New study: Lack of sex can lead to early death in women

Do it or die.

An exciting new study shows that women may live longer if they have sex more often – thanks to the heart-healthy effects of intercourse.

The explosive study, recently published in the Journal of Psychosexual Health, found that women between the ages of 20 and 59 who had infrequent sex – less than once a week – had a 70 percent increased risk of overall mortality.

Researchers at Walden University in Minnesota analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of 14,542 American adults over the age of 20 and concluded that it may be beneficial for women to have intimate intercourse more than once every seven days.

“Sexual activity,” the authors say, “is important for overall cardiovascular health, possibly by reducing heart rate variability and increasing blood flow.”

The team also found that depression combined with low sexual frequency also leads to a higher risk of death.

However, depression in sexually active people – especially women – has far less harmful effects, lead author Dr. Srikanta Banerjee told the Daily Mail.

“The theory,” he said, “would be that depression affects men differently than women.”

“Depression leads to higher mortality due to health consequences,” he explained, speculating that endorphins released by sex may be key to preventing negative health outcomes.

“Perhaps sex is more effective because depression is so severe in women.”

While women may benefit from more sex, men seem to benefit more from less sex.

Researchers found that too much sex can increase men’s risk of death by six times compared to women.

“This shows that the frequency of sexual acts is related to gender and increases mortality,” they wrote.

“The conclusion is that by taking into account the frequency of sexual activity, other health inequalities can be addressed more directly.”