Sex on the brain! Associations between sexual activity and cognitive function in older age.
Sex on the brain! Associations between sexual activity and cognitive function in older age.
复制标题
在大脑上做爱！年龄段的性活动与认知功能之间的关联。
DOI：
10.1093/ageing/afv197
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发表时间：
2016-03
期刊：
影响因子：
6.7
通讯作者：
Jenks RA
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Wright H;Jenks RA
背景：健康老年人的认知和性活动之间的关系研究不足。这一领域的有限研究表明，性活动与老年男性更好的认知有关。目前的研究探讨了可能的中介因素，在这种协会在男性和女性，并试图提供一个解释方面的生理影响认知功能。研究方法：利用英国老龄化纵向研究第六波的最新数据，目前的研究探讨了50-89岁成年人（n = 6，833）的性活动和认知之间的联系。分析了两种不同的认知功能测试：与执行功能广泛相关的数字排序和与记忆广泛相关的单词回忆。结果如下：在调整年龄、教育、财富、体育活动、抑郁、同居、自测健康状况、孤独和生活质量后，男性的性活动与数字排序和回忆之间存在显着相关性。然而，在女性中，性活动和回忆之间存在显着联系，但不是数字排序。结论：这些协会（如神经递质）的可能介质进行了讨论。横截面性质的分析是有限的，但为未来的探索和纵向研究提供了一个有前途的途径。这些发现对促进医疗机构的性咨询具有影响，在医疗机构中，老年时保持健康的性生活可能有助于改善认知功能和幸福感。
Background: the relationship between cognition and sexual activity in healthy older adults is under-researched. A limited amount of research in this area has shown that sexual activity is associated with better cognition in older men. The current study explores the possible mediating factors in this association in men and women, and attempts to provide an explanation in terms of physiological influences on cognitive function. Methods: using newly available data from Wave 6 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, the current study explored associations between sexual activity and cognition in adults aged 50–89 (n = 6,833). Two different tests of cognitive function were analysed: number sequencing, which broadly relates to executive function, and word recall, which broadly relates to memory. Results: after adjusting for age, education, wealth, physical activity, depression, cohabiting, self-rated health, loneliness and quality of life, there were significant associations between sexual activity and number sequencing and recall in men. However, in women there was a significant association between sexual activity and recall, but not number sequencing. Conclusions: possible mediators of these associations (e.g. neurotransmitters) are discussed. The cross-sectional nature of the analysis is limiting, but provides a promising avenue for future explorations and longitudinal studies. The findings have implications for the promotion of sexual counselling in healthcare settings, where maintaining a healthy sex life in older age could be instrumental in improving cognitive function and well-being.