How Your Sex Life Can Really Affect Your Health

As an important part of life, sex is commonly associated with its emotional effects, but did you know it can also greatly affect your physical wellbeing? Sex is a natural human process, serving as the building block for reproduction and intimacy, but its health benefits are just as crucial. Ranging from strengthening your immune system to bladder control, getting enough sex will feel good and be good for your body, too.

As Healthline outlines, sex has several intellectual, emotional, psychological, and physical benefits. A healthy sex life starts with understanding its importance to overall wellbeing. With regard to physical health, sex can serve as cardiovascular exercise, revving up your heart rate and using various muscles (via WebMD). As with other forms of exercise, sex can burn calories, strengthen muscles, and increase hearth health. Although sex should not be used as your only form of exercise, the act is associated with overall better physical fitness and a better diet.

Moreover, research has found a possible link between sex and lower blood pressure. As Dr. Joseph J. Pinzone told WebMD, one study "found that sexual intercourse specifically lowered systolic blood pressure." Interestingly enough, it may even lower your risk of heart attack. Sex balances out estrogen and testosterone levels, which can lead to heart disease if persistently too low. In fact, WebMD points out one study that found that men who had sex at least twice a week were half as likely to die of heart disease than those men who had sex less.

According to WebMD, having a healthy sex life can also strengthen your immune system, a benefit that's as important as ever. While a healthy diet and getting enough sleep can also boost your immunity, sexual health expert, Yvonne K. Fulbright, told the website that "sexually active people take fewer sick days." In fact, Wilkes University researchers even found that college students who had sex one to two times a week had a higher level of antibodies than students who had less sex. Healthline adds to that point, citing another study that found that frequent sex led to more immunoglobulin A in saliva, which is an antibody that prevents illnesses.

While regular sex may even lower your risk of getting the cold or flu (via Verywell Mind), the benefits don't stop there. Sex is a known stress-reliever, raising endorphins which boost your mood, and can even prevent an increase in blood pressure during anxiety-inducing moments (via Everyday Health). It also naturally decreases pain, relieving menstrual cramps in women, and even improving headaches, with 60 percent of migraine sufferers reporting less pain after having sex (via Healthline). As Dr. Barry R. Komisaruk told WebMD, "Orgasm can block pain," releasing a hormone that raises pain tolerance.

Sex is even a known sleep aid, releasing oxytocin and endorphins that can put you right into dreamland. Improving bladder control and building stronger pelvic muscles in women, while decreasing men's risk of prostate cancer (via Healthline), sex's near-limitless health benefits are seriously impressive.