When You Make Love Before Bed, This Is What Happens
If you find yourself tossing and turning at night, we understand your frustration. It can feel lonely staring at your alarm clock in the dark as the minutes fly by, but you are most certainly not alone. According to The Recovery Village, nearly 70 million Americans have some form of a sleep disorder that affects them from getting a quality 8 hours of shut eye. If you've tried warming up some milk, or counting sheep, good on you for taking action. And if getting lost in someone else's story other than your own doesn't help either, then it may be time to enlist your partner for some help. Why? Because making love before bedtime can help get you to sleep and stay asleep.
You likely don't need a reminder that sex feels great. In addition to feeling great, "getting some" can also help boost your immune system, reduce your risk of heart disease, and improve your self-esteem (per Oregon Health & Science University). If these aren't enough reasons to invest in keeping your sex life both safe and healthy, then we encourage you to do so for a much-needed good night of rest. Let us get to the science behind why sex can help us sleep better. For women especially, some hanky panky before bedtime can make you feel both more secure and tranquil.
Sex can release a barrage of sleep-inducing chemicals
For both partners, making love to achieve an orgasm before shutting down for the day decreases the amounts of the stress-related hormone, cortisol, in your body. It's also a great distraction from whatever might be keeping you up. "When you're engaging in sex, you're not thinking about what to do the next day, you're not going through your phones. It distracts you," says Dr. Michele Lastella (per Health).
So sex can be a good distraction, and it releases a barrage of chemicals that induce some quality sleep. These hormones include oxytocin, prolactin, vasopressin, and serotonin, experts tell Insider.
It also should be noted that making love can be just the action needed to tire you out not just physically, but emotionally as well. "Just the intensity of feelings that people experience in lovemaking, from feeling overwhelmed by their love to feeling very excited, all of these feelings can be depleting," sex therapist Dr. Jane Greer tells Insider.
So there you have it. We support your tried and trusted remedies of warm milk and counting sheep when you can't sleep, but if that fails, consider putting down your glass of milk and making love instead.