A good sex life won’t just improve your mood, it could also boost your brainpower.
A study found that the more satisfied a person was with their love life in their 60s and 70s, the sharper their mind and the better their memory.
One possibility is that an active sex life keeps the brain young.
The finding follows a recent British study which revealed that age is no barrier to an active love life.
Dutch researchers found that people in their 70s having sex were better able to use their memory, file photo
The Manchester University study found, more than half of men and almost a third of women aged 70-plus are still sexually active.
And one third of these have sex at least twice a month.
The latest study involved quizzing more than 1,700 Dutch men and women about their sex life and their need for intimacy.
The volunteers, who ranged in age from 58 to 98, were also put through a battery of mental tests, designed to assess everything from memory to the ability to think abstractly.
Two-thirds of the men and women had a partner and a similar number said that they still felt the need for intimacy.
Those who were satisfied with their sex life and said that sexuality was important did better on the tests.
The link was particularly strong in women, the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry reports.
The researchers, from the Altrecht mental health centre, can’t be sure if staying sexually active was keeping the brain or if interest in sex dwindles as the mind fails.
However, previous research has credited having sex with the growth of new brain cells, in rats at least.
It has also been suggested that doing a crossword is better for the brain than an orgasm – because it gives the whole brain a workout, rather than just one area of it.
Researchers have found that rats can boost their brain power by having more sex than normal
The Dutch researchers said it is important not to assume that sex is just for the young.
They wrote: ‘Many beliefs about sexual behaviour in older populations are based on personal and stereotyped views of ageing and sexuality.
‘Older persons are generally expected to no longer be capable of or to be lacking interest in sex when, in reality, many elderly persons require sexuality to be important and wish to remain sexually active as they age.
‘Age itself is no adequate predictor of sexuality; the reality of ageing is that most people continue to have sexual feelings of some sort.’
ends
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