real life

Clear your schedules, lovers: Here's why you should have sex every 48 hours.

You know that smug feeling you get when you’ve been getting some?

That “I just got laid” smirk which creeps across your face on your morning commute, even though it’s smooshed into the smelly armpit of man in a polyester suit (your face, I mean).

It’s this feeling:

via GIPHY

And it has a name… Sexual afterglow.

According to a new studied published in Psychological Science, for up to 48 hours after doing the deed, the deed-doer will feel higher levels of sexual satisfaction. A spring in your step, if you will.

We know sex is needed for reproduction (thanks, ‘Where did I come from?‘) and clearly, it’s fun but what this new research shows is that it also serves another, super science-y, purpose.

The “afterglow” is linked with long-term relationship satisfaction.

“Our research shows that sexual satisfaction remains elevated 48 hours after sex,” lead author of the study Andrea Meltzer writes. “And people with a stronger sexual afterglow — that is, people who report a higher level of sexual satisfaction 48 hours after sex — report higher levels of relationship satisfaction several months later.”

“And people with a stronger sexual afterglow — that is, people who report a higher level of sexual satisfaction 48 hours after sex — report higher levels of relationship satisfaction several months later.”

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Meltzer and her team hypothesised given couples rarely have sex every day, the short-term boost to satisfaction could help keep them bonded even between bedtime romps.

To test their theory, they looked at daily diary entries from hundreds of newlyweds taken over two independent studies.

"Babe, c'mon. Do it for science."

Each night for two weeks, the couples were asked to report independently whether they'd had sex that day and how satisfied they were feeling about said sex, as well as their significant other, their relationship in general and their marriage overall.

They then completed a follow-up survey four to six months later.

On average, most of the newlyweds had sex four times in the fortnight-long period and, regardless of age or gender, those with initially higher levels of afterglow faired better down the track than those who felt less giddy at the get-go.

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"This research is important because it joins other research suggesting that sex functions to keep couples pair bonded," Meltzer concluded.

It's also cool news for single folks out there who now know the niggling feeling that comes when you haven't had sex in a while may just be your invisible halo of post-coital hotness fading, not you just losing your marbles.

Let's hear it for science!