Scientists discover intriguing benefit of having sex right before bedtime
If you have a habit of waking up in the middle of the night, a spot of intimacy might be the key to a full night's rest.
Experts found those who had sex or engaged in self pleasure just before going to sleep were far less likely to wake up soon afterwards.
While the Australian scientists were unable to confirm exactly why this was, they theorised that the post-orgasmic rush of feel-good hormones helped people get a good night's kip.
They also noted that the benefits of intimacy for sleep seemed to be particularly strong for women.
It's one of a raft of recent studies highlighting how sexual activity provides a host of health advantages.
In the first of its kind experiment, experts recruited seven heterosexual couples, age 26 on average, and gave them a strict sex and sleep schedule.
For the a total of 11 nights, participants abstained from sex for seven, performed an act of self pleasure for two and had sex with their partner for the final two.
Couples were instructed to sleep apart from their partner on the two 'self pleasure' nights.
Experts found those who engaged in intercourse with their partner were less likely to wake up in the night and therefore slept more than on nights they were celibate
For the experiment, participants were told to make the sexual activity the very last thing they did before bed.
Participants wore a sleep tracking device that monitored the time it took to get to sleep, how much time they spent asleep and if they woke up at all in the night.
The results were then sent directly to the researchers for analysis the following morning.
On average, participants reported engaging in acts of self pleasure for an average of 19 minutes, and intercourse for 33 minutes per session.
Sleep tracker data showed that on nights where volunteers engaged in sexual activity, they only woke up for an average of 16 minutes during the night.
In contrast, on celibate nights, they were awake for almost 23 minutes on average.
Experts also found their sleep efficiency, a term given for total time spent in bed during the night, also improved by 2 percentage points to 93.4 per cent, suggesting a more restful night.
Doctors have warned that celibacy can lead to hidden health risks
Writing in the journal Sleep Health, the authors noted the impact of any kind of sexual activity on sleep seemed to be stronger for women.
'Women slept longer and spent less time awake throughout the night following both solo and partner sexual activity,' they wrote.
While the study couldn't measure this directly, the researchers said they suspected hormones released during sex, such as oxytocin, prolactin, and endorphins, had helping participants drift off to sleep.
The scientists said their experiment is the first to use digital sleep trackers to measure the impact of sexual activity on sleep in people's own homes rather than in a laboratory.
They said this had the advantage of tracking data in the real world but came with the limitation that scientists were not able to directly 'observe' if participants were following the sex and sleep diary correctly.
Another limitation was the small study size and that studies on sexual behaviour can attract people who may have 'higher orgasm frequencies compared to the general population'.
Researchers added that further studies could not only include a wider group of participants, but also explore if reaching orgasm is needed to see benefits to sleep.
