Sexual activity may protect mothers from the effects of chronic stress on metabolic health

A new study suggests that sexual activity may protect people from the metabolic consequences of chronic stress. The study, published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinologyinvestigated the stress-buffering effect of sexual activity in mothers caring for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The results show that sexually active mothers had healthier levels of key metabolic hormones compared to their sexually inactive counterparts.

Chronic stress has been shown to cause significant changes in the brain and body, leading to various health problems, including disruptions in metabolic regulation. This can lead to long-term problems such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. Previous research has shown that physical activity can help mitigate these effects.

However, the role of other lifestyle factors, such as sexual activity, has been less studied. Given the powerful stress-relieving effects of sexual activity, researchers wanted to investigate whether it could serve as a buffer against the negative metabolic effects of chronic stress.

“Given the damaging effects that chronic stress can have on metabolic health, it is important to explore protective factors. As a relationship researcher, I am particularly interested in how different aspects of our relationship experiences might serve such a protective function,” explains study author Yoobin Park, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco.

“Sexual activity emerged as a promising candidate due to its stress-relieving effects and its positive impact on processes such as sleep, which can suffer from stress and in turn cause metabolic problems. To our knowledge, whether sexual activity can buffer the biological effects of stress has not been investigated before. Therefore, this research was exploratory in nature and aimed to fill this gap.”

The researchers focused on mothers of children with ASD, who face higher levels of chronic stress compared to mothers of typically developing children. The study involved 183 women between the ages of 20 and 50 who had at least one child between the ages of 2 and 16. These women were divided into high and low stress groups based on whether they had a child diagnosed with ASD and their scores on the Perceived Stress Scale.

Participants were assessed at four different time points: baseline, 9 months, 18 months, and 24 months. During these assessments, participants attended clinics and completed 7-day diary studies. The researchers focused on data from the 18- and 24-month follow-up assessments because these were the only time points that included questions about sexual activity.

Sexual activity was measured by asking participants daily whether they had sexual intercourse the previous evening. Those who reported sexual activity at least once during each diary period were considered sexually active. The final analysis included 101 participants who were consistently sexually active or inactive across the study weeks.

The study measured several key metabolic indicators, including insulin, insulin resistance, leptin and ghrelin. Blood samples were taken during fasting morning visits to determine these hormones. In addition, researchers considered other variables such as physical activity and relationship satisfaction to see if they overlapped with the effects of sexual activity.

The results showed significant differences in metabolic health between high- and low-stress mothers. High-stress mothers had higher insulin levels and insulin resistance and lower ghrelin levels than low-stress mothers. However, these differences were clearly influenced by sexual activity.

Among sexually inactive mothers, the high-stress group showed significantly worse metabolic outcomes than the low-stress group. In contrast, sexually active mothers showed no significant differences in their metabolic profiles based on their stress levels. This suggests that sexual activity may mitigate the negative metabolic effects of chronic stress and help maintain healthier insulin and ghrelin levels.

The researchers also examined the potential overlap of these effects with physical activity and relationship satisfaction. It turns out that intense exercise has similar stress-dampening effects on insulin and insulin resistance, while light and moderate exercise did not show these benefits. Relationship satisfaction, on the other hand, had no significant effect on metabolic outcomes, highlighting the unique role of sexual activity in this context.

“In short, our results suggest that stress-related impairments in metabolic health were markedly reduced in sexually active individuals,” Park told PsyPost. “This raises two important questions: a) whether these benefits are due to the broader benefits of physical activity, as sexual activity is associated with moderate energy expenditure, and b) whether they reflect the general benefits of being in a good relationship.”

“Regarding (a), we also asked participants about their daily physical activity and tested it as a potential buffer. Our results showed that while physical activity had similar buffering effects, these effects were independent of the benefits of sexual activity. Regarding (b), people who were highly satisfied with their relationships were indeed more likely to be sexually active, but overall relationship satisfaction (measured as a daily average) did not prove to be a significant buffer against stress-related disadvantages, unlike sexual activity.”

“Although we need more research overall to understand the exact mechanisms by which sexual activity protects against stress-related impairments in metabolic health, our findings suggest that the benefits of sexual activity extend beyond general activity or a happy relationship,” Park explained.

While the study provides evidence for the stress-reducing effects of sexual activity, it also has some limitations. The assessment of sexual activity was binary and did not account for the diversity of sexual experiences. Future research should use more detailed measures to capture the nuances of sexual activity and its varying effects on stress and metabolism.

“It is important that we have looked at a specific type of chronic stress (maternal caregiving stress) and specific health outcomes (metabolic hormones),” Park noted. “We need more research in this area to gain deeper insights into the mechanisms underlying the benefits of sex and to understand the generalizability of its protective effects.”

Authors of the study “Maternal caregiving stress and metabolic health: Sexual activity as a potential buffer” are Yoobin Park, Michael A. Coccia, Aric A. Prather and Elissa S. Epel.