I think we’re all in agreement that stress is something we’d like less of. Stress does bad things to us – physically, emotionally, mentally. It messes up our work, our personal relationships, and our ability to cope. I’ve been discussing this for weeks, at this point.
I was going to write about exercise this week, but let’s be honest – everyone writes about exercise. There is one form of exercise that is even better for stress relief than most: Sex. When done properly, it’s a great form of exercise, it will distract you from what’s stressing you out, it is very likely to put you in a good mood, it will relax you, and it has added brain chemistry benefits over other forms of physical activity.
It also fulfills a first chakra (survival) need we don’t always consider – touch. When the Eastern Bloc of Europe opened up, and Westerners began adopting children from the warehouse-style orphanages, caregivers found that at least 1/3 of the children had trauma and developmental disabilities because they hadn’t received enough touch. Touch lowers stress-related chemicals in the body. It doesn’t affect adults in the same way, because we have already developed, but it is still necessary to our ability to feel okay. Loving human touch, things like cuddling, stroking, massage, hand-holding, stimulates oxytocin production, which lowers blood pressure and reduced stress in general.
I probably don’t even really need to convince you that sex is great. If you’re not already convinced, it’s going to take more than a blog post to change your mind. But here’s a quick and cursory list of posts of preaching to the choir, as it were:
- The Links Between Sex and Stress
- 16 Reasons To Have Daily Sex
- 10 Surprising Health Benefits of Sex
- 9 reasons you should have sex everyday
- Sex And Stress Relief: A “Pleasing” Combination
If you aren’t currently in a position to have sex with someone else (for whatever reason), you may need more of a two-pronged approach – bring yourself to orgasm (you’re probably going to need to do your own research on that one), and make sure you’re getting your touch needs taken care of – hug your loved ones, get a massage or a pedicure, or even play with the critters at your local animal shelter.
One of the common themes I see in stressed-out people is the tendency, when presented with tools and solutions, to reply with “yeah, but…”Arguing the point it only adding to your stress, and you’re wasting energy. Stop resisting, pick a tool, and try it.