Is Sex Necessary for Health?

The question itself is ‌wrong. Health is a variable that is given at birth. It can get worse as a result of illness and return to its original level after recovery, i.e., it can get better.

What can be done when one’s health is already good? Can you improve it with sex? There is no clear answer. 

Is it Good for Men to Have Sex?

There is a myth that men need to have sex to prevent urological diseases such as pelvic congestion. In reality, predisposing factors to pelvic diseases are hard physical work, obesity, heredity, an unhealthy lifestyle, and bad habits (smoking, alcohol, drugs).

It has not been scientifically proven that the lack of sexual intercourse among men is crucial to the occurrence of any disease.

It is well known that sexual activity has a positive effect on the cardiovascular and endocrine systems. It reduces the risk of heart disease and increases the production of hormones (testosterone, estrogen, oxytocin, serotonin). 

How Does Sex Affect Psycho-emotional Health?

Voluntary sex has a beneficial effect on a man's psycho-emotional state. When the need for intimacy is naturally high, the absence of sex will have a negative impact on the quality of life. However, an orgasm experienced with a partner is not significantly different from an orgasm achieved on your own, so masturbation is the solution. 

How Often Is Sex Necessary For the Body's Health?

In 2016, researchers from Hong Kong, Singapore, and the US published the results of a 1988-2002 poll of Americans. 

It turns out that the amount of sex does not affect one's happiness. Those who haven't had an intimate relationship for a long time are as happy as sexually active men and women. Popular psychology has always believed that prolonged abstinence in a physically healthy adult indicates emotional dysfunction. “Perhaps there are other measurements of human intimacy that have a much greater impact on the state of mind, and sexual activity recedes into the background,” the authors of the paper write. It's an issue of self-sufficiency, confidence, and acceptance of one's self, life goals, and personal growth. Of course, this does not exclude intimate contact.

Therefore, if a man manages the occasional sexual tension on his own (through masturbation or exercise) because he does not want to have random sex and yet does not feel unhappy, depressed, or lonely due to a lack of sex, then all is well.

Sources: 

Neuroendocrine and cardiovascular response to sexual arousal and orgasm in men (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9695139/), Psychoneuroendocrinology. 1998 May;23(4):401-11. doi: 10.1016/s0306-4530(98)00007-9. Accessed 23 Sep. 2024.

What Is the Impact of Casual Sex on Mental Health? (https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-impact-of-casual-sex-on-mental-health-5179455), June 25, 2024. Accessed 23 Sep. 2024.

Is Sex Good for Your Health? A National Study on Partnered Sexuality and Cardiovascular Risk Among Older Men and Women (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5052677/), J Health Soc Behav. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2016 Oct 6. Accessed 23 Sep. 2024.

Sociodemographic Correlates of Sexlessness Among American Adults and Associations with Self-Reported Happiness Levels: Evidence from the U.S. General Social Survey (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-017-0968-7),  08 March 2017. Accessed 23 Sep. 2024.