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Beat High Blood Pressure With Sex
Most people would imagine that working out in the gym or going for a long walk would be the perfect way to keep the heart in shape.
But researchers have discovered the best way to beat stress is to stay in bed with a loved one.
Sex lowers the blood pressure, which keeps the heart healthy and in turn helps couples live longer, a new report claims.
Lovemaking also helps the body recover faster from stressful situations and prevents men and women from becoming harassed under pressure, scientists have found.
Professor Stuart Brody, who led the study at Paisley University, said, "I would actually rate walking as being second best for the heart. Intercourse between a man and a woman is the best. The kind of intercourse which is capable of producing babies is associated with only good health outcomes. Intercourse for a woman stimulates a neural pathway that actually soothes the heart. But it helps reduces blood pressure and boosts recovery in both sexes."
A group of 24 women and 22 men, aged between 19 and 37 were asked by researchers at the university to keep a "sex diary" for two weeks. They were asked to note down each time they had sex or engaged in another sexual activity, either with or without a partner.
At the end of two weeks, the volunteers were called into the lab to have their blood pressure recorded.
They were each placed in stressful situations to see how they performed and to monitor any change in blood pressure.
The volunteers were asked to give a speech, stating how suitable they were for a job, and told to solve verbal arithmetic questions.
