Sex Sparks Better Brain Power

If your brain power seems to have fizzled, here’s a fun way to light the spark – more sex.  A study from the Journal of Age and Ageing shows there is an association between sexual activity and cognitive function in adults over 50.

Data was collected from more than 6,800 men and women ages 50 to 83 in England.  They were participants in a long-term study on aging and were asked if they had hooked up in sexual activity in the past 12 months.  Sexual activity was defined as having had participated in intercourse, masturbation or fondling.

To determine if sexual activity had an influence on older adult’s thinking skills, participants were asked to complete a recall test to measure their memory and then another test gauging executive function by identifying a missing number in a numerical sequence.

What researchers uncovered was that sexually active men and women scored significantly higher than sexually inactive adults on the two tests.  But men appeared to have the bigger brain boost than women as sexually men had higher scores on both the memory skills and executive functions tests whereas sexually active women only had a higher score on their memory skills. 

In addition sexually active men and women were more likely to have a higher level of education, be younger, wealthier, more physically active, not depressed, less lonely and have a better quality of life.

It is not totally known why men who are sexually active scored higher on both set of tests but it may be due to hormonal differences that may influence brain function in men and women in different ways. 

This study does not show a cause-and-effect relationship but only an association between sexual activity and cognitive function.  At this time it is too early to say if frequent sex is a path toward a sharp mind but it’s always fun to try and find out.