Over 50s ‘should have more sex to boost their IQ’
Forget the Sudoku and Crosswords!
Today we are waking up to the latest findings undertaken by researchers from the universities of Oxford and Coventry, who found people who want to keep their brain sharp as they enter their twilight years should be having sex — and the more the better.
Those who engaged in more regular sexual activity scored higher on tests that measured their verbal fluency and their ability to visually perceive objects and the spaces between them.
Study leader Dr Hayley Wright, of Coventry University, said:
“People don’t like to think that older people have sex – but we need to challenge this conception at a societal level and look at what impact sexual activity can have on those aged 50 and over, beyond the known effects on sexual health and general wellbeing.”
A group of 73 people aged 50 to 83 took part in a series of tests for the study and were also asked to complete a questionnaire about how often they were sexually active.
The tests included tasks such as naming as many animals as possible or as many words beginning with a certain letter and drawing a clock face from memory.
Researchers found that the ones who had the most sex scored highest in the tests.
This study, published in The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological and Social Sciences, expanded on previous research from last year, which found that older adults who were sexually active scored higher on cognitive tests than those who were not sexually active. But this time the research looked more specifically at the impact of the frequency of sexual activity, for example whether it makes a difference how often you engage in sexual activity, and also used a broader range of tests to investigate different areas of cognitive function.
What are your views about this research? Will it make you change your habits?
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