Sex: the myths debunked

Sex lowers your blood pressure

False It goes up – but only briefly. There are very few reports of people having a stroke or a heart attack during sex – although blood pressure does rise, it does not do so to very high levels.

Sex is a stress buster

True A survey in Biological Psychology asked subjects to keep a sexual activity diary, then tested their blood pressure after stressful activities such as speaking in public. Those who had regular sex responsed better than those who did not.

Alcohol boosts female sex drive

True Relatively small amounts of alcohol can cause a temporary surge of the male sex hormone testosterone in women, boosting their libido, according to findings published in Nature.

Weekends are best for sex

False According to researchers at the London School of Economics, Thursday is the best day to have sex because the buildup of the stress chemical cortisol over the week – which stimulates sex hormones – peaks on a Thursday.

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Men are the only fantasists

False 80% of women had sexual fantasies about people who weren’t their partner, compared with 98% of men.

Sex boosts intelligence

True According to research at the University of Maryland, sex greatly increased the creation of neurons within the hippocampus, a part of the brain responsible for forming long-term memory. The tests were on mice, though; the results have yet to be proved in humans.

Sex burns more calories than running

False According to researchers from the University of Quebec in Canada, the following number of calories are burned per minute:
9.2 Man on treadmill
4.2 Man having sex
7.2 Woman on treadmill
3.1 Woman having sex

And finally: the figures

0 One in four couples over 50 have zero sex (although those surveyed by Gransnet said they were happy, with 65% rating sex as important).
8-9 Average number of times a month that a couple in their mid-20s to mid-30s have sex, according to the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyle.
6 Number of times a month that fell to once they’d been together for two years.