Two Day Magazine

Another Good Reason to Get Busy....

Previous research has indicated that unenjoyable, stressful situations can prevent brain cell growth. To see if pleasant circumstances can have the opposite effects, Princeton scientists have been studying the effects sex has in rats’ brains and have come up with some interesting findings.

You are probably wondering, how on earth did they figure this out? Well, leave it up to science to turn the laboratory into a speed-dating event for rats.

The experiment:

Adult male rats were given access to sexually receptive females either once in two weeks or once a day for two weeks.

What the scientists measured:

Blood levels of glucocorticoids (stress hormones) in the male rats. Researchers believe these hormones are behind the negative effects that unpleasant situations or experiences have on the brain.

The fascinating findings:

The rodents that had regular access to female rats had no increase in stress hormones, while the rodents that only had one shot in the two week experiment to make the magic happen did have elevated levels of stress hormone. Both groups still favored much better than the virgin rats, who were more anxious than their sexually active counterparts.

Rats that were having more sex also had adult brain cells grow, as well as an increase in the number of connections between brain cells.Both groups of sexually active rats had cell proliferation (meaning, there was an increase in the number of neurons int he hippocampus.) The hippocampus is a part of the brain associated with memory. The cells that reside here are very sensitive to unpleasant experiences.

As an interesting side note, the sexually active rodents were also quicker to eat food in unfamiliar environments.

While stress hormones can negatively impact the brain, these findings suggest that the detrimental effects can be overridden whenever a pleasant experience triggers them. Hence, sex is good for you and can stimulate brain growth.

The only frustrating part of this study is that they assume that studying the brains of male rats is sufficient enough for both sexes. They don’t really mention female rat brains in this study. The female rats are only mentioned in association to sex. In the future, it would be better for scientists to take a look at these situations from both sexes and see if there is a difference between the way stress hormones effect females’ brains, as well.

Want the full report? Check out the details in the July 14th edition of the online journal PLoS ONE.