Stressed-out moms are getting new instructions from the love doctor.
A new study has found that sex can be an effective way to prevent the harmful effects of stress, especially metabolic disorders, in mothers of young children. For mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder, mothers who have regular sex have been found to have higher levels of healthy metabolic hormones than mothers who do not have sex.
Long-term stress takes a toll on the body and increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, depression, stroke and obesity, but research shows that even small amounts of increased physical activity can help prevent these diseases.
“Given the detrimental effects of chronic stress on metabolic health, investigating protective factors is crucial. As a relationship researcher, I am particularly interested in whether different aspects of relationship experiences may play such a protective role,” said Yubin Park, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, San Francisco and an author on the study.
She continued: “Sexual activity emerged as a promising candidate due to its stress-relieving effects and positive impact on processes such as sleep, which can be impaired by stress and lead to metabolic disorders. To our knowledge, no studies have previously investigated whether sexual activity can buffer the biological effects of stress. Therefore, this study was exploratory in nature and aimed to fill that gap.”
The researchers asked 183 women aged 20 to 50, who had at least one child aged 2 to 16, to take part in Perceived Stress Scale assessments periodically over a two-year period. During each assessment period, participants were asked to complete a seven-day diary questionnaire and a clinic visit to collect health data, including blood samples and key metabolic indicators such as insulin, insulin resistance, leptin, and ghrelin.
The last two assessments were the most important for the study because they were the only ones that focused on questions about sex, asking mothers each day if they had had sex the night before, and also measuring related variables such as overall relationship satisfaction and level of physical activity in daily life. Those who reported having sex at least once during the one-week assessment period were considered to be sexually active. Once the data was collected, a total of 101 women were identified as either consistently sexually active or consistently inactive.
Mothers raising at least one child with ASD were grouped together in a “high stress” group, while all other mothers were assigned to a “low stress” group.
Overall, high-stress mothers tended to have higher levels of insulin and insulin resistance, and lower levels of ghrelin, compared to low-stress mothers, except when sexual activity was a factor. Compared to the low-stress group, sexually inactive high-stress mothers fared much worse than sexually active mothers. In contrast, sexually active mothers showed a similar metabolic profile, regardless of stress group.
“In a nutshell, our findings suggest that the adverse metabolic health effects associated with stress are significantly reduced among sexually active individuals,” Park said. He told PsyPost These benefits were found to be beneficial regardless of how much exercise participants engaged in or how satisfied they were in their relationships. “So overall, although further research is needed to understand the exact mechanisms by which sexual activity protects against the negative effects of stress-related metabolic health, our findings suggest that the benefits of being sexually active go beyond just being generally active or being in a happy relationship.”
The researchers hope that their findings can contribute to a better understanding of the health benefits of sex. “Further research is needed in this area to gain deeper insight into the mechanisms underlying the benefits of sex and to understand the generalizability of its protective effects,” said Park.
