Nervous about public speaking?
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news.com.au said:
Pork before you talk
From: Agence France-Presse
www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17944409-13762,00.html
January 26, 2006
Penetrative sex ... good for what ails you / file
PEOPLE who are nervous about public speaking should first have penetrative sex to ease the stress, although masturbation is unlikely to have the same effect, according to an unusual study.
Stuart Brody, a psychologist at Britain's University of Paisley, compared the impact of different sexual activities on blood pressure when a person later undergoes a stressful experience.
Mr Brody asked 24 women and 22 men to keep a diary of their sexual activities for two weeks.
The volunteers then underwent a stressful ordeal that involved making a speech in public and doing mental arithmetic out loud.
The study, to be published in next Saturday's New Scientist, revealed volunteers who had had penetrative sex during the previous week or so had the least stress, and their blood pressure returned to normal fastest after their test.
Penetrative sex was far more effective in this regard than masturbation or oral sex.
Those who had abstained completely from any sexual activity had the highest stress levels and blood pressure of all.
Mr Brody also did a psychological profile of the volunteers to see whether they had an anxious or neurotic character, and evaluated their work stress and satisfaction with their partners.
But even when such factors were taken into account, sexual behaviour was clearly the best explanation for the stress responses.
"The effects are not attributable to the short-term relief afforded by orgasm but, rather, endure for at least a week," Mr Brody told the British science weekly.
He believes that penetrative sex may release a special "pair-bonding" hormone called oxytocin, which accounts for the calming effect.
The research is reported in full in a specialist journal, Biological Psychology.
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