How Sex Affects Your Health
Sex is a complex topic that has many implications for both mental and physical health. Whether or not you are actively engaged in a sexual relationship, it is important to be knowledgeable about the various ways that sex can affect you. Here are some of the more significant ways that sex can benefit and complicate your health.
1/16
Reviewed by:
Review Date:
March 31, 2014Citation:
University of Maryland Medical Center, “HIV” University of Maryland Medical Center, “Sexually-transmitted disease” University of Maryland Medical Center, “Safe Sex” University of California at Santa Barbara, “The Benefits of Sex” University of Maryland Medical Center, “Urinary Tract Infection” University of Maryland Medical Center, “Vaginal Yeast Infection” Women’s Health, “Vaginal yeast infections fact sheet” University of Maryland Medical Center, “Urinary Incontinence” The Journal of Sexual Medicine, “The Relative Health Bene?ts of Different Sexual Activities” American Heart Association, “Sex and High Blood Pressure” Biological Psychology, “Blood pressure reactivity to stress is better for people who recently had penile-vaginal intercourse tha The American Journal of Cardiology, “Sexual Activity, Erectile Dysfunction, and Incident Cardiovascular Events” Psychological Reports, “Sexual frequency and salivary immunoglobulin A (IgA).” Psychology Today, “Want to Prevent Colds? Have Sex Weekly” Urological Institute of Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, “Does Sexual Activity Affect My Risk of Cancer?” NIH, “Can a sexually transmitted disease or sexually transmitted infection (STD/STI) lead to cancer?” Regulatory Peptides, “Intracerebral oxytocin modulates sleep–wake behaviour in male rats” The University of Chicago Medicine, “Sleep loss lowers testosterone in healthy young men” Journal of Epidemiol Community Health, “Sexual intercourse and risk of ischaemic stroke and coronary heart disease: the Caerphil Harvard Medical School, “Oh please, not the “sex causes heart attack” story again” The American Journal of Cardiology, “Sexual Activity, Erectile Dysfunction, and Incident Cardiovascular Events” Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine, “Extremely low doses of oxytocin reduce pain sensitivity in men” Health Central, “Orgasm, Migraines, and Headaches” University of Maryland Medical Center, “Psoriasis” University of Maryland Medical Center, “Eczema” International Journal of Dermatology, “Psoriasis and sex: a study of moderately to severely affected patients.” Courtesy of Jose Antonio Sánchez Reyes | Dreamstime.com Courtesy of Ginasanders | Dreamstime Courtesy of Martinmark | Dreamstime Courtesy of Yuri Arcurs | Dreamstime Courtesy of Bowie15 | Dreamstime Courtesy of Yuri Arcurs | Dreamstime Courtesy of Martin Fischer | Dreamstime Courtesy of Kurhan | Dreamstime Courtesy of Kati1313 | Dreamstime Courtesy of Monkey Business Images | Dreamstime Courtesy of Wavebreakmedia Ltd | Dreamstime Courtesy of Crystal Craig | Dreamstime Courtesy of Mystock88photo | Dreamstime Courtesy of Yuri Arcurs | Dreamstime Courtesy of Rido | Dreamstime
Last Updated:
July 1, 2014