Culture

In a Word... Healthy

Researchers found ‘nasal breathing improved after sexual intercourse with climax’

Patsy McGarry's face
Patsy McGarry
Sat Nov 13 2021 - 00:30

Sex sells, but whoever would have thought that it could also get up your nose? So to speak. Not just that, it seems to be the solution for all ills known to men. Particularly.

In this space last week I referred to pioneering work by a team of dedicated German, Turkish and British researchers who won the 2021 Medicine Ig Nobel Prize for “demonstrating that sexual orgasms can be as effective as decongestant medicines at improving nasal breathing”.

It, clearly, was an exhaustive – if not exhausting! – project, involving 18 opposite-sex couples last year. All were healthcare workers and/or partners of healthcare workers who, clearly, took time out from fighting Covid-19 to help with this essential study on the role of sex in unblocking congested noses.

The researchers “evaluated nasal breathing at 5 different times: before sexual activity (baseline), immediately after sexual activity, 30 minutes, 1 hour and 3 hours after sexual climax. [The] same measurements were taken on the second day following application of nasal decongestant spray.”

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They found that “nasal breathing improved significantly after sexual intercourse with climax, to the same degree as after application of nasal decongestant for up to 60 minutes”.

Health positives

So, why waste good money on a nasal decongestant? That is not all. In these pages last month our esteemed colleague Dr Muiris Houston referred to a 2010 study, which showed that men who have sex regularly have a lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease than those who don't. Other health positives for men associated with such regular sex include protection against prostate cancer.

Women will be glad to hear sex can also cure headaches. The distinguished Dr Houston also drew attention to a 2013 study from Germany, which showed 60 per cent of participants experienced an improvement in their migraine attack after sex. "Tonight, Josephine?"

But, for men, the ultimate discovery is from a Welsh study, which found that those males who had regular sex lowered their mortality risk by as much as 50 per cent, while men who did the deed two or more times a week died at half the rate of men who had sex less than once a month.

The moral of the story hardly needs to be spelled out.

Healthy, 'conducive to health', from Old English 'hælth' , meaning 'whole'.

inaword@irishtimes.com

Muiris Houston