Does Sex Make Us Happy?

Having regular consensual and pleasurable sex is good for both mental and physical health. But having more than usual sex may have a counter effect. Just like anything had in excess does. 

Satisfying sex could be a very important part of our well-being. And in turn improve our quality of life, our feel-good factor.

Shervin Assari, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Public Health, University of Michigan writes about his findings. "In one of my studies on 551 married patients with heart disease, individuals who had a higher frequency of sexual intercourse reported higher marital quality, marital consensus, marital coherence, marital affection expression and overall marital satisfaction. These results are replicated in multiple studies."

In a series of studies in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, psychologists noted on the benefits of sex beyond its immediate pleasure or bliss. The question was not just - does sex make us happy? It was also how long does it make us happy? 

Does Sex Make Us Happy? What do Studies Say?

This study, as reported here, looked at long term impact. It noted that the main reason that more sex seems to contribute to "greater long-term happiness is because of all the cuddling (and other expressions of affection) that’s involved, both at the time, and for hours afterwards."

One study even put a monetary estimate on this level of happiness that sex can bring. A happiness booster from having sex once a week can potentially feel like the feel-good you’d get from earning an extra $50,000 a year!

But there are also many good reasons why a lot of sex may not make us happy. Data from a result done by Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh tracked happiness of couples over a three month period. For the study, the people interviewed were married, heterosexual couples, aged 35 to 65.

All couples had twice the amount of sex per week during the course of the survey. According to the researchers, people who had more sex were not happier than those who had their usual amount of sex. The study further concluded that actually those were had sex twice as often, saw a drop in their happiness levels. 

Was it because it's 'special' value reduced? Was it because doing it often made it less desirable? One big reason was that these couples had to 'plan to have sex' rather than spontaneously have sex. 

A great part of a good healthy and satisfying sex life is having it spontaneous while your juices are flowing. 

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