Sex helps the brain grow faster

A study shows that sexual activity stimulates the proliferation of nerve cells in the brain.

Artwork: mirror.co.uk.

Many previous studies have demonstrated that fearsome memories can inhibit the proliferation of brain cells in adults. To find out whether the fun experiences have the opposite effect - that is, to stimulate the development of neurons - or not, scientists at Princeton University in the US conduct research on the effects. of sex for the rat brain.

Experts gave a group of male mice access to the female once a day and another group was only exposed once in two weeks. They also tested glucocorticoid levels - a hormone that causes stress - in rat blood.

When comparing two groups of male rats with those that had never mated, the researchers found the number of neurons in the hippocampus . This is the area that stores information about all kinds of sensations and is very sensitive to stress. The number of brain cells and the number of brain-cell connections in the male mouse group was greater than that of female mice exposed to the mice once every two weeks.

The concentration of glucocorticoids in the blood of males exposed to female mice once in two weeks increased markedly, meaning they felt more stressed than when the experiment had not yet begun. While glucocorticoid levels did not increase in the group of mice exposed daily.

When released into a strange setting, mice that once mated rushed into food faster than those who had never done it. That shows that mating mice are more stressful than those who have experience.