Hardbopjazz Posted September 3, 2004 Report Share Posted September 3, 2004 The World's No.1 Science & Technology News Service Semen acts as an anti-depressant 19:00 26 June 02 Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues. Semen makes you happy. That's the remarkable conclusion of a study comparing women whose partners wear condoms with those whose partners don't. (Photo: Getty Images) The study, which is bound to provoke controversy, showed that the women who were directly exposed to semen were less depressed. The researchers think this is because mood-altering hormones in semen are absorbed through the vagina. They say they have ruled out other explanations. "I want to make it clear that we are not advocating that people abstain from using condoms," says Gordon Gallup, the psychologist at the State University of New York who led the team. "Clearly an unwanted pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease would more than offset any advantageous psychological effects of semen." Suicide attempts His team divided 293 female students into groups depending on how often their partners wore condoms, and assessed their happiness using the Beck Depression Inventory, a standard questionnaire for assessing mood. People who score over 17 are considered moderately depressed. The team found that women whose partners never used condoms scored 8 on average, those who sometimes used them scored 10.5, those who usually used them scored 15 and those who always used them scored 11.3. Women who weren't having sex at all scored 13.5. What's more, the longer the interval since they last had sex, the more depressed the women who never or sometimes used condoms got. But the time since the last sexual encounter made no difference to the mood of women who usually or always used condoms. The team also found that depressive symptoms and suicide attempts were more common among women who used condoms regularly compared with those who didn't. The results will appear in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. And Gallup told New Scientist that his team already has unpublished data from a larger group of 700 women confirming these findings. In this study, the always-use-condoms group were more depressed than the usually-use-condoms group, suggesting the discrepancy in the smaller study was a sampling error, he says. Alternative explanations But is it really the semen that affects women's mood? The researchers say they looked at alternative explanations such as whether women who seldom use condoms took oral contraceptives, how often they had sex, the strength of relationships, and the possibility that having a certain type of personality influenced the decision to use condoms. But none of these factors can explain their findings, they say. Subscribe to New Scientist for more news and features Related Stories Depression genes differ in men and women 28 March 2002 Brain scans reveal placebo effect in depressed patients 2 January 2002 Brain "pacemaker" has long-term effects on depression For more related stories search the print edition Archive Weblinks Gordon Gallup, State University of New York Archives of Sexual Behavior Indiana University of Pennsylvania In fact, the results aren't a complete surprise because semen does contain several mood-altering hormones, including testosterone, oestrogen, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinising hormone, prolactin and several different prostaglandins. Some of these have been detected in a women's blood within hours of exposure to semen. The question many people will ask is whether oral sex could have the same mood-enhancing effects. "Since the steroids in birth control pills survive the digestion process, I would assume that the same holds true for at least some of the chemicals in semen," Gallup says. "I understand that among some gay males who have anal intercourse, it is not uncommon to attempt to retain the semen for extended periods of time," he adds. "Suggesting, of course, that there may be psychological effects." But further research will be needed to confirm whether exposure to semen through oral or anal sex really does affect mood in heterosexual or homosexual partners. But why should semen have such an effect? "It makes no sense to me for this phenomenon to have evolved," says Satoshi Kanazawa, an evolutionary psychologist at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. But Gallup counters that men whose semen promotes long-term mood enhancement might have more chances to indulge in sexual activity. Raj Persaud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted September 3, 2004 Report Share Posted September 3, 2004 Funny, I always feel better after I lose it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny E Posted September 3, 2004 Report Share Posted September 3, 2004 Guess that explains why Richard Simmons is so happy all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted September 3, 2004 Report Share Posted September 3, 2004 semen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maren Posted September 3, 2004 Report Share Posted September 3, 2004 (edited) The scientist in me says: maybe something in LATEX makes women depressed... Edit: I just realized the double-entendre but, at the moment, I'm the only scientist "in me" Edited September 3, 2004 by maren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted September 3, 2004 Report Share Posted September 3, 2004 I had a girlfriend who used to joke, "I'm stealing your male generative energy!" Or was she? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe G Posted September 3, 2004 Report Share Posted September 3, 2004 The scientist in me says: maybe something in LATEX makes women depressed... Edit: I just realized the double-entendre but, at the moment, I'm the only scientist "in me" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted September 3, 2004 Report Share Posted September 3, 2004 The scientist in me says: maybe something in LATEX makes women depressed... Edit: I just realized the double-entendre but, at the moment, I'm the only scientist "in me" Come again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted September 4, 2004 Report Share Posted September 4, 2004 From CNN.com/HEALTH. (But given the headline, I don't suggest opening this link while you're at work.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tjazz Posted September 4, 2004 Report Share Posted September 4, 2004 Do you think a guy wrote this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BERIGAN Posted September 4, 2004 Report Share Posted September 4, 2004 From CNN.com/HEALTH. (But given the headline, I don't suggest opening this link while you're at work.) "There's definitely fertile ground for more research. Many have stepped forward to volunteer for related research now in the planning stages," he said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe G Posted September 4, 2004 Report Share Posted September 4, 2004 Dr. Len Lictepeen, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society, said women should not overlook or "play down" these findings. No doubt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted September 5, 2004 Report Share Posted September 5, 2004 This has to have been done by the same jokers who posted the fake study that said fellatio reduced women's chances of breast cancer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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