Sex calms the nerves

Jan 26 2006

According to a Scottish psychologist the best way to calm your nerves prior to making a speech or giving a presentation in public, is to have sex, (not in public)!

Stuart Brody, a psychologist at the University of Paisley in Scotland, does say that it only works if it is full sexual intercourse.

Brody apparently studied nearly 50 men and women who recorded their sexual activities for two weeks and analyzed its impact on their blood pressure levels when under acute stress, such as when giving a speech.

Brody says he found that the volunteers who had sexual intercourse were the least stressed and had blood pressure levels that returned to normal more quickly than people who engaged in other types of sex.

However the people who had abstained from sex had the highest blood pressure response to stress.

He says this remained the case even after taking into account stress due to work or other factors.

The range of responses to stress were best explained he says by sexual behavior.

What is more he says the effects are not attributable simply to the short-term relief afforded by orgasm and endure for at least a week.

It is his belief that the release of the so-called "pair bonding" hormone oxytocin might explain the calming effect.