The frequency of sexual intercourse is related to the time of onset of menopause according to a new study conducted on women with an average age of 45 years

The frequency of sex is associated with the onset of menopause. Women who have sex at least once a week or a month have a lower risk of premature menopause than those who have less sex, according to a new British scientific study.

Researchers from the Department of Anthropology at University College London (UCL), who published the paper in the Royal Society Open Science of the British Royal Society of Sciences, they analysed data on nearly 3,000 women with an average age of 45, which were monitored over a decade.

It was found that those who had sex at least once a week or more often were, on average, 28% less likely to have premature menopause than those who had sex less than once a month. For those who had sex at least once a month, the chance of early menopause was reduced by 19%.

“If a woman doesn’t have sex and there’s no chance of pregnancy, then the body ‘chooses’ not to invest in ovulation because it wouldn’t make sense,” said researcher Megan Arnott.

The most common frequency of sexual intercourse was once a week (64% of women surveyed). By the end of the ten-year study, 45% of women had menopause at an average age of 52 years.

It is not yet clear the exact biological mechanism that links the frequency of sex to the age of menopause, which puts an end to a woman’s reproductive life.