CHAPTER 9

Ecstasy & Intimacy

The thrill of new romance revs up your brain! Partners' intimacy can improve their mood, immunity, blood pressure and more.

PART 1 Your Brain in Love

By the Numbers

You've always wanted to know.

When you are newly in love, even seeing a photo of your partner induces an excited, giddy response. Your brain activity reflects this, of course. In a study of romantic couples, researchers found that seeing the beloved in a photo activated neurons in two regions of the brain: the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the caudate nucleus, a nearby structure. Both are involved with motivating you to action in pursuit of pleasure or reward. Both regions also have a great many receptors for the hormones oxytocin and vasopressin, both of which are instrumental to forming a bond between partners.

PART 2 Sex and Health

Having sex boosts your health in significant ways.

Immunity
Scientists at Wilkes University at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, tested college students for a specific immune factor. They found that students who reported having sex more frequently had more of the factor—Immunoglobulin A—than students having sex less frequently or not at all.

Stress Relief
A Scottish study found that sexually active participants reported coping better in stressful situations than their less active or abstinent counterparts. The more sexually active folks also had lower blood pressure, even during the stressful situations.

Heart Health
The anecdotal tales of people dying of heart attacks during sex are not statistically significant. In fact, in a British study, men who had sex twice or more per week had a 50% lower risk of heart attack than those who had sex once or twice a month. READ MORE

Pain Relief
The hormone oxytocin surges during orgasm. Oxytocin, the “love” hormone, also raises a person's pain threshold by stimulating the release of feel-good endorphins. It also promotes better sleep.

Cancer Prevention
Men have a lower risk of prostate cancer when they ejaculate 5 or more times weekly, compared with those men who ejaculate only once or twice a week. Multiple studies, across many age groups, have found similar risk reduction among more sexually active men. LESS

theVisualMD Wishes to Thank our Scientific Collaborators:

Deepak Chopra, MD
Bestselling author

Audrey Chun, MD - Geriatrician Medical Director
Martha Stewart Center for Living Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York

Tereza Hubkova, MD
Canyon Ranch, Lenox, MA

Mark Liponis, MD
Corporate Medical Director, Canyon Ranch

Daniel J. Siegel, MD
Interpersonal Neurobiologist UCLA School of Medicine/Mindsight Institute