Sex on the brain? How it can improve cognitive function

The health benefits of sex – including better heart health, improved sleep, lower stress levels and a closer bond with your partner – are already well documented. Physical contact such as holding hands and cuddles can also help to lower blood pressure.

Neuroscientist Dr Rachel Taylor tells Saga Exceptional: “Sex increases blood flow to parts of the brain that process emotions, and also reduces the size of the nuclei in the brain that filter fear and anxiety situations, which supports us to be more flexible and positive in our thinking. We get a good dose of oxytocin, dopamine and endorphins, and those increases give us energy, good feelings and motivation. We all need more of that in our life.”

Although the study focuses on people who are in relationships, not everyone has a partner, so can you still reap the rewards from self-love?

“Self-stimulation has similar effects, but you miss out on the oxytocin and dopamine boost of relationship love, so make sure you get good human interaction in other ways,” says Taylor.

But there’s no need to panic if you have no interest in sex, or are unable to have it – cuddles, touching and other forms of intimacy have benefits too.

“We have different nerve endings all over our skin, apart from the palms of our hands and soles of feet, which when touched help us to get oxytocin released as well as endorphins,” says Taylor. “The more human contact we can get, the more human we can be. Eye gazing has also been shown to increase blood flow and oxytocin release in the brain so there is intimacy in all guises that can help us.”

If you’re experiencing a lack of intimacy in your life, suggesting you go and do the crossword instead would be the least sexy piece of advice you’d ever want to hear, but the good news is there are many ways you can boost your cognitive function. Varying what you do and trying something new is at the top of the list.

Taylor says: “There are lots of other ways you can improve your cognitive function if you’re not having sex. Do something different that you’ve never done before – it’s really useful in helping our neurons to form new pathways and create new synapses, which is where they communicate with each other.

“The more new things we try, the more neuroplasticity we get in the brain – neuroplasticity is the ability for the brain to grow and change, which is really good for cognitive function. I always say that I want to be the sassy 90-year-old who’s still deadlifting and dynamic, so I do all I can to keep my brain healthy so I can be that woman.”