Although it is a great way to have fun and feel good, frequent sex can be detrimental to your health. It can cause lower back pain, and it can lead to a variety of sexually transmitted diseases.
Although people do die from having too much sex, the chances of it happening are very low. However, the occurrence of such deaths is increasing.
1. Sudden Cardiac Death
Many people are concerned that sex can trigger an arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat. But there are very few cases of cardiac arrest caused by sex. Most cases of cardiac arrest are due to underlying heart disease and happen in people who are otherwise healthy. The exception is when a patient has very low levels of oxygen in the blood, which can occur if a person isn’t hydrated enough.
Cardiac arrest is when the heart stops beating, halting blood flow and causing damage to other organs. Cardiac arrest can be caused by certain types of arrhythmias, or irregular heartbeats, including ventricular fibrillation, when the lower chambers of the heart quiver erratically and prevent the heart from pumping blood.
Some researchers have found that sex can trigger a type of arrhythmia called polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, which is associated with an increased risk for sudden cardiac death. But these studies have been small and have not included all sex-related arrhythmias, so the results should be treated with caution.
A new study published in JAMA Cardiology analyzed 6,847 cases of sudden cardiac death and found that sex was only a factor in 17 deaths, or about 0.2% of all cases. This is significantly lower than previous studies and shows that most patients with cardiovascular disease can safely resume sexual activity without any risk of a fatal arrhythmia.
2. Sudden Cardiac Death During Sex
Many people with heart conditions avoid sexual activity out of fear that it might put extra strain on their hearts and lead to a cardiac event. They worry that it could cause a cardiac arrest, which is much more deadly than a heart attack, where the heart stops beating, explains MedlinePlus.
It’s a valid concern, but sex doesn’t pose that kind of risk to healthy people with normal hearts, researchers say. A new study published in JAMA Cardiology finds that having sex doesn’t increase the risk of sudden cardiac death, and sex is safe for most people with heart conditions, including those who have had a heart attack or have other serious heart problems.
The research team analyzed 6,847 cases of sudden cardiac death (SCD) at a hospital in England from 1994 to 2020. Out of those, 17 were sex-related SCD cases, which represents less than 2% of all SCD deaths during that period. The people who died during or within an hour after sex averaged 38 years old and two-thirds were men.
Those who died from sex-related SCD suffered from the same kinds of cardiac problems as those who died from other causes of SCA (sudden arrhythmic death syndrome, aortic dissection, arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, ischaemic heart disease, idiopathic fibrosis and mitral valve prolapse). The research suggests that well under 1% of all sudden deaths are caused by sexual activity.
3. Sudden Cardiac Death During Sex in Women
Many people who have a heart condition are afraid to engage in sexual activity for fear that the heightened blood flow will cause an arrhythmia or even sudden death. This is an unfounded worry, especially since sex has many positive effects on your health. It can lower your blood pressure and improve your immune system. It also releases endorphins, which create a feeling of happiness and boost your body’s natural killer cells, which protect you from infection.
A new study shows that there’s no need to hold back from sex even if you have a heart condition. Researchers reviewed autopsies of people who died in London from various causes, including cardiac arrest. They looked for cases where the death occurred during or within an hour of sexual intercourse. The results showed that sudden cardiac death caused by sex occurred in 17 out of 6,847 cases (0.2%). The cause was most often attributed to a cardiomyopathy or channelopathy, which are usually diagnosed in younger adults.
Those who reported having sex a few times a week were a third less likely to die, while those who had sex at least 51 times per year were only half as likely to die. This is a significant decrease in the risk of death and is due to a combination of factors, including healthier lifestyle habits, a reduction in smoking and increased levels of physical activity.
4. Sudden Cardiac Death During Sex in Men
Sudden cardiac death caused by sex is extremely rare in men, according to research presented this year at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions and published as a research letter in JAMA Cardiology. The study looked at autopsies of sudden cardiac death cases in patients whose deaths were investigated and found that only 0.2% of the events involved sexual activity. The researchers also looked at the characteristics of this group and the underlying causes of death, and found that they were younger than other SCD cases.
Cardiac arrest is different from a heart attack, in that the former occurs when your heart’s electrical system stops working, while a heart attack happens when a blockage prevents blood flow to the heart. Both are serious, but they’re very different and can happen in very different ways. The fact that cardiac arrests caused by sex are so much less common than other physical activities should provide comfort to people with heart conditions who want to be physically active, including those who’ve had a recent heart attack, or who have had coronary artery bypass surgery, or who’ve been given heart stents.
In fact, the authors of the JAMA Cardiology study recommend that doctors advise their patients to engage in sexual activity as part of a healthy lifestyle, since it’s actually good for their heart and is better than not being physically active at all. Sex is an intense activity that increases heart rate and blood pressure, but it improves circulation and reduces stress, which are both known to help keep the cardiovascular system healthy.
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