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Having Sexual Intercourse Makes It Easier To Sleep, According To Research

Having Sexual Intercourse Makes It Easier To Sleep, According To Research

The news follows a survey of 460 people between 18 and 70 years old

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

If you're somebody who struggles to fall asleep and stay asleep then science has a new answer to your problems: shagging.

Following a survey of 460 people between 18 and 70 years old, Michele Lastella, from Central Queensland University's Appleton Institute for Behavioral Science in Adelaide, Australia, found that two thirds of people slept better after they had gone at it.

The sad news for your girlfriend is that it works best when the sleeper in question has an orgasm before they hit the hay.

"The project is based on some preliminary research evidence that, after humans have sex and achieve orgasm, we have a massive release of a hormone called oxytocin," Lastella said in a statement. "This hormone among many other feel-good hormones has been said to act as a sedative to reduce the time it takes to fall asleep."

Credit: PA Images

Lastella also recommends ditching the phone before you go to sleep and instead enjoying a moment of intimacy.

"There's strong evidence to suggest substituting screen time for play time," he told The Advertiser. "When you're engaging in sex, you're not thinking about what to do the next day, you're not going through your phones. It distracts you."

And that's not the only benefit to intercourse. Researchers at the University of Exeter claim that increased sexual activity ends up producing anatomical changes downstairs and gets embedded into your DNA. Meaning banging now might not make your dick bigger but it could endow your children.

Dr Paul Hopwood from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation wrote on the university's website: "Although we don't know the ins and outs of how these genital structures relate to the reproductive success of each sex, our results show that sexual conflict over mating can lead to co-evolutionary changes in the shape of the genitals.

"Our research demonstrates the general importance of conflicts of interest between males and females in helping to generate some of the biodiversity that we see in the natural world."

So if you needed an excuse to get down tonight, there it is.

Featured Image Credit: PA Images

Topics: uk news, Sex, Sleep