Is Regular Sex Good For A Woman's Brain?

There may be a link between regular sex and improved brain performance in women.

The link is provided by the female sex hormone estrogen, which improves women's mental performance and may be increased by regular sex.

"Regular lovemaking can increase a woman's estrogen level," says Dr. Karen Donahey, director of the Sex and Marital Therapy Program at Northwestern University Medical Center.

She is likely relying on studies by Dr. Winnifred B. Cutler and colleagues at Penn and Stanford. Cutler writes on her own website that a 1991 study showed that "A stable, weekly sexual relationship greatly improves women's estrogen levels."

(Cutler published a book (Love Cycles: The Science of Intimacy) that included these findings, but we can't find the source material online, nor can we find citations to the original research. So this conclusion may be shaky.)

The second part of the linkage is stronger: higher estrogen levels are tied to improved brain performance. In the last twenty or so years it has become apparent that estrogen is more than a sex hormone -- it plays an important role in the brain. While the exact mechanisms don't seem to be clear, the impact is.

Dr. Daniel Amen of UC Irvine School of Medicine writes on his site that "Brain imaging studies at UCLA have shown that decreased estrogen levels are associated with overall decreased brain activity and poor memory." (the quote is excerpted from his Change Your Brain, Change Your Life)

Similarly, Barbara Sherwin of McGill University summarizes imaging studies that have shown that cognitive performance is enhanced in healthy young women when their estrogen levels are high. Post-menopausal women given estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) show increased brain activity compared to peers given a placebo.

Non-imaging studies show that women undergoing estrogen replacement therapy improve their own performance on tasks involving learning and memory. Other research indicates that changing estrogen levels during the menstrual cycle affects women's cognitive performance.

So regular sex increases estrogen levels; higher estrogen levels improve brain performance. Is it that simple? Have we found a more-fun replacement for Sudoku?

UCI's Amen makes that jump, writing that "Enhancing estrogen levels for women through regular sexual activity enhances overall brain activity and improves memory."

And if he's wrong, is there a downside? We can't think of one.

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Hat tip: Ririan Project