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.

[mysterio]

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

Uhhh... Yeah. I'm going to have to go ahead and sort of disgree with you there.

[durasell]

It's the demography, stupid ..... Mark Steyn





Then you might be interested to know that more mosques are being built in Africa than almost anywhere else and conversion rates are through the roof.

[dawn53]

women who reported having sex an average of four times per week looked approximately 10 years younger than they really were

If so, then prostitutes should look much younger than other women their age. (end/sarcasm)

[goodnesswins]

DUH...what about for making babies????

[ArrogantBustard]

And, what? You think that's a good thing?

[Pyro7480]

That may be true. However, conversion rates in Africa to Christianity are also "through the roof."

[durasell]

Wow, just wow. I don't even know what to say to someone that believes something like this.





Neither do I, but putting on a condom must be a very different experience for them.

[Pyro7480]

Read post #43 and the link in post #53.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Asexual reproduction is ... the most common means of reproduction.

Hmmm. I guess this must be counting all the division of bacterium.

How is this measured? By number of living organisms? By tonnage of the organisms on planet earth? Please elaborate.

[stm]

"The utter lack of rational responses to the accurate statement I made indicates that you and your cohorts have nothing useful to say."

Getting a just little too overtightened over this subject wouldn't you say?

Maybe you need to have more sex!

[Physicist]

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.

You're my secret beauty routine
Na, na, na, na, what my body has seen
I am lookin' good and I'm feeling nice
Baby you're the best magazine advice

Gimme your...

[wideawake]

Wow, just wow. I don't even know what to say to someone that believes something like this.

You did say something. You registered surprise.

I would invite you to read the first section of Mary Steyn's America Alone.

Muslims are gaining control over Europe demographically, because they are reproducing at natural rates and native Europeans are contracepting themselves out of existence.

There are neighborhoods in France where 15 years ago the French and Muslim populations were equal, but now those neighborhoods are overwhelmingly Muslim because the average Muslim woman has had five children in those neighborhoods over the past 15 years while half the French women have had none and the other half have had one.

They have basically handed over their community to Islam in 15 years.

You can say wow to that as well, but try thinking it through afterwards.

[Physicist]

How many kids do you have?

[BritExPatInFla]

C'mon, no biological explanations, please, only theological explanations will pass the smell test among some of our more right leaning members. In realty, sex is a pleasurable, activity. In the skewed reality in which we are supposedly headed (Christian theocracy), sex is a gift from God that only married believers may participate, otherwise it's a dirty, animalistic activity. 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.

[durasell]

And, what? You think that's a good thing?



No. I don't think that's a bad thing, but the mosques are offering education, food, social services. A ton of muslim money is pouring into some of those countries.

So, you could say that by not heaping money into African charities is the same as converting to Islam.

[traditional1]

[Pyro7480]

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.

You have more dignity than that.

[Ichneumon]

DUH...what about for making babies????

Okay, then, you've made a case for having sex 1-10 times in a lifetime...

I think the author was considering reasons for having it a bit more often than that.

[wideawake]

Three so far. Hopefully several more in the future, God willing.

I've only been married for a few years - given continued health we can probably hope for five or six more.

[EricT.]

Actually, sex is an impediment to reproduction.

I have 3 kids. It's the other way around.