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Feels Good, Good for You

When Marvin Gaye sang about “Sexual Healing,” he didn’t know the half of it. Besides being one of life’s greatest pleasures and a boon to intimacy with your partner, a satisfying sex life also can enhance your health in numerous ways. Sure, it can burn calories, relieve stress and help you fall asleep more easily, but these health-promoting effects are just the tip of the iceberg. Learn other healthy reasons to slip between the sheets with your honey. 

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Rev Up Immunity

Score one for the pleasure principle: Sex, practiced safely and in moderation, could help keep you from getting sick. Research at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, PA, found that college students who made love once or twice a week had substantially higher levels of immunoglobulin A—or IgA, the body’s first line of defense against colds and flu—compared with those who were either abstinent or had sex three or more times per week. 

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Ease Pain

Vaginal stimulation produces a strong pain-blocking effect, possibly due in part to the release of endorphins—brain chemicals with opioid-like properties. “Stimulation of a woman’s G-spot can elevate the pain threshold by over 100 percent with orgasm and over 80 percent with pleasurable stimulation,” notes Beverly Whipple, Ph.D., R.N., professor emerita at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and co-author with Barry Komisaruk, Ph.D., and Carlos Beyer-Flores, Ph.D., of The Science of Orgasm. This means vaginal stimulation during a sexually satisfying romp between the sheets—or anywhere else, for that matter—could relieve a headache, menstrual cramps, arthritis pain, even chronic pain, for anywhere from several minutes up to 24 hours.