Here’s another reason to have sex! A new study shows that getting laid not only makes people happy the next day, but it creates “greater levels of meaning in life and positive affect following sexual episodes.” In other words, doin’ it makes you feel alive!
The study, published by the American Psychological Association, studied 152 adults for 21 days in a resulting paper called “Sexuality Leads To Boosts In Mood And Meaning In Life With No Evidence For The Reverse Direction: A Daily Diary Investigation.”
“Sex is rarely discussed in theories of well-being and rarely empirically examined using methods other than cross-sectional surveys,” say the study’s researchers. “In the present study, a daily diary approach was used (for 21 days with 152 adults) to explore the relationship between the presence and quality of sexual episodes and well-being (positive affect, negative affect, meaning in life). Time-lagged analyses demonstrated that sexual activity on day one was related to greater well-being the next. As for the quality of episodes, higher reported sexual pleasure and intimacy predicted greater positive affect and lower negative affect the following day.”
So next time someone you work with is crabby, tell them (pick from the following) that they need to get out more and “get a hot beef injection”,”get the lady in the pink canoe rubbed,” “polish someone’s pole”, or if they are gay, “get a manwich sandwich.” It will bring everyone happiness. (Or “hap-penis” as I like to say.)
Also interesting was that people said that having sex “gave more meaning to their lives,” and that feeling was the created whether they were having sex in a committed relationship or through casual sex. So for anyone hooker uppers considering some casual sex, you now have an excuse for hooking up.
The study also found that “When the reverse direction was tested, well-being did not predict next-day sexual activity, pleasure, or intimacy. These results suggest a unidirectional relationship in which the presence and quality of sexual activity lead to gains in well-being the following day. Contextual moderators (gender, relationship status, relationship closeness, and relationship length) allowed for tests of conditions altering the link between sexuality and well-being. Relationship closeness was the most robust moderator in predicting greater levels of meaning in life and positive affect following sexual episodes. These data provide evidence to support the continual consideration of sex in empirical work and theoretical models of elements that comprise healthy relationships and a good life.” To the good life. And to good sex.
photo: Wikimedia Commons
