It is certainly a curious statement that could be the reason for many discussions between friends and couples. The authors of the study belong to Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, and their objective has been to analyze in a specific way whether increasing the frequency of sexual intercourse can directly cause an increase in happiness in those who practice it.
To study this question, they recruited couples and randomly assigned them to an experimental group, which would receive an intervention aimed at doubling the number of sexual encounters , or to a control group that would not receive any type of sexual intervention. Before starting the experiment, all participants completed questionnaires on personality, anxiety, depression, self-efficacy, physical and mental health, and sexual desire .
The study required submitting an online questionnaire daily for three months. This daily report included questions about health-related behaviors, questions about negative and positive affect, and also questions about whether they had had sex the night before, its type, whether it had been satisfactory, whether they managed to reach orgasm, and also questions about quality. of your relationship .
The results of the experiment showed that increasing the frequency with which sex is practiced is not always followed by an increase in the happiness of the practitioners. Contrary to expectations, the increase in the number of sexual encounters resulted in a decrease in desire and enjoyment of sex as well as in the mood of the participants in the experimental (or treatment) group.
The authors reflect on these results and suggest that perhaps what happens is that a higher sexual frequency can lead to people not wanting it as intensely and not enjoying it the same way, and these circumstances could explain why more sex does not mean more happiness necessarily.
Other studies on sex and happiness
In his book The Science of Sex , popularizer Pere Estupinyá cites a work published in 2010 by a Harvard psychologist that described the results collected by an app that asked its users, at random intervals of time, about the activity they were doing at those moments. In addition, the study participants had to rate the well-being that this activity produced on a scale from 0 (minimum) to 100 (maximum).
Some of the most satisfying activities were reading, watching TV, babysitting or listening to the news (65 points on average) and shopping (68), which were in tenth place in the ranking. In seventh place, for example, he found himself walking, praying and meditating. Listening to music in fifth, talking in third, and exercising were second in the rankings. But, without a doubt, the first place on the list was occupied by being in the middle of a sexual relationship, with 92 points on average. “The conclusion was obvious: sex is the activity that makes us feel happier, at least temporarily,” says the popularizer.
Marisa Fernández is Senior Neuropsychologist at Unobrain
