When researchers try to decode the strange science of sex, the results can be pretty surprising.
1. Dog owners have more sex than cat owners
Dog owners hit the sack more than cat owners, according to a detailed study of 1,500 pet owners carried out by VetPlus. Dog owners reported having sex three times a week while cat owners only had sex twice a week (they were also more likely to live with their parents — which may well have something to do with it!).
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2. It’s in her walk
People can tell a lot about you from the way you strut down the street. Belgian researchers found that observers were able to guess whether or not a woman regularly had vaginal orgasms based on her walk. Women who regularly orgasmed were described as displaying “fluidity, energy, sensuality, freedom, and absence of both flaccid and locked muscles.”
3. Is your brain aging? Have sex!
If you for some reason need any convincing about why sex makes your life better, here you go: Research from the University of Maryland found that sex (in “middle-aged rats”) boosts cognitive function and activity in the hippocampus, the part of your brain responsible for creating new memories. While hippocampal function gets worse as you age (making you forget things), sex can slow this process down.
4. Funny men give women more orgasms
According to a study on heterosexual women published in the journal of Evolutionary Psychology, women had more intense orgasms when they dated men who were funny, self-confident and in higher income brackets. Women with funny partners were also more likely to initiate sex.
5. People with different political views don’t have sexy BO
Tend to find yourself attracted to people with similar political leanings to you? There may be a biological reason for that. Apparently people are actually more attracted to the smell of people with similar political beliefs, according to a study published in the American Journal of Political Science.
6. Grilled cheese = more sex
According to a very serious survey of 4,600 Americans, grilled cheese lovers are having slightly more sex than those aliens who, for reasons that were not explained, do not love grilled cheese sandwiches. While 32 percent of people who love grilled cheese had sex six or more times a month, only 27 percent of non-grilled cheese lovers had sex that much. Sure, it’s a subtle difference, but I’ll take it!
7. The pill messes with who you’re attracted to
This is a tough one to swallow. Normally straight women are attracted to men with different MHC genes than their own — the genes that keep your immune system working. But according to alarming research published by The Royal Society, going on the pill can make women more attractive to men who are more genetically similar to them (i.e., men whose genes are more like those of you and your family members) — yuck.
8. Men can’t make voices ‘sexier’ but women can
While women can consciously make their voices sound sexier, and succeed in having people rate their voices as more attractive, men couldn’t do the same, according to a study from Albright University. “In fact, although not significantly, it got a bit worse when men tried to sound sexy,” says researcher Susan Hughes.
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9. Love feels like drugs
Falling in love can make people act addicted to their sig other, as it activates our brains’ pleasure center. According to MRI scans of the brains of people in love, done by psychologist Helen Fisher, the same areas in the brains of people who are in love light up when they’re showed an image of the person they love as those of people doing cocaine or having an orgasm.
10. Women get turned on by monkey sex
This one has a major ick factor, but according to a study published in the Journal of Biological Psychology, women (and not men) got a little bit aroused when shown a video of primates having sex. Thankfully though, women showed greater levels of arousal when shown the human sex videos!
11. Sex gives you stronger bones
Having a stable relationship can be beneficial to bone health, according to a study from UCLA. Marriage disruptions and getting married before age 25 are associated with a lack of bone health in men, while having a supportive marriage is linked to better bone health in women, explain the researchers.
12. Men are more attractive in red
If you’re a woman who is into men, you might want to buy the man (or men! no judgment here!) in your life a red shirt. Researchers found that women are more attracted to men in red, despite being consciously unaware of this bias. “We found that women view men in red as higher in status, more likely to make money and more likely to climb the social ladder,” explains study author Andrew Elliot, whose study is published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.
13. Just how much sex ‘should’ you have?
When it comes to answering the question of how often you ‘should’ have sex, each person will have to decide that for themselves. That being said, if you’re curious as to how often the majority of self-identified happy people have sex, it’s once a week. A study in the journal Social, Psychological & Personality Science found that people reported being happier when they had sex once a week — surprisingly, people who had sex more than once a week didn’t report being any happier.
14. You won’t guess what smells turn men on
Chicago’s Smell and Taste Treatment Research Foundation published an interesting study analyzing whether or not different smells acted as aphrodisiacs. As it turns out, when it comes to scents that increase arousal among male subjects, “the combined odor of lavender and pumpkin pie produced the greatest increase (40 percent).”
15. LOL your way into the bedroom
According to Match.com’s Singles in America survey, simply texting “LOL” or “HaHa” can make you more desirable. Those simple letters can up your chances of having a second date by 255 percent and your chances of having sex by 39 percent.
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