Much to the horror of puritanical rodents, researchers found that when rats become chronic sex fiends, they develop more powerful brains.
Negative stress is like kryptonite to neuron growth, and it weakens the precious hippocampus, so researchers wanted to see if “rewarding” stressors like sex could also make a difference.
So, they put male rats through a sex marathon for two weeks straight and then poked around their hippocampus to measure neuron growth, brain cell proliferation, and dendrite complexity. After that, the rats were tested on their novelty suppressed feeding and elevated plus maze skills, and they found improvements every which way.
These findings suggest that sex and other rewarding experiences, reduce anxiety, protect the mind, and improve the brain.
Have lots of sex, and maybe your brain will be e=mc squaring it all over the place.
Or, maybe not. But I doubt you’d regret giving it a go.
Do it for science.
Dive Deeper
Leuner B, Glasper ER, Gould E (2010) Sexual Experience Promotes Adult Neurogenesis in the Hippocampus Despite an Initial Elevation in Stress Hormones.PLoS ONE 5(7): e11597. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0011597
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