Sex fights illness

When, for example, scientists studied around 2400 men in Caerphilly, Wales, over a 10-year period, it found that those who had more orgasms were 50 per cent less likely to have died.



This lowering of risk was particularly marked when it came to heart attacks, leading scientists to endorse the idea that sex can be excellent exercise.



Another way in which sex shows its disease-fighting qualities is in the role it appears to have in protecting against prostate cancer.



Studies have shown that frequent ejaculations appear to reduce the risk of this type of cancer, which affects around 20,000 men in Britain every year.



Research carried out in Boston looked at 30,000 men aged between 46 and 81. It found that a higher number of ejaculations was linked with a decreased risk of cancer of up to 33 per cent.



This follows a smaller Australian study that appeared to show that men who masturbated frequently in earlier life were a third less likely to develop prostate cancer when they got older.



This phenomenon has been attributed to the theory that orgasm reduces the development of calcifications in the prostate that have been linked with cancer.