We cannot significantly influence the age at which menopause occurs: this mechanism is largely determined by our genetics (most likely, you will enter menopause at about the same age as your mother and grandmother), but some habits can shift our biological clock in one direction or another.
Eating right, not smoking, being physically active, managing stress, and maintaining a healthy weight can all help reduce the risk of premature or early menopause.
And not long ago, researchers confirmed that another pleasant activity in all respects also works to reduce this risk.
A team of researchers from University College London has published a study, the results of which confirm that women who have sex daily (including masturbation or oral sex) have a significantly lower risk of premature menopause (at 40 years of age or earlier) than those who lead a puritanical lifestyle.
The study involved 2,936 women with an average age of 45. Participants were asked questions about their sex lives, including how often they had had different types of sex in the past six months and whether they had gone through menopause.
Ultimately, the researchers found that those who had sex at least once a week were 28% less likely to experience menopause than women who had sex less than once a month.
Why is this happening?
Ovulation is one of the most important processes in a woman’s body, but also one of the most dangerous. For example, at this time our immune system becomes less active, thereby increasing the risk of infections and contamination. Ovulation also requires more energy – because the process of releasing eggs is very difficult.
The authors of the study suggest that after a certain age, our body may seek to switch to a more energy-saving mode and look for signals indicating that pregnancy is impossible. In this way, it sort of determines what is more reasonable to redirect resources to: possible reproduction or saving energy, which can then be spent on something else.
If a woman continues to actively engage in sex, the body perceives this as one of the signals of a possible pregnancy and strives to maintain fertility for as long as possible.
Of course, no one is ready to say for sure that regular sex is guaranteed to reduce the risk of early menopause: at a minimum, more research is needed in this area.
But the work of London scientists itself can become another pleasant reason to indulge yourself more often – alone or in the company of a loved one