The INSIDER Summary:
- A study showed that people who have more frequent sex had improved their brain functions as they got older.
- Verbal fluency saw the biggest benefit from frequent sex.
Forget those puzzles and flashcards — a new study found that higher brain function could be linked to getting busy between the sheets.
The study, conducted by Coventry University and Oxford University, found that having frequent amounts of sex could be tied to improved brain functions as people got older.
As exciting as this news may be, the study was pretty small. Researchers polled 73 people ages 50-83 about how much sex they were having on average, as well as other lifestyle and health questions. They also had the participants partake in a test that is often used to measure the brain functions of older people, which tests attention, memory, fluency, language, and visuospatial ability.
While the study — published in the The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological and Social Sciences — did not show a link between the frequency of sex and attention, memory or language — those who had sex monthly, weekly, and not at all seemed to perform at the same rate — researchers then tested people on their verbal fluency and their ability to visually perceive objects and the spaces between them.
They found that those who engaged in sex weekly — rather than monthly or not at all — scored higher on these tests, particularly in verbal fluency.
This isn't a perfect science, as researchers note in their release of the findings, but they say that the link appears to be there and that with more research, they can be more sure that it's real.
Lead researcher Hayley Wright — from Coventry University's Centre for Research in Psychology, Behavior, and Achievement — encouraged researchers to pursue the idea of this link no matter the societal norms it breaks.
"People don't like to think that older people have sex – but we need to challenge this conception at a societal level and look at what impact sexual activity can have on those aged 50 and over, beyond the known effects on sexual health and general well-being," she said in a release.
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: The psychology behind who says ‘I love you’ first in a relationship