A study carried out by researchers from the University of Coventry and the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom, has revealed that regular sexual activity could be linked to improved brain function in older adults.
The researchers found that people who had regular sex scored higher on tests that measured their verbal fluency and their ability to visually perceive objects and the spaces between them.
According to sciencedaily.com, the study published in The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological and Social Sciences, involved 73 people aged between 50 and 83 years.
The participants filled questionnaires on how often, on the average, they had engaged in sexual activity in the past 12 months and they answered questions about their general health and lifestyle.
The 28 men and 45 women also took part in a standardised test, which was typically used to measure different patterns of brain function in older adults, focusing on attention, memory, fluency, language and visuo-spatial ability.
The test included verbal fluency tests in which participants had 60 seconds to name as many animals as possible, and then to say as many words, beginning with the letter F, as they could.
The participants also took part in tests to determine their visuo-spatial ability, which included copying a complex design and drawing a clock face from memory.
The study noted that participants, who engaged in sexual activities every week, had the highest scores in both sets of tests, with the verbal fluency tests showing the strongest effect.
The researchers said the results suggested that the frequency of sexual activity was not linked to attention, memory or language as the participants performed well in these tests regardless of whether they reported weekly, monthly or had no sex.
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