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.

[RadioAstronomer]

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

ROTFLMAO!

[wideawake]

Amusing to those with no foresight, but it's true nevertheless.

[balrog666]

Funny the hangups some people have...

[wideawake]

Well, I actually went out and did the real math.

First, a few observations before I report the data.

(1) The data is drawn from the CIA World Factbook, some gaps in population numbers supplied by Britannica.

(2) CzarNicky used the children per woman number, I use the more accurate rate of reproductive growth number which corrects for discrepancies in infant mortality.

That correction favors the West, of course, and not Islam.

(3) The numbers are inevitably skewed in the West's favor, since the large Islamic communities in Western Europe are represented in the West's numbers. These Muslims are basically counted as Westerners.

(4) I made of a list of the world's 34 Muslim majority nations and then I made a list of 59 Western nations comprising not only Europe and the Americas and Oceania, but also India and South Africa.

(6) The numbers which CzarNicky did indeed cherry-pick include 6 Muslim countries in the bottom quartile of the Muslim world's fertility and 4 of the smallest Muslim countries vs. the US which has the sixth highest growth rate of Western countries of any size (behind Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and India)

(7) Normalizing the data, we find that the aggregate population growth rate of the Muslim world is 1.74% annually versus an aggregate annual growth rate of 0.08% for the West.

(8) Four Western countries out of almost 60 are carrying the ball for the entire West: Brazil, India, Mexico and the USA. They account for 22 out of 23 million net new Westerners each year.

[Nam Vet]

Hi there Sweetie! Long time, no see.

Nam Vet

[teenyelliott]

Hey sugar lump. What you doin on a sex thread???????!!!!!!! : )

[lesser_satan]

bump

[Dianna]

bookmarking for later

[Future Snake Eater]

Guess what, we ARE animals, simply more developed than others, therefore we have the need to participate in certain activities, whether or not a bible, torah or quaran says it's OK.

If that's true then there's no moral binding for any of us. Conscience is an illusion. Thankfully, neither is the case, and your statement is completely ridiculous.

However, the thought that sex should only be for reproduction is also ridiculous. It can indeed be for pleasure, but the Bible says it's only for married people to enjoy. Now if you don't believe that, that's your prerogative. It's not Christians' responsibility to enforce the moral standard, merely to make it known. God can do His own enforcing.

[Syncro]

LOL my last gf has awesome crows feet!

[Syncro]

LOL, Hi Redwood howzit?

[Syncro]

Just so there is no misunderstanding, I meant How are you?

[Wormwood]

It's not Christians' responsibility to enforce the moral standard, merely to make it known. God can do His own enforcing.

If only more believers would heed that simple and elegant piece of advice.

[REDWOOD99]

I'm glad you clarified that! I'm fine, Doc. How are you?

[Syncro]

Reel good thanks...

[steve-b]

Hey, you've got a new mascot for your cause....

[wideawake]

My cause is not the multiplication of Muslims.

It's interesting that the enemy is paying attention to reality while we ignore it.