And what?! Am I supposed to think that I’m gonna tell you, the reader, something you don’t already know about how much stress relief you can get from a roll in the proverbial hay?! No… I don’t think that. BUT realizing it was a catchy title I wondered to myself, “self, is there possibly some information out there regarding this that we DON’T know? Stuff that might be provocative enough to share?!” I put the subject out there and found myself on a trail of research that lead me to some interesting stuff! I DO have some info you! May it inspire you! 
So yes, sex is, hands down, a GREAT way to relieve stress. -I’m sorry. I didn’t need to capitalize all the letters in that word. Should I revise?!
So here’s the thing. Here’s why even the mere contemplation of sexual interaction with another human relaxes us. Our subconscious remembers effects that our conscious mind might not. Like, you THINK you know why sex relaxes you but your subconscious has a way of remembering details your conscious mind may have been oblivious to. Our conscious mind might just think …SEX. And when stressed, as a knee jerk one might think -SEX. But underneath it all, what your SUB conscious gets that your conscious mind doesn’t is that this is more than just SEX. This is a therapeutic process happening!
Stress happens. Subconscious swinging into action has desire to relieve stress. Simultaneously it is in awareness of the release of endorphins and other hormones that elevate our mood during sex. Without your conscious mind being aware of the reasoning about endorphins n whatnot – ya find yourself calling your romantic partner and making a date!
I’ve got another angle for you: You know, going to the gym is a work-out right?! Right. The act of burning calories is a stress reliever! Well, sex causes us to work out! Depending on your level of enthusiasm, you can burn a lot of calories during a roll in the hay and gain the Stress Management benefits of exercise as well. Now, THAT is multi-tasking!!
Regarding that aforementioned “enthusiasm”, research shows that, when we increase our heart rate and work-out in a way that we push to be just beyond our comfort zone, we THEN release stress. Apparently, we need at least a moderate amount of exertion to increase endorphin levels which boost our mood – relieving stress!
Ok, that was the fun part. To every coin there are two sides! Let’s explore the other side of this for a moment.
Stress can bring about symptoms that can kill you. Stress can also keep us from being in the mood and worse than that stress can absorb our mind space so much that the ACT of sexuality is not possible to enjoy. Simply – NOT possible. According to an article I found online at verywellmind.com (by Elizabeth Scott, M.S. posted February 13, 2018) regarding the multiple links between sex and stress, researchers at Arizona State University did a study. They used 58 middle aged women. I just asked Google what middle aged is! Lol! It said for women; that’s 45 to 65 years old. I guess… I’m middle aged! (Ya learn something every day!) Anyway 58 middle aged women were studied. Researchers found that sex and physical intimacy led women to feel less stressed and to be in a better mood the next day. -THAT is the time-release factor I was talking about earlier!!
This research covered all bases. I KNOW what some of you are thinking. If you’re single and you think you can just hang with B O B, your wrong! Bob, your Battery Operated Buddy ( B O B, get it?!) is NOT alternative solution! No matter how crazy your gadgets! These research results were not found amongst women who had their orgasms without a partner. Like…the women hangin’ out with B O B, did not experience a significant reduction in stress as a result. Summary: Stress relief comes from the interaction, the intimacy, human to human exchange of this passionate energy. THAT is what relieves the stress, elevates the mood and state of mind.
Got high blood-pressure?! There's another study that shows the sex has a remarkable and wonderful effect on blood pressure! And this positive effect seems to work in a time-released kind of way! This particular research found that those who had recently had intercourse not only had lower blood pressure but (follow me here) AFTER this sexual encounter, if there are subsequent stressful events they experienced lower blood-pressure or their blood-pressure did not rise as much as it normally would have had they not had that sex prior! – Even a day or two or three or more prior! Those particular finding suggests that having sex can lead to less of a stress response during subsequent challenging situations which is a good thing. That means there's an opportunity to respond rather than react! Like don't push the red button so fast! Take a deep breath… That’s easier to do when we’re not stressed out. How LONG does the lowered blood pressure effect last? How long does that one sexual encounter release stress? I’m going to take an educated guess and say that’s on a case by case basis! A day or three? A week of bliss, maybe?! Depends, right?! |
Let’s focus on our breathing for a moment! Not only do we focus on breathing deeply during meditation but without thinking, during sex we breathe deeply. And this deep relaxed type of breathing relaxes the body. It releases tension and reduces the stress that we feel.
In summary and in truth, this is really about touch. And studies also show us we really don’t have to go so far as to have SEX to reduce stress. There’s POWERFUL stress relief to be gotten from a mere HUG from another human being. That’s been proven over and over again. We, as homo sapiens, companion mammals, need to touch as part of our emotional health. Studies show that babies who are held and touched enough can experience emotion easier. They can ‘feel’ and they can the flourish in their lives as healthy touch continues to be important into their adulthood.
So there ya go! At the very least hug a bunch of people! And remember, hugging yourself is good but it doesn’t work as well as hugging someone else!
|
