More Sex Does Not Always Improve Happiness, Study

While self-help books and previous studies may recommend lots of sex to make us happy, a new study conducted by a team of scientists from Carnegie Mellon University has revealed that excess sexual activity could lead to frustration.

For the study, the scientists included 128 married heterosexual couples between the ages of 35 to 65 years. These couples were then randomly assigned to continue with their usual amount of sex or asked to double the number of times they had sex each week.

The couple's happiness quotient was determined through the use of online questionnaires for the next three months. According to the results, it was observed that people who had more sex were not happier than those who had their usual amount of sex.

People who had more sex were also observed to show a small decrease in happiness. The authors of the study felt that the fact that these couples were asked to indulge in more sex could have possibly lowered the enjoyment or desire for sex. This could be a substantial difference when compared to couples who initiate sexual activity on their own.

Lead investigator George Loewenstein, a professor of economics and psychology, said in a university news release said, "Perhaps couples changed the story they told themselves about why they were having sex, from an activity voluntarily engaged in to one that was part of a research study."

"If we ran the study again, and could afford to do it, we would try to encourage subjects into initiating more sex in ways that put them in a sexy frame of mind, perhaps with baby-sitting, hotel rooms or Egyptian sheets, rather than directing them to do so," he said.

Tamar Krishnamurti, who is a research scientist in engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon said, "The desire to have sex decreases much more quickly than the enjoyment of sex once it's been initiated."

 "Instead of focusing on increasing sexual frequency to the levels they experienced at the beginning of a relationship, couples may want to work on creating an environment that sparks their desire and makes the sex that they do have even more fun,"