Benefits of Regular Intimacy: Why Sex Is Good for You

Like you need another reason to have sex, right? After all, pleasure is its own reward. But, while orgasms are great, there are so many other benefits to maintaining a regular bedroom appointment with your partner (or with yourself! Many of these benefits are true for masturbation too!)

So let’s dig into some of the biggest benefits of regular intimacy and talk about why sex is so good for you.

Sex Reduces Stress

When you orgasm, oxytocin is released into the body, which helps create feelings of warmth and relaxation – while also making you feel more connected and more attached to your partner.

Sex also releases endorphins into your body. These happy hormones are linked to the reward center of your brain and come out when you take part in pleasurable activities like eating, exercise, and, of course, sex.

It’s no wonder so many people talk about using sex to relieve stress or masturbate to wind down at the end of the day.

Sex Helps Relieve Pain

The same chemicals in your body that help reduce stress also provide pain relief. It’s actually all part of a pretty interesting evolutionary process (who thought you’d learn so much in a sex blog?)

When you feel pain, your body releases endorphins in order to help you through your immediate situation. This is part of our body’s natural, primitive function. If you hurt yourself (say, while hunting a wooly mammoth with your caveman buddies), your body sends out endorphins to help reduce pain so you can get away from your pain’s source (the mammoth) or finish the job (the hunt) before having to sit down and evaluate your injury.

It also works in the opposite way, though. If you do fun and pleasurable things (like having sex with your caveman buddies), your body releases chemicals to make you feel good (like reducing pain) so that your brain naturally seeks out more fun and pleasurable activities.

Having regular sex (either with your partner or your caveman buddies, we don’t judge) makes this release of chemicals a more regular occurrence. And more endorphins leads to feeling better, which leads to…

Sex Lifts Your Mood

Are you sensing a theme here with how your body responds to sex? All these “feel good” chemicals released into your system that create feelings of pleasure and positivity can do wonders for your mental health. And there’s yet another – dopamine.

Along with relieving stress and reducing pain, dopamine just plain makes you feel good! Your body disperses it in large amounts when you’re doing pleasurable things so that you naturally seek out more of those things.

Dopamine affects everything from your concentration and attention, to your heart rate, to your digestion! It’s one way that sex can truly affect your entire body.

Sex Promotes Better Sleep

It should be no surprise that with all these feel-good, stress- and pain-reducing chemicals flooding your brain and blood stream, that you’re likely to feel more relaxed after sex. This relaxation leads directly to better sleep. Along with these chemicals, there’s also the whole physical factor. After all, sex (especially active and vigorous sex) has a lot in common with exercise, and feeling physically worn out afterwards isn’t uncommon.

So mix all those chemicals with just plain feeling tired – perfect recipe for sleep (so, ladies, maybe don’t get mad if your man falls asleep afterwards. You were just too much for him.)

Sex Helps Strengthen Your Pelvic Floor

We mostly hear about the pelvic floor as it relates to women, but a strong pelvic floor can help men too, so don’t close that browser tab just yet, boys.

Orgasms cause your pelvic floor muscles to contract and release, giving those muscles a bit of a workout, helping to strengthen them.

For women, the benefits of a strong pelvic floor include everything from better bladder control, pelvic pain reduction, and yes: stronger orgasms. (That’s why Kegel exercises are always a great recommendation for anyone who experiences pain during sex or just wants to make their intimate encounters more pleasurable.)

For men, the same is true with bladder control, but a strong pelvic floor can also help erections and ejaculations – and who would say no to that?

Most of All – Sex Is Fun

Now, we didn’t need to tell you this one, did we? The most obvious benefit to regular sex is that it just plain feels good, right? With so many physical, mental, and emotional reasons to regularly do the deed – on TOP of it being fun – there’s really no reason not to.