Does sex make you feel better?
I mean… do we really need to ask?
Still, rigorous psychologists say this is something we should probably test.
A new study recently published in the journal Emotion confirmed that sex plays a role in boosting positive emotions and giving people a sense of meaning. The website Research Digest reported on the paper (see the relevant reference at the end of the article).
The researchers recruited a group of participants to keep diaries for three consecutive weeks. Every day, participants recorded their emotional state, rated how meaningful they felt their lives were, noted how intimate their relationship with their partner felt, and documented all the sexual activity they had experienced that day—from passionate kissing to intercourse—along with how they felt during it.
The results showed that whether people had sex the day before could predict their mood the next day. After having sex the previous day, they felt better the next day—and also felt that life was more meaningful. (Congratulations to the psychologists for confirming another obvious fact.)
The more interesting finding was that only stronger sexual pleasure—not greater intimacy during sex—could improve people’s mood the next day. In other words, when it comes to sex itself, pleasure has a bigger impact on next-day mood than intimacy.
But this doesn’t mean intimacy between partners is unimportant. The study went on to find that among couples with stronger intimacy, the connection between sex and an improvement in their mood the next day was more pronounced.
In one sentence: For the short-term boost to happiness and a sense of worth, the most effective option is highly pleasurable sex with an intimate romantic partner.
Christian Jarrett. Three-week diary study: sex today increases sense of meaning in life tomorrow.
Note
- This series of articles, ‘Psychology New Knowledge: A Short Course,’ consisted of short popular-science pieces and musings written at the time to accompany Zhichao Wei: Psychology New Knowledge Course. They were published on the now-closed platform Fantu, and the original link no longer exists.
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