Does sex help us to sleep better?

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**SPEAKER_3** (0:59)
Does sex help us to sleep better?
Thanks for asking.
According to Mental Health UK, nearly one in five people in the country don't get enough sleep. Now we've talked about various types of sleep disorder in the past on Do You Really Know? And the link between good sleep and good health is well established. Many people turn to sleeping pills, but there's a totally natural alternative which may actually yield better results. What's that? Making love. A study published in an online supplement of The Sleep Journal in May 2023 found that 75% of people with insomnia reported better sleep when they had sexual activity before hitting the hay.
The research even found that post-sex sleep quality was reported as being better than normal. And furthermore, 64% of survey respondents said that sex had a better or similar effect on sleep quality when compared to sleeping pills.
Why is sex so beneficial then? Well, it helps release those feel-good hormones like oxytocin and endorphins in big doses, which naturally eases pain and stress. It also triggers melatonin release, which helps us to fall asleep, and prolactin, which enhances pleasure and post-climax wellbeing. On top of that, it reduces our levels of stress hormone cortisol and fosters feelings of intimacy with our partner. Talk about a winning recipe for a good night's sleep. The idea of a man falling asleep immediately after sex is quite a common trope, but it does actually have some basis in fact. Doctors Mark Lehner and Billy Goldberg released a book entitled Why Do Men Fall Asleep After Sex in 2006 Talking to the Huffington Post for an article on the subject in 2023, they suggested that exertion during sex depletes the muscles of energy producing glycogen, and since men have more muscle mass than women, men become more tired after sex. The orgasm gap, which we've talked about previously on Do You Really Know, may also be to blame for the phenomenon, given that men orgasm much more frequently than women on average. Does masturbation have the same effect? It's not quite as clear cut, but findings from an Australian study in 2019 suggest that it does. A team of researchers at Central Queensland University found that out of 778 participants, almost 71% claimed to get to sleep more quickly and sleep for longer after orgasming with a partner, while that figure dropped to around 50% for solo play. There you have it. Now you know whether sex helps us to sleep better. In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions and help you understand the true meaning behind the trends, concepts and acronyms that are making headlines. Listen along and you will really know for sure.

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