A new study shows that sex in front of the bed is associated with better sleep. Here is the reason
Finding the perfect recipe for a good sleep can feel quite complicated. Experts have recommended everything from the cooling of their bedroom to the consistent sleeping and alarm times to medical screens for hours before going to bed. But now you can add a much simpler hack to the list: have sex.
This is the most important snack from a new study published in the journal Sleep Health. This is a pilot study, so the results are temporary, but they raise many questions about how sexual activities can help us to sleep better and whether they should take this step into account for themselves. The following found the following and the doctors want them to take into account.
Meet the experts: W. Christopher Winter, MD, a neurologist and sleep doctor at Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine and host of the sleeping plug -Podcast; Jessica O’reilly, PhD, relationship expert and sexologist of Astroglid; Jennifer Breiter, Md.
What did the pilot study find?
For the study, researchers recruited seven heterosexual couples who lived healthy, sexually active and in Australia. The participants, who were in their mid -20s, reported that they had sex at least twice a week.
The researchers monitored the participants over 11 nights and asked them to do three different things: not to have sexual activity, to deal with Solo -Sex that ended in an orgasm and have teamed up as a gender that ended in an orgasm. In order to measure their sleep, the participants wore a wireless headband to pursue their brain activity, movement and breathing overnight. They also filled out diaries every morning to pursue their sexual activity, sleep quality, mood and on -call feelings for the coming day.
The researchers discovered all kinds of interesting things. On nights when the participants had sex, they later went to bed without sex at night. But they also spent about seven minutes less to be awake at night after they had crowned themselves and actually spent a large amount of their time in bed (basically they had good sleep efficiency). In general, sleep efficiency after masturbation was 93.2 percent and according to the gender of 93.4 percent, while on nights when people had no sex, 91.5 percent was.
Note: The participants didn’t notice any big differences in how well they thought, they slept – that is exactly what the sleep tracking data found. Nevertheless, the participants reported more motivated and ready for their day in the morning after they had reported sex when they abstained.
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Why could sexual activities help us to sleep better?
It is important to point out that this is not the first study that connects sex before going to bed with a better sleep. A study published in the Journal of Sleep Research had a diary for 14 days and found that those who had teamed up with the gender that ended in orgasm faster fell asleep and reported that they have a better sleep quality than those who did not have sex before going to bed. However, the most recent study actually showed that sleep quality was improved.
According to W. Christopher Winter, there are probably a few things that lead to this positive sleep effect. “The first is probably related to the chemical changes caused by orgasm,” he says. “The hormone oxytocin – which is released after orgasm, acts as a natural sedative,” he says.
In addition to oxytocin, the hormone prolactin is released after the orgasm, which leads to a relaxed feeling, says Jennifer, the health expert for women, MD. All of these factors combined “can definitely improve sleepiness,” she says.
From a more holistic point of view, sex is usually a stress -billing activity, so that people then felt more ready to fall asleep, says Dr. Winter. And it may also calm her mind, says Jessica O’reilly. “After the organization, the activity in brain regions such as Amygdala and Cingulate Cortex reduces excitement and emotional stimulation,” she says. It can also make it easier to fall asleep, she points out.
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What else can sex do for our brain?
Actually a lot. “During excitation and orgasm, you can experience an increased level of dopamine, oxytocin and endorphins, which increases the mood, reduces stress and excites anxiety,” says O’reilly. “Natural opioids that are released during sex can also make them more resistant to pain, such as headaches and cramps.”
If you have the opportunity to have sex or not and not, you want to make sure you get a good night’s sleep, it may be best to get together with a partner before going to bed.
“Sex in general contributes to positive emotional feelings and satisfaction where you want to be at the moment before going to bed,” says Dr. Winter. “The feeling that being a feeling of connection is a great way to go to sleep.”
This article by Korin Miller was originally published on the US health of women.
