Smarty Pants: It’s Official, Sex Makes You Brainier

Sex is great isn’t it? Not only is it immense fun, it also boosts your immune system, makes your skin glow and now, apparently, it makes you smarter too!

Yes, according to some new research getting down and dirty on a regular basis can have a majorly positive impact on your brain power. Awesome or what?

The Daily Mail reports that blood tests carried out on people who have recently fallen in love showed that they exhibited heightened levels of nerve growth, which is essential for our wellbeing and our mental alertness.

The research, which was conducted by boffins at the University of Pavia in Italy, studied the blood of three different groups: those who had recently fallen in love, those in long-term relationships and those who were single.

Sex can help to boost our mental alertness

The group who were in the first flushes of love showed significantly high levels of nerve growth compared to the other groups. In fact, the levels of growth fell the longer a couple stayed together. The results concluded that frequent sex not only reduces stress and makes us feel better, it also makes us brainer.

“MRI scans have shown that during orgasm the neurons in the brain are more active and use more oxygen,” said Professor Barry Komisaruk from Rutgers University.

“It appears that the more active the neurons, the more oxygen they withdraw from the blood – so more oxygenated blood is supplied to the region, delivering a fresh supply of nutrients,” he added.

As well as boosting brain cells, sex also sharpens women’s minds moreso than mens. This is due to a large surge in sex hormones, particularly the male hormone testosterone, which improves concentration and reaction times.

So there you have it. If ever there was an excuse for a midweek quickie, this is it!