Health Benefits Of Sex - Must Read

People who have sex frequently, one or two times a week have significantly higher levels of immunoglobulin A (IgA). Your IgA immune system is your body’s first line of defense. Its job is to fight off invading organisms at their entry points, reducing or even eliminating the need for activation of your body’s immune system according to articles.mercola.com.
Sex should not only be for pleasure as the youth of today see it.
Many people associate a healthful lifestyle with habits that are not always the most fun… like grueling workouts or skipping dessert.
But this is a misconception, as many of the healthiest habits are also among the most rewarding.
Take sex. It counts as moderately intense exercise plus it boosts numerous aspects of both physical and mental health. As long as you’re engaging in safe-sex practices, increasing your sexual activity is a surefire strategy to better health!
Let’s take a deep look at some of the health benefits of sex.

1. Heart Health
   Men who made love regularly, at least twice a week were 45 percent less likely to develop heart disease than those who did so once a month or less, according to one study.Sex helps keep your estrogen and testosterone levels in balance. When either one of those is low you begin to get lots of problems, likeosteoporosis and even heart disease.
2. Lowers Blood Pressure
   Sexual activity, and specifically sexual intercourse, is linked to better stress response and lower blood pressure.
   
3. Form of Exercise
   Sex helps to boost your heart rate, burn calories and strengthen muscles, just like exercise. A recent research revealed that sex burns about 4 calories a minute for men and 3 for women, making it (at times) a ‘significant’ form of exercise. It can even help you to maintain your flexibility and balance.
   
4. Pain Relief
   Sexual activity releases pain-reducing hormones and has been found to help reduce or block back and leg pain, as well as pain from menstrual cramps, arthritis and headaches.
   
5. May Help Reduce Risk of Prostate Cancer
   Research has shown that men who ejaculate at least 21 times a month during sex or masturbation have a lower risk of prostate cancer. This link needs to be explored further, however, as there may have been additional factors involved in the association.
   
6. Improve Sleep
   After sex, the relaxation-inducing hormone prolactin is released, which may help you to nod off more quickly. The “love hormone” oxytocin, released during orgasm, also promotes sleep this explains why most men fall asleep right after sex.
   
7. Stress Relief
   Being close to your partner can soothe stress and anxiety. Sex triggers your body to release its natural feel-good chemicals, helping to ease stress and boost pleasure, calm and self-esteem.
   

Research also shows that those who have sexual intercourse responded better when subjected to stressful situations like speaking in public.

1. Boost Your Libido
   The more often you have sex, the more likely you are to want to keep doing it. There’s a mental connection there but also a physical one, particularly for women. For women, having sex ups vaginal lubrication, blood flow, and elasticity, all of which make sex feel better and help you crave more of it.
2. Improved Bladder Control in Women
   Intercourse helps to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, which contract during orgasm. This can help women to improve their bladder control and avoid incontinence. Good sex is like a workout for your pelvic floor muscles. When you have an orgasm, it causes contractions in those muscles, which strengthens them.
   
3. Increase Intimacy and Improve Your Relationship
   Sex and orgasms result in increased levels of the hormone oxytocin — the “love” hormone — that helps you feel bonded to your partner, and better experience empathic connections.
   
4. Helps Keep Your Immune System Humming
   “Sexually active people take fewer sick days,” says Yvonne K. Fulbright, PhD a sexual health expert. People who have sex have higher levels of what defends your body against germs, viruses, and other intruders. Researchers at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania found that college students who had sex once or twice a week had higher levels of the a certain antibody compared to students who had sex less often.
   

You should still do all the other things that make your immune system happy, such as:
Eat right.
Stay active.
Get enough sleep.
Keep up with your vaccinations.
Use a condom if you don’t know both of your STD statuses.
These benefits does not guarantee you to go about having sex if you are not married.

Source: Foxvibes.Com