Health Benefits of Sex for Men: Fitness, Heart & Longevity

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On August 16, 2025

Can having sex make you healthier? Multiple scientific studies have found a link between regular sexual activity and enhanced physical health among men. However, many are curious about whether this association is simply due to men who are in better health being more capable of sex, or if sex itself has some beneficial effect on men’s health.

While there is certainly some truth to the idea that men in poor health tend to have less desire for sex and do it less often, it’s also the case that sex itself is actually good for our health. In this article, we’re going to explore some of the physical health benefits of sexual activity for men and discuss why regular sex is part of a healthy lifestyle.

Sex and Fitness

First and foremost, sex can be thought of as a form of exercise. While men don’t spend as long on sex as they do on a typical workout at the gym, sex still gets our hearts pumping and our respiration up because it requires some degree of physical exertion.

How many calories does sex burn? Not nearly as much as a trip to the gym, but it does something for us. In studies where men have been asked to wear FitBits while they have sex, researchers find that a single romp in the bedroom burns just over 100 calories on average. However, if you have sex for a long time or get really vigorous with it, that number could potentially go up quite a bit.

This puts sex in the category of moderate-intensity exercise for most people. It’s similar to the amount of exertion you’d put out in a light jog or swim. While very few people are having enough sex to make it their primary source of exercise, there’s no reason you can’t make it at least a small part of a healthy fitness regimen or weight-loss plan.

Sex and Heart Health

Is sex good for your heart? You better believe it! As a form of exercise, sex is fundamentally a cardiovascular event. All forms of exercise (sex included) promote healthy circulation throughout the body. It’s important for us to get our heart rates up regularly in order to strengthen our heart muscle and have healthy blood flow.

To that end, research finds that men who have sex once a month or less actually have a 45% higher risk of having a heart attack than men who have sex a few times per week. This association exists even when controlling for age, cholesterol, diabetes, and other risk factors, suggesting that frequent sex does indeed seem to be good for the heart.

Does Sex Lower Blood Pressure?

During sex (and other forms of exercise), our heart rate and blood pressure temporarily increase, which is important for strengthening the heart and making it work more efficiently over time. So as we get more exercise, our resting heart rate and blood pressure tend to go down, which is a sign of better cardiovascular health.

Consistent with this, research has indeed found that men who engage in more frequent sexual activity tend to have lower blood pressure.

But it’s not just that: research also finds that when men engage in sexual activity, they subsequently experience less blood pressure reactivity to stress. In other words, sex can help to blunt the body’s stress responsiveness, which is another way that sex can be beneficial for health: it appears to give us more capacity to cope and deal with stress.

Immune System Benefits of Sex

Some research has found that orgasm stimulates the immune system in men, leading to an increase in the number of several types of immune cells. It is thought that this could temporarily enhance the function of the overall immune system.

In addition, given the stress-lowering properties of sex discussed above, that could open another path to boosting the immune system. When we’re stressed, the body releases more of the hormone cortisol, which dampens immune function. So to the extent that sex helps to blunt the stress response and (by extension) cortisol, we can potentially get another immune boost that can help in maintaining our overall health.

Sex and Pain Relief

Another benefit of sex is that orgasm can help to temporarily blunt feelings of pain. This is due to endorphins released during sex, which have soothing, feel-good properties.

One specific type of pain that sex helps many people with is headaches. Some studies have found that among migraine sufferers, a majority report that having sex provides moderate to full relief from their symptoms. Of course, not everyone is in the mood for sex when they have a headache, but to the extent that you feel up to it, sex just might make you feel better.

In short, sex and orgasm can be thought of as all-natural pain relief remedies!

Sex and Disease Prevention

Among the many health benefits of frequent sex is that it might also play a role in preventing certain chronic diseases. For example, as discussed above, sex has cardiovascular benefits, which means that tapping into those might play some role in reducing the odds of cardiovascular disease.

It’s also possible that sex might help in preventing certain types of cancer in men, most notably prostate cancer, which is the single most common cancer diagnosed in men. Research has found that men who ejaculate frequently (whether through sex or masturbation) are substantially less likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Likewise, the immune-boosting properties of sex may also play a role in reducing the odds of developing various diseases to the extent that men engage in regular sexual activity.

Longevity and Sex

Does sex help you live longer? It very well might for all of the reasons we’ve discussed thus far! Staying sexually active throughout your life seems to confer long-term health benefits.

In fact, research on men has found that frequency of sex is a significant predictor of longevity, such that those who have the most sex tend to live longer.

Adding a little nuance to this finding, research on older adults finds that perceiving sexuality as important and enjoying sexuality is associated with increased lifespan, suggesting that the people who get the most health benefits from sex are the ones who enjoy sex the most. This makes sense because if the sex you’re having isn’t enjoyable or you otherwise have a conflicted relationship with your sexuality (e.g., due to sexual shame), you’re probably going to do it less often and experience fewer of the feel-good benefits of sex.

Conclusions

The importance of sex for men’s health cannot be understated. As the research discussed in this article makes clear, sex is good for the body in multiple ways, from strengthening our hearts to reducing blood pressure to improving our immune systems to potentially even warding off disease and helping us to live longer.

For all of these reasons, it is important for us to have open conversations about men’s sexual wellness and for healthcare providers to discuss sexuality with their patients. By normalizing conversations about sex and treating common issues that get in the way of men’s sexual performance (e.g., erectile difficulties), we can help more people to tap into the health benefits of sex—and maybe even extend their lives at the same time.

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