What are the scientific reasons for having sex?

The Register (UK) ^ | 10 oct 06 | Dr Stephen Juan

[white trash redneck]

What are the scientific reasons for having sex?

Asked by Jill Howard of Alexandria, Virginia, USA

The reasons for not engaging in sex include transmission of diseases, heart attack due to exertion, and many others. The reasons for engaging in sex are numerous. Among these are:

• Sex helps boost the immune system. According to Dr Carl Charnetski of the Department of Psychology at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, people who reported one or two sexual "episodes" per week enjoyed higher levels of Immunoglobin A. This is an antibody that helps fight disease.

• Sex helps boost longevity. In one study cited by Dr Charnetski, men who had more orgasms over a 10 year period boosted their longevity compared with those who had fewer.

• Sex helps ward off cancer. In another study cited by Dr Charnetski, men who had more ejaculations over a 35 year period had 33 per cent less prostate cancer compared to those with fewer ejaculations.

• Sex results in a more youthful appearance. According to a study by Dr David Weeks, a clinical neuropsychologist at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in Scotland and co-author of Superyoung (1999), men and women who reported having sex an average of four times per week looked approximately 10 years younger than they really were.

• Sex helps reduce stress. Numerous studies show that it does this through lowering anxiety levels, boosting relaxation, and aiding sleeping.

• Sex helps fight depression. A study by Dr Gordon Gallup of the Department of Psychology at the State University of New York at Albany found that women who regularly engage in heterosexual sex in which they come in contact with semen were significantly less depressed than those women that did not. he causal relationship is unclear. Dr Gallup speculates that "possibly because when absorbed through the vagina, semen may have an effect on mood in women". However, Dr Gallup is quick to point out: "Regardless of the findings, this study does not advocate that people abstain from using condoms. Protecting oneself from an unwanted pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease is far more important."

• Sex helps coping with middle age. This is the inference drawn from research by Dr GA Bachmann at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey and published first in 1995 in the International Journal of Fertility and Menopausal Studies and continuing in The Journal of Sexual Medicine in 2006.

• Sex is good exercise. Exercise helps circulation, lowers cholesterol, and releases helpful endorphins.

• Sex helps in losing weight. Well, at least a little. One burns approximately four to five calories per minute or perhaps 300 calories per hour during sex (depending upon how, shall we say, "vigorous" the sex is). About 7,000 to 8,000 excess calories must be burned to lose one kilogram of fat (3,500 to lose one pound). You do the calculations.

Stephen Juan, Ph.D. is an anthropologist at the University of Sydney.

[steve-b]

Nonsense. It is impossible to sustain geometric increase indefinitely.

[RockinRight]

There is no practical difference between using contraception and converting to Islam.

And we wonder why liberals and moderates think we're nuts? I realize the point you're trying to make...but that's not the way to make it.

[Warren_Piece]

wow this article brought out some of the nuttier examples of the godsquad

Do I think wideawake is nuts? No, just...

enthusiastic...

Do I think usage of the term "godsquad" (especially when it is only tangetial to the subject at hand) is extremly offensive and worthy of the abuse button? You betcha.

Take your bigotry somewhere else.

[RockinRight]

[Oberon]

Oh, well then, thanks to people like you, we are all gonna die.

Yeah, but that's all right. We were all gonna die before he came along anyhow. =]

[teenyelliott]

Well, yes, but since many men in other parts of the world have more than one wife, and as a result can have many more children, we should take up those practices as well if we are going to compete in the race to populate the world.

[wideawake]

Or are you only considering Europe and the USA as Western countries?

Mexico and Brazil are Western countries, of course.

And they are in the same boat.

Brazil has a reproductive growth rate of 1.04%.

Mexico has an rpr of 1.16%.

The USA has an rpr of .91%.

They are barely growing.

[durasell]

Note, for example, the annual stories of "Ramadan Rioting" ... in western Europe.




I'm not quite sure what to make of that. More there than meets the eye. Perhaps a new strain of radicalism (westernized) or just frustrated kids or adults stirring the pot.

[spunkets]

Thanks.

[Last Dakotan]

My bet is this thread will hit 500+ postings in 24 hours.

[WKB]

I do note that that is a VERY glaring omission from the list. I mean, there is a good reason God made sex fun.



I thought you said very glaring emission there for a second.

[durasell]

And we wonder why liberals and moderates think we're nuts? I realize the point you're trying to make...but that's not the way to make it.



How about this:

POP KIDS OUT LIKE A PEZ DISPENSER AND SAVE THE WORLD!

[Doomonyou]

Scientifically, 90% of the male brain function occurs in or around the scrotal arena, so sex keeps a mans brain in top shape.

[VRWCmember]

There is no practical difference between using contraception and converting to Islam.

You'll be gettin' a whole lotta flak for that little bit of truth.

That "little bit of truth" does not hold up to Scriptural scrutiny. Before the Scripture says anything about "be fruitful and multiply" it says "... therefore the man shall ... cling to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." So God's purpose for sex, even more than procreation, is for a husband and wife to become one flesh through the physical and emotional intimacy of sex. It is reserved for marriage, but it is not reserved only for procreation.

[ArrogantBustard]

Who said anything about "cannon fodder"? We (the West) don't do cannon fodder any more, and only did for a brief time. Numbers remain important. I realize that you have met some very nice people who happen to be moslems. So have I. Doesn't mean I want to live in a country ruled by moslems, according to mohammedan principles. Yet that is precisely the goal of islam; it is not to assimilate, to become Western. It is to destroy the West. Always has been.

[steve-b]

So, in theory, if there were only one single Western child but he was the most well-behaved, intelligent and cultured individual ever he would be more than a match for one billion Islamic kids and the future would belong to him?

Traditionally, it's been considered prudent to require two people to turn the keys, on the theory that they won't both develop odd theories about their precious bodily fluids.

However, the systems could be refitted to be operable single-handed.

[wideawake]

Well, yes, but since many men in other parts of the world have more than one wife, and as a result can have many more children, we should take up those practices as well if we are going to compete in the race to populate the world.

It isn't a matter of competition.

It is a matter of giving up on the future or working toward the future.

If there are 1 billion Muslims going to 1.5B and there are 800M Westerners, going to 1B, say - the West isn't "winning" some battle of sheer numbers.

B ut it is maintaining and growing its population and remaining large enough to defend itself.

If there are 1B Muslims going to 1.5B and there 800M Westerners going to 400M, that's just cultural suicide.

[stm]

No, I consider it humor. Try it one time. You might like it.

[Physicist]

Odd question for a man of science to ask.

D'oh, you're right. I should have just looked up the right answer: 1.86.

Is "looking for hypocrisy" your first reaction to a logical argument being presented?

Actually, I wanted to see whether I outrank him. I have four, so there.

Can you refute the premise put forth, that by refusing to reproduce one cedes the future to those who do?

When it comes to religion, there's no guarantee that will work. His kids could convert, or marry Muslims, in which case his efforts will have backfired.

I'm on firmer ground: I had more kids not to outcompete Muslims, but to outcompete stupid people.

[mysterio]

I knew someone would pick up on that! lol