How Does Sex Influence Our Mental Health?

Let’s look at what studies have found

Sex is fun. At least for most people if they have the right partner.

But does sex only bring short-term fun or might it also positively influence mental health in the longer term? I have already written about two developments that have occurred in the last 15 years: the number of sexless men has increased significantly and more and more young people are struggling with mental problems.

Is there a causal relationship between the two trends? For this to be the case, sex would have to positively influence mental health.

Let’s look at what studies have to say on this subject.

What Science Says

Researchers at the University of the West of Scotland around Stuart Brody, Ph.D., reviewed numerous studies on the influence of sex on health, including mental health.

Here’s what they found:

Satisfaction with One’s Mental Health

Studies of a large, representative sample of swedes showed that penile-vaginal intercourse (PVI) seems to be good for our mental health. They also looked at the effects of masturbation and other sexual activities with a partner.

The review states:

PVI frequency was a significant predictor of both men’s and women’s greater satisfaction with their mental health. In contrast, masturbation was inversely associated with mental health satisfaction in the multivariate analyses that controlled for other sexual behavior frequencies and partnered sexual behaviors other than PVI were uncorrelated with mental health satisfaction.

Depression

It has also been found that masturbation seems to make us unhappy.

Or at least it is associated with unhappiness and even depression.

Higher masturbation frequency (and even the desire for more masturbation) is associated with depression, and masturbation is associated with less happiness. The association of masturbation with depression is unlikely to be a result of simply a lack of PVI, because more masturbation and less PVI make independent contributions to less satisfaction with relationships, sex life, life in general, and one’s mental health

Another interesting finding is that condoms may eliminate the positive effects of sex on mental health.

It is likely that only unfettered, real PVI has important mood-enhancing benefits. A study of young women in the United States found that not only did Beck Depression Inventory scores worsen with increasing time since last PVI (i.e., lower FSI is associated with more depression), but the use of condoms obliterated the apparent antidepressant effects of PVI. Depressive symptoms and suicide attempts among women who used condoms were proportional to the consistency of condom use: more condom use means more depression and more suicide attempts.

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