The old headache excuse for not having sex may be over. What's more, according to one study, sex may actually ease them.
Research has shown that not everyone who experiences headaches has a decreased libido. In fact, they may desire a sexual encounter and, for some people, sex provides relief from pain.
Two research studies have addressed the problems of headaches, sexual desire and pain relief.
Migraine and sexual desire, children of the same hormone
According to a study conducted by researchers from the Department of Anesthesiology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine (Houle et al., 2006) on the relationship between migraine headaches and sexual desire found that not all people who suffer from headaches avoid sex.
In the small analysis involving 68 individuals, they were given a Brief Diagnostic Headache Interview and a Sexual Desire Inventory (SDI).
The results showed that those participants with migraine reported 20 percent higher levels of sexual desire than those with tension-type headache.
Given this, the researchers hypothesized that migraines and sexual desire may be determined by the same chemical: serotonin.
Thus, serotonin metabolism was shown to vary with the onset of a migraine attack, which had chronically low systemic serotonin.
As sexual desire has also been related to serotonin levels, the results are consistent with the hypothesis that migraine and sexual desire may be modulated by similar serotonergic phenomena.
Sex, a real headache reliever
On the other hand, the study "The impact of sexual activity on headaches of unknown cause: an observational study"The study, conducted by Anke Hambach, Stefan Evers, Oliver Summ, Ingo W Husstedt and Achim Frese, concluded that sexual activity and orgasm can lead to partial or complete relief of headache pain in some patients with migraine or cluster headache.
The analysis included 133 headache patients, of whom 103 were categorized as having migraine and the other 30 as having cluster headaches (headache defined as a series of brief but severe headaches every day for weeks or months).
In those with migraine, despite the severity of associated symptoms, 34 percent of patients had experience with sexual activity during an attack, and of those, 60 percent reported improvement - 70 percent of them reported moderate to complete relief - and 33 percent reported worsening.
It is noteworthy that some patients, particularly male migraine sufferers, even used sexual activity as a therapeutic tool.
Researchers propose several possible reasons why sex is a mitigating factor in headache pain.
Sex itself, experts say, is a distraction from pain because the release of endorphins during sexual activity and orgasm, the relaxation following orgasm, and the variety of physiological reflexes associated with sexual activity may be a cause of pain relief.
In addition, the researchers agree with the hypothesis of the Wake Forest University study researchers that migraines and sexual desire are affected by serotonin levels.
Of course, as with any sexual activity, whether or not one desires sex depends solely on the individual. For some, sex with a partner may be acceptable during a headache, while others may want to seek relief from pain by masturbating to orgasm.
While having sex during a headache might be just what the doctor ordered, it depends purely on the patient's mood, so we might still be a long way from "honey, how about tonight? I've got a headache!
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