Here’s a 3 step explanation why orgasms boost your immune system by reducing stress, increasing natural ‘killer cells’ in your blood and giving you a better night’s sleep.

From dangerous mutations to the common cold, a powerful and well balanced immune system is key to staying healthy. But the immune system is not invulnerable.

Our defences need defending. And this all natural, ready at hand booster is often viewed with undeserved scepticism.

Being young and immortal

When I was young immortality ruled. Mind and body cut through their surroundings in blissful unity.

Health was not an issue, not on my mind at all.

I was too busy living to care about dying. As youth’s are supposed to.

But, alas, give it time and life soon reveals its premise of finitude.

After my share of humbling experiences, I have developed a different understanding of my ‘contract with life’.

“I will take care of you so you can return the favor” is the deal we have now, my body and I.

It seems we are in agreement and I haven’t even changed my routines that much. In my experience, once praxis turns habit it weaves effortlessly into the backdrop of experience.

Know better, do different

Attuning your lifestyle to the body’s inevitable decay includes adjustments. Some more challenging than others, but all manageable

– if you know they exist!

To me, the importance of regular orgasms on my general well being came as a surprise, I must admit.

For periods of my life I have dealt with bouts of severe depression.

Groggy and sad I would have difficulties even getting out of bed. Medication took the edge off but in turn – among other side effects – made it difficult to orgasm (that’s actually why I started Europe Magic Wand).

Lack of orgasms might seem a small trade-off to some. But not having them made me realize how important they were to my sense of self – and to my body’s ability to heal.

Looking at the science behind orgasms their health benefits are not surprising. The real surprise is that the news about the healing effects of orgasms doesn’t get more traction!

Here are three ways orgasms boost your immune system.

Orgasms are natural Anti-stressors

Anyone who has tried it will agree that continuous stress is ruinous to our bodies and mind.

If you are running or hiding from, say, a sabertooth tiger or an angry biker stress hormones are good, fantastic even!

Some situations demand heart-in-the-throat behaviour and decision making.

But if your stressors aren’t temporary and rare, stress hormones can be detrimental.

A continuous release of stress hormones turn the body’s built-in panic reactions into corrosive currents of hormonal sewage.

And the list of damage to your system is long: anxiety, depression, even coronary disease to name drop just a few from the top.

Before all that you get signs, though. And if you can make them out there’s time to react.

Common on the list of signs you should look out for is a weakened immune system: getting colds more often, having more sick days in general.

There are several steps you can take, some more elaborate and demanding than others.

I have a trick for you. Or rather: your body has.

Your body has an antidote to stress, a built in anti-panic button if you like 🙂 (For my tips on how to love stress hit this link)

You guessed it.

Orgasms release oxytocin and prolactin that fight the damaging effects of excessive cortisol.

By reducing stress you ease the strain on your immune system indirectly boosting its ability to heal the body. That’s the first, admittedly indirect, way orgasms boost your immune system.

But the health benefits of orgasms aren’t only indirect.

Orgasms boost your immune system with production of natural ‘killer cells’

When threatened, our immune system responds to potential threats by launching hordes of so called killer cells.

It’s difficult to resist the use of simplifying war metaphors when talking about the immune system. It’s not so black and white though (neither is a war I guess).

The composition of the immune system is hypercomplex and its inner workings are to a large extent still shrouded in mystery. For the nerds, this article by the French physician Anne Marie Moulin provides a brief but profound historical development of the term

– for those who endure war metaphors read on.

Crudely put, the immune system provides the soldiers and nurses of our body. And we need to take good care of them. Otherwise, they might get outnumbered or even go rogue (and develop autoimmune responses).

The good news is that you can produce killer cells simply by orgasm!

At least that is the conclusion of this German study from 2004.

Admittedly, not a lot of empirical studies exist on the matter and to my knowledge, none solely on women.

Based on 11 male subjects the German study concluded that: “sexual arousal and orgasm increased the absolute number of leukocytes, in particular natural killer cells (CD3-CD16+CD56+)”.

The empirical base of the study was small and exclusively male but the results suggest a direct correlation between orgasms and an increased amount of killer cells in our bloodstream.rope

So if you ever needed an objective reason for having orgasms you have one now.

Sleeping boosts your immune defense – and guess what makes you sleepy

Lack of sleep makes bad situations worse.

If you are looking to boost your immune defense one of the first things you want to do is rest.

According to a 2019 study from Tübingen University in Germany, sleep generates T-cells.

When you sleep the body channels its energy towards restitution.

Sleep lets your mind and body take a break from external battles like work, planning and caring for others. But the fight continues. On a bacterial level, an inner battle unfolds between our immune system and foes from near and far.

Hence, good amounts of sleep are crucial to keep your ‘troops’ fit for fight.

So, regular, high quality sleep is important. But when it comes to falling asleep knowing that it will do you good isn’t exactly enough to make you sleepy. It might even add a meta-layer of worry (on breaking free of meta-stressors read this)

What can you do if you can’t fall asleep?

Well, once again science has your back! New research suggests that the answer is literally within reach.

Several studies show that orgasms release hormones like the anti-stressors prolactin and oxytocin.

You don’t want to get sleepy if there’s a sabertooth tiger chasing you down.

But if you have connected e.g. work to your primal fight or flight response it’s a different matter.

Prolactin is one of the body’s natural sleep drugs and it fires every time we have an orgasm. So that stress kills the libido makes perfect sense. No time to have sex when running for your life.

But why are you running? What are you hiding from?

Help your body help you

To me, it was a great insight to learn that my body has the potential to heal itself. It gave me a sense of freedom. I could take matters into my own hands.

Change can be challenging. But if you don’t know that change is possible how can you even get started?

Now you know.

And if orgasms are ‘natural vitamins’, as science suggests:

– why on earth are you still hanging around here reading? 😉