Can Sex Improve Your Work-Life Balance?

Another piece of learning that I come across often in the research I review is that social comparison is NOT the way to build up your happiness. Social comparison can have a pretty dark side, especially in today’s age of social media voyeurism. Example: Someone posts a joyful picture of themselves with a lover on a beach. Sometime after, peer workers see the picture and start negatively comparing their lives because they cannot perceive a way to be on a beach anytime soon nor do they have a lover at the moment. The intent of sharing and consuming content on the internet may start off as a positive one, however, frequent social comparison puts that same intent on a slippery slope, often leading to downward emotional spirals. Tim Wadsworth, an associate professor of Sociology at the University of Colorado, also researched how sexual frequency correlates with happiness. He and his team came to the same conclusion, that “Having more sex makes us happy.” 

What was most fascinating about his particular study was that they found that participants who thought (perceived) that we are having more sex than other people, were even happier!  His paper “Sex and the Pursuit of Happiness: How Other People’s Sex Lives are Related to Our Sense of Well-Being” also states how the opposite is true. “People who believed they were having less sex than their peers were unhappier than those who believed they were having as much or more than their peers.” The above quote came from the original source I stumbled upon at the Huffington Post. It specifically supports the negative, slippery slope, that social comparison can take. Our advice, focus on the high-quality connection (HQC) you are making during sex and disable the social judger in your head. If you feel compelled to compare yourself to others, do it privately, in your head, and make sure you perceive you are getting more than or equal goods in the sack. On second thought, be grateful that you have someone with you to share in that amazing experience. Connection is a beautiful thing!