Sex benefits the heart in more ways than one. In fact, research has shown that sex can provide a myriad of emotional and healthy benefits, including looking and feeling younger, reducing stress, boosting immunity, better sleep and improving cardiovascular health. (See Sex good for your heart.)

And now an article published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine says that frequent sex can also reduce risk for certain cancers, lower blood pressure and lead to a longer life. The editor-in-chief, Dr. Irwin Goldstein, told CNN that when you read about the physical benefits of sex, “you can’t help but say, ‘Holy God! Sexual activity is a very important thing to do. Human beings were really meant to do this.’”

For the article, researchers looked at studies on sex and health covering several decades. Here’s what they found.

10 health benefits of sex

A longer life

Men who had intercourse at least twice a week lived longer than men who had sex less than once a month, a British study found. A study in the US had similar findings, and researchers in North Carolina found that women who reported enjoying sex lived longer than those who did not enjoy it.

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A healthier heart

People who had intercourse at least twice a week were less likely to have heart attacks and other fatal coronary events, according to a British study. By comparison, those who had sex less than once a month were twice as likely to have fatal coronary events.

Lower blood pressure

More frequent sex is linked with lower diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) in a study published in the journal Biological Psychology. An experiment also found that people who are sexually active experience less dramatic blood pressure spikes while under stress.

By Cynthia Cravit. To read more, please click here.