A recent study conducted on almost 3,000 women in the United States, has revealed that women who engage in sex on a weekly basis are 28% less likely to experience menopause at an early stage unlike women who have sex on a monthly basis.
The research was published in the Journal of Royal Society Open Science and it was based on data gotten from the US Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation also known as the SWAN study.
Megan Arnot, a PhD candidate at University College London (UCL) who co-led the research said it is pointing to a form of biological energy trade-off.
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According to Megan, women are more susceptible to disease during ovulation because their immune systems are depressed at that time.
Megan said: “If a woman is not having sex, and there is no chance of pregnancy, then the body ‘chooses’ not to invest in ovulation, as it would be pointless.”
Ruth Mace, a professor of anthropology at UCL who worked on the study with Arnot said: “The menopause is, of course, an inevitability for women, and there is no behavioral intervention that will prevent reproductive cessation,”
“Nonetheless, these results are an initial indication that menopause timing may be adaptive in response to the likelihood of becoming pregnant.”