistently suggest that orgasm frequency is a factor in preventing the disease. In this study, for example, those who had sex most had higher rates. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7850666.stm In any case, it’s looking like prostate cancer is more likely tied to sexually transmitted viruses/infections.
When you read those “how I lived to age 100″ articles, do you ever see, “jerking off 7 times a day?” If orgasm itself led to all things good, porn addicts would be the happiest, healthiest folks on the planet.
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April 22nd, 2010 at 9:07 am
Sex everyday can add 8 years to your life. Well, well, I got some good news to share with my girl friend.
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April 30th, 2010 at 12:36 am
You can add 2 years just by flossing, that really is something. I really wonder if all these studies give accurate numbers though.
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July 29th, 2010 at 9:35 am
My wife and I have been together 30 years. In those 30 years we have had sex unknown thousands of times. In our younger days we had sex 3 to 4 times a day. Our record is 9 times in one day, but we were both in our twenties. But as a guess we still have sex twice a day, usually morning and night. If you do the math, and just say twice a day, sometimes more, sometimes less, and some days not at all, it might look like this: 365×2=730×30=21,900
Now I think we can reduce that by 1,000, because of factors of having kids and times we weren’t together. But my estimate is still over 20,000 and still going. We feel great, and barring anything major, we plan to get to 100. We love sex, each other, and being naked.
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August 15th, 2010 at 10:30 am
i jizzed.
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August 19th, 2010 at 9:59 am
Keep up the fantastic work. I’ve been doing research on orgasms, and yours is one of the most informative websites I’ve found. Your readers may also be interested in a very unique video I came across about types of orgasm. I’ve only seen it the one place, http://www.cool-neatstuff.com. It’s free I just had to do a quick survey for spam prevention
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