Here’s Why Sex Makes Us Feel Happy, According To Science

The reason is not what you’d expect.

Zeynep Yenisey

Mar 2, 2017

Ever notice how you usually feel really good about everything after a nice roll in the hay, and you feel that all is right in the world? Yeah, it’s a pretty nice feeling. But have you ever wondered why you feel so happy after sex? Well, even if you haven’t given it a second thought, you’re about to find out.

According to a new study published in Personality and Social Psychology, it was discovered that the warm and fuzzy feeling you get after having sex isn’t just because sex itself feels so damn good, but also because it brings you emotionally closer to the person you’re sleeping with, thanks to romantic post-sex cuddles.

For the study, 335 random people in romantic relationships were surveyed on their sexual frequency, life satisfaction, and their “affectionate touch frequency,” which is how often they kissed and cuddled and all that good stuff.

It was found that people who had frequent sex and had high “affectionate touch frequency” were those who felt the best about life in general, and reported being the happiest . I mean, duh, anybody who has a lot of sex is going to be really happy, because sex is amazing.

However, after investigating the data a little more, the researchers decided that it was more so the affectionate touching that made people happy, rather than the frequent sex. So, it was concluded that the secret ingredient to feeling happy after sex was, in fact, the affectionate touching and cuddling.

“Sex seems not only beneficial because of its physiological or hedonic effects, but because it promotes a stronger and more positive connection with the partner,” says researcher Anik Debrot, suggesting sex itself makes you feel awesome, but the romantic cuddles afterwards is the cherry on top.

The moral of the story is, if you want to be super happy, you should: