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Most psychologists and marriage counselors will agree that sex is an extremely important part of every romantic relationship, possibly the most important, although it is not usually openly admitted. Sex is something that you practice with your partner and with nobody else (usually). Of course, we can also hug, talk and kiss our partner to express our love, but we can also do this with our brothers, our mother and even with friends. Sex, on the other hand, is the definitive act that traces the line between the types of relationships we have with people. In addition, sex as a unique expression of intimacy seems to have numerous benefits for life and health, as many studies have shown: it is a stress reliever, reduces the risk of cancer (especially prostate cancer in men), reduces the pain in many cases, improves sleep and can even cure insomnia in some cases, improves the skin and overall health. In addition, sex is the natural means of reproduction, which perpetuates the human race. In summary, sex is life.
Of course, there are a number of habits that can damage our sex life, such as binge eating with unhealthy foods.
If you are a junk food junkie, you are filling your body with many refined carbohydrates, simple sugars and saturated and trans fats. This can slow down blood flow and affect how well your body can function during sex. Reduce this type of food in your intake and increase the amount of fruits, vegetables and proteins and you will feel much more energized for sexual intercourse.
We should all know the basics when it comes to sex: have the consent of the other, use protection at all times, respect the needs of the couple and have fun.
There is a lot of misinformation about sex, sexual health and sexually transmitted diseases. Perhaps you have heard something you are not sure about (for example, can you get an STD on the seat of a public toilet?).
Here are a few curiosities about sex that you may not have known.
Sexy voice
Women can make their voice more “sexy”, but men … can not. In a 2014 study, a team of researchers from the University of Albright (USA) discovered that women could deliberately manipulate their voices, counting from 1 to 10, to sound more attractive. But, -I’m sorry guys-, when the men tried to be sexier, they actually sounded much worse. When a woman intentionally lowers her voice so that it sounds low and choppy, it is often perceived as more attractive, but not exactly for the reasons we imagine. Men tend to prefer women with higher and more feminine voices, experts say, but when a woman lowers her voice to “sound sexy,” it indicates her interest in a potential partner, a clue that men can appreciate.
Can I get a sexually transmitted infection by sitting in a public toilet?
The herpes simplex virus is transmitted by direct skin-to-skin contact. Unless you and another person share a toilet seat at the same time, it is likely that the toilet is not the source of the infection. According to experts, this contagion is “impossible”. So the only thing we have to worry about when entering a public bathroom is whether it is clean and dry before we sit down.
Couples can have similar DNA
Scientists already knew that people tend to choose romantic couples with similar characteristics, such as age, race, religion, income and education. But a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that people also tend to pair with others of similar DNA. When the researchers studied the genetic material of 825 white American couples, they found fewer differences in DNA between married people than between two randomly selected individuals within the same race. In fact, they calculated that the tendency to pair with someone genetically similar is about a third higher than the tendency to do it with someone with a similar education.
Semen against depression
Semen can help fight depression. Semen contains chemicals that elevate mood, increase affection and induce sleep.
Watching romantic comedies strengthens the couple
Watching movies can be one of the keys to marital happiness, according to Matthew Johnson, director of the Marriage and Family Studies Laboratory at Binghamton University (USA). In their study, couples attended therapy or watched movies related to relationships. Both strategies reduced the group’s divorce rate by half after three years, but the activity of watching movies, specifically romantic comedies, reduced the time to 50% and took place almost entirely in the home. “The key is to talk with the couple about their relationship in the context of a movie,” says Johnson.
Lowering cholesterol is good for sex
Along with damaging the arteries and making the heart work overtime, high cholesterol can also contribute to erectile dysfunction in men. In fact, erectile dysfunction can serve as a warning sign of cardiovascular disease. The good news? That men who take statins or other medications to lower their cholesterol are also likely to see an improvement in their sexual function, according to a study by researchers at the Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine at Rutgers University (USA) . Of course, this treatment should not be prescribed to treat erectile dysfunction alone, researchers say, since the condition can also be caused by other physical or emotional problems.
A low level of blood sugar can create discord in the couple
Sometimes a couple’s argument may be the result of low blood glucose levels, according to researchers at the Ohio State University (USA). In one study, they asked 107 married couples to examine their blood sugar levels every night and every morning, and to stick pins on “voodoo dolls” that represented their partners, as angry as they were with them. The lower your blood sugar level was during the course of the 21-day experiment, the more pins you used. A possible reason? A low blood sugar level can make people feel and therefore become irritable. “It’s simple advice but it works,” says lead author Brad Bushman. “Before having a difficult conversation with your partner, make sure you’re not hungry.”
Being humble helps your sex life
Problems to get an appointment? Being less pretentious may increase the chances, according to a study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology. When the volunteers were asked to read fake dating profiles and rate how much they liked them, their sympathy, how much fun they seemed and the likelihood of accepting an appointment with them rated the humblest profiles more favorably. In a second study, volunteers who considered their loved ones humble were more likely to forgive them for a transgression. “This suggests that humility in a relationship fosters relational repair in ongoing romantic couples,” says Daryl Van Tongeren, an assistant professor of psychology at Hope College in Holland, Michigan (USA).
The benefits of traveling by road
A long car trip may seem like the worst place to solve important problems in a couple, after all, as we are stuck in our seats for hours. But that is precisely what makes it work. Road trips can also be a good time to get to know the couple better and solve the problems that may arise regarding the trip, together, as a team, it will improve the proximity and provide some of the best memories of an adventure that will only share the partner.
Sex connection
The wiring of the brain can influence the number of sexual partners, according to a study by the University of California at Los Angeles. The researchers performed brain scans of volunteers while viewing images, some sexually suggestive, and also asked about their sexual behaviors during the previous year. It turns out that those whose brains were most active when they saw sexual images also used to have many sexual partners. Levels of “sexual motivation” vary from one person to another, according to Justin Garcia, of the Kinsey Institute for Sex, Gender and Reproduction Research at Indiana University.
The pill can affect our choice of partner
Research shows that when women take hormonal contraceptives, they show less attraction towards men with high levels of testosterone and male physical characteristics. And a Scottish study conducted in 2012 found that women who knew their partner while taking the pill felt less sexually attracted to their partners and less sexually satisfied during their relationship. At the same time, however, they tended to be more satisfied with their partner’s financial status, and less likely to be separated, than women who were not taking the pill.
Do men fake orgasms?
Faking an orgasm is not always bad. We often assume that those who simulate orgasms do so because they are not having fun or simply because they want it to end, but it is part of the enjoyment. Hence, speaking of feigned orgasms, men also do it and often for the same reasons as women.
The benefits of hugging after sex
Kissing, caressing and speaking affectionately after sex can be as important for relationship satisfaction as sexual relationships in themselves, a study from the University of Toronto (Canada) suggested. When the researchers asked couples to spend more time embracing after sex, they experienced higher levels of sexual satisfaction and the overall relationship, especially couples with children. This may have to do with the release of oxytocin that is released during sexual intercourse and continues to be released with prolonged skin-to-skin contact.
You are less likely to feel disgust when you are excited
Sex can be a messy activity with lots of liquids and smells, but in the heat of the moment, none of that (usually) seems to matter. According to a study by the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, this is because sexual arousal nullifies the natural “disgust” of the body. When the researchers asked a group of women to watch an erotic movie, a sports video or a “neutral” video of a train, and then perform a series of unpleasant acts (like drinking from another cup by mistake), they discovered that those who had seen the sexual acts rated the tasks as less unpleasant, and they were also able to complete more of them. Previous research has suggested that sexual arousal also has a similar impact on men.
Love can obsess us, literally
There is a reason why you can not stop thinking about that special new boy or girl in your life: magnetic resonance imaging has shown that falling in love sends blood to the areas of the “pleasure center” of the brain, the same areas that They are responsible for obsession and compulsive behaviors. Falling in love also lowers serotonin levels, which is common in people with obsessive-compulsive disorders, says Mary Lynn, co-director of the Loyola Sexual Wellbeing Clinic at Loyola University in Chicago. “This may explain why we focus on little more than our partner during the early stages of a relationship,” and also why we tend to idealize new partners and turn a blind eye to their failures.
Love is good for the bones
The marriage seems to strengthen the bones of men, according to a study by the University of California in Los Angeles (USA), especially if they wait until after 25 to get married. The researchers are not sure why, but point out that this is not the first time that marriage has been linked to health. Other studies, for example, have suggested that married people live longer, are more likely to survive cancer and have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
We all know when our relationship has come to an end
According to a 2013 study published in the journal Science, we know the answer. The researchers asked a group of newly-weds-all of whom claimed to have high levels of satisfaction with relationships at the time-to look at images of their spouses that had been matched with negative or positive words, and rated their response times to distinguish between All of them. Four years later, those who had quickly identified the negative words were more likely to report less satisfaction in the relationship, suggesting they had unconscious negative thoughts about their spouse all the time.
To all flush
Do not be scared if we get red during sex: it is probably our body’s natural response to increased blood flow and skin temperature. This “sexual flush” may appear on the cheeks, chest, genital area or throughout the body. Some people think that it may be some type of allergy or even the marks of the other person’s beard, for example, but it is usually only a natural part of the sexual arousal process, and should disappear once the body has returned to normal.
Burning calories
Yes, of course, sex burns calories. The fact of being occupied between the sheets for an hour can burn as many calories as 30 minutes of jogging, according to a 2013 study from the University of Quebec (Canada). To deduce these numbers, the researchers asked 21 couples, ages 18 to 35, to wear calorie tracking bracelets while running on a treadmill and while having sex once a week for a month. They found that men burned an average of 4.2 calories per minute during sex, while women burned about 3.1. In general, men and women burned approximately 101 and 69 calories per session, respectively.
Older people do it too
Sexual interest and sexual function decrease with age, especially as adults begin to take more medications, but that does not mean that seniors do not practice sex. In fact, since they do not worry about becoming pregnant and do not use condoms, the elderly are the population sector with the highest peak of sexually transmitted diseases.
Duration of orgasms
The average female orgasm lasts 20 seconds, 14 seconds longer than the male orgasm. It’s funny but, when giving birth, some women have experienced an orgasm.
Can semen be stored indefinitely?
-160 ºC is the temperature at which the sperm banks store the semen from the donors. At this temperature, the semen can be stored indefinitely.
What is the use of semen other than for reproduction?
The benefits are many, despite what most people believe. Relieves nausea of pregnant women, softens the skin when applied to it, can be used as invisible ink (they did so during World War II, although they stopped using it when they realized how bad it smelled later) or as a curious ingredient to prepare food thanks to its valuable nutritional properties.
Records
Greek couples have sexual relations an average of 138 times a year, which places them at the top of the ‘world sex league’ (something that logically does not exist). The Japanese, on the other hand, are in the last place in terms of the number of sexual relations, since they only have 45 sexual encounters a year.
Sex toys were invented before the wheel
The art of the Upper Palaeolithic, which dates back 30,000 years, represents people using a kind of “comforters” to please themselves and others. That means that mankind invented sex toys long before the wheel. Sex in the stone age.
Image credit: Exposicion Sexo en piedra / Mujeresconciencia.com
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