After sex, a man just rolls over and falls asleep - a common stereotype. But do we really sleep better after we've just had sex?

Sleep disorders are also common in Germany. According to RKI research, 10.4 women and 7.6 men in the age group 18 to 39 have difficulty falling asleep at least three times a week. A total of 24.1 women and 17.8 men in the same age group suffer from poor sleep quality – the reasons for this vary. The use of sleeping pills is not far off. 1.9% of women and 0.8% of men take sleeping pills regularly – at least once a week. But what if there was a much simpler solution to the problem?

Sex or sleep - or both?

Current research is now getting to the bottom of the best way to combat insomnia: sex. Everyone knows the cliché that a man falls asleep right after sex - isn't that a cliché? First, the small study isn't just about men. Sex tires women too.

53 people were interviewed as part of the study. 53 of them were women and 89 percent were between 25 and 49 years old. As much as 75% of respondents said they sleep better after sex - if intercourse happened right before bed. In addition to better sleep, an improvement in the general quality of sleep was also observed. Compared to sleeping pills, which improved sleep in 66 subjects, sex appears to be an attractive alternative. In addition, 64 respondents said that sleeping pills worked just as well or worse than sex. Why then?

"There is little scientific information about the effect of sex and orgasm on sleep quality," says the study's lead author, Dr. Douglas Kirsch, director of sleep medicine at Atrium Health in Charlotte, North Carolina. "Although this data is still preliminary, it was interesting to see how often sex was used to induce sleep."

However, the study authors do not answer whether sleep induction is primarily a “physiological process associated with orgasm” and, if not, whether a similar effect can be achieved through other partner activities unrelated to sex are.

However, the study has some limitations. On the other hand, there is a very small and not very heterogeneous cohort that answered the online survey with only 8 questions. On the other hand, only positive experiences were reported, negative effects were not examined. So these results aren't entirely reliable, but they're entertaining.

By: Ana Lagger