A new study found that in individuals highly motivated to enhance connection with their partner (high approach motivation), higher levels of inflammation were associated with greater sexual satisfaction and a higher frequency of orgasms. The paper was published in Brain Behavior and Immunity.
Sex is very important for most people and plays many roles in both individual lives and social relationships. People have sex to experience pleasure, reduce stress, promote relationships, create offspring, and for many other reasons. On the other hand, one’s ability to have and enjoy sex is influenced by various aspects of their physical condition, including inflammation.
Inflammation is the body’s natural immune response to injury, infection, or stress. It develops when the body releases immune cells and signaling molecules into the bloodstream, lymphatic system, and tissue, allowing them to travel to the site of injury or infection or create a systemic immune response. Previous studies have indicated that when under inflammation, a person often starts manifesting “sickness behavior,” characterized by social withdrawal.
However, more recent findings suggest that this social withdrawal might be directed only at people an individual under inflammation is not close to. It appears that heightened inflammation might increase an individual’s motivation to be with close others and affiliate with them.
Study author Tatum A. Jolink hypothesized that higher levels of systemic inflammation might be associated with better sexual well-being in a romantic relationship. Noting that a previous study indicated that heightened inflammation might motivate individuals to seek the company of people they love and trust, the authors hypothesized that this could extend to sexual intimacy between partners as well.
The study included 158 individuals between 18 and 55 years of age, 84% of whom were women. To participate, individuals were required to have been in a committed, exclusive romantic relationship for at least six months prior to the study. Participants were recruited from the community around Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States.
Participants completed three lab visits, one every two weeks over the course of a month. During each visit, they provided blood samples, which the researchers used to measure C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. CRP is a protein produced by the liver in response to inflammation and is commonly used as a biomarker to assess the presence and severity of inflammatory conditions or infections in the body.
Additionally, participants completed a survey during each lab visit. Before coming to the lab, they also completed an online survey assessing their relational approach/avoidance motivation toward their romantic partner (how motivated they were to enhance connection with their partner versus avoid them) and their sexual satisfaction. Participants also reported how often they had sex with another person and how often they experienced orgasms in the past month.
The results showed that inflammation (i.e., CRP levels) was not associated with any indicator of sexual well-being (sexual satisfaction, orgasms, or frequency of sex) when all participants were considered. However, when the researchers focused on individuals with high relational approach motivation—those motivated to enhance connection with their partner—the results indicated that those with higher inflammation levels tended to report greater sexual satisfaction and more orgasms in the past month.
“Inflammation alone may not drive people toward – or away from – having satisfying, orgasm-filled sex. Instead, individuals highly motivated to reap the rewards of having a romantic partner may have more rewarding sexual experiences with that partner as they experience higher levels of inflammation,” the study authors concluded.
The study contributes to the scientific understanding of how inflammation impacts behavior. However, it should be noted that the study design does not allow causal conclusions to be drawn from the results. Additionally, all the participants were in committed romantic relationships, and the findings might differ for individuals who are single or in less satisfying relationships.
The paper, “Do inflammation and relational motivation coordinate having better sex? The interplay between C-reactive protein and relational approach motivation on sexual well-being,” was authored by Tatum A. Jolink, Baldwin M. Way, Ayana Younge, and Sara B. Algoe.