According to new research carried out by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, women who have regular sex with their partners on a weekly basis have longer telomeres - the protective appendages at the ends of the DNA strands.
The research was conducted on 129 mothers who had their telomeres measured by giving blood samples:
"Women who reported being sexually active during the week had significantly longer telomere length across whole blood and PBMC than women who were not sexually active.”
While this is the first study to posit a positive link between sexual activity and DNA in women, researchers said the sample of participants is too small to draw any definitive conclusions, adding that further studies with a "larger more diverse sample" need to be carried out for more conclusive results.
Full study: http://www.psyneuen-journal.com/article/S0306-4530(16)31003-4/abstract
Couple image via Flickr