How Sex Affects Your Mental Health

Did you know that sex can have various effects on your mental wellbeing. Sex can help you think bigger, boost your sell esteem, help your heart health, reduce your feelings of pain, lower your level of stress etc. In this video, we cover a few interesting findings that sex does to your mind and body. If you're not getting any though, that's okay!

Writer: Michal Mitchell
Script Editor & Manager: Kelly Soong
VO: Amanda Silvera
Animator: Zyan Méndez (@tomboiclub)
YouTube Manager: Cindy Cheong

References:
Leuner, B., Glasper, E. R., & Gould, E. (2010). Sexual experience promotes adult neurogenesis in the hippocampus despite an initial elevation in stress hormones. PloS one, 5(7), e11597. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0011597
Förster, J., Epstude, K., & Ozelsel, A. (2009). Why love has wings and sex has not: how reminders of love and sex influence creative and analytic thinking. Personality & social psychology bulletin, 35(11), 1479–1491. doi.org/10.1177/0146167209342755
Ebrahim, S., May, M., Ben Shlomo, Y., McCarron, P., Frankel, S., Yarnell, J., & Davey Smith, G. (2002). Sexual intercourse and risk of ischaemic stroke and coronary heart disease: the Caerphilly study. Journal of epidemiology and community health, 56(2), 99–102. doi.org/10.1136/jech.56.2.99
Anderson, R. (2016). 7 Compelling Reasons to Have More Sex. Psychology Today. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-mating-game/201602/7-compelling-reasons-have-more-sex.
Holliday, A. (2019, October 10). Surprising Facts About Sex. Healthline. www.healthline.com/health/surprising-facts-about-sex.
Kim, J. (2017, March 27). 6 Facts About Sex That Might Surprise You. Psychology Today. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/valley-girl-brain/201703/6-facts-about-sex-might-surprise-you.
MacMillan, A. (2018). 20 Weird Facts About Sex and Love. Health.com. www.health.com/sex/20-weird-facts-about-sex-and-love?slide=79c86a0c-4049-4f4b-b317-bd745d582e94.
Uryvaev, Y.V., Petrov, G.A. Extremely low doses of oxytocin reduce pain sensitivity in men. Bull Exp Biol Med 122, 1071–1073 (1996). doi.org/10.1007/BF02447648
Ortigue, S., & Bianchi-Demicheli, F. (2008, August 13). The chronoarchitecture of human sexual desire: A high-density electrical mapping study. NeuroImage. www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053811908008951.
Brody, S. (2005, June 14). Blood pressure reactivity to stress is better for people who recently had penile–vaginal intercourse than for people who had other or no sexual activity. Biological Psychology. www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301051105000736.
MacMillan, A. (2018). 20 Weird Facts About Sex and Love. Health.com. https://www.health.com/sex/20-weird-f....
Kim, J. (2017). 6 Facts About Sex That Might Surprise You. Psychology Today. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/valley-girl-brain/201703/6-facts-about-sex-might-surprise-you.
Holliday, A. (2019, October 10). Surprising Facts About Sex. Healthline. www.healthline.com/health/surprising-facts-about-sex