Image:
-
The Best Science Writing Online 2012
Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...
Read More »
Physicians have known for a long time that, for most men, sex is safe and even life-prolonging. Yet evidence is growing that, at least for adulterers, the picture is different. In a review of the literature on infidelity published online in April in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, researchers presented intriguing evidence that extramarital sex can kill.
To be sure, death by copulation is rare. But the data suggest that when it happens, it usually happens to adulterers, and the cause is typically cardiovascular. In 1963 a Japanese pathologist reported that of 34 men who had died during intercourse, nearly 80 percent had died during extramarital sex, most of cardiac causes. In 2006 South Korean pathologists documented 14 cases of sudden coital death and found that only one had involved a man who had been having intercourse with a woman known to be his wife; all the other men had died of cardiovascular causes. In 2006 researchers at Goethe University Frankfurt in Germany published an analysis of sex-related autopsy reports for 68 men. Ten had died with a mistress and 39 with a prostitute.
Why do unfaithful men, especially, die doing what they love to do? “Extramarital sex may have its own hazards,” says Alessandra Fisher, the study's lead author and an expert on sexual disorders at the University of Florence. “The lover might be much younger. Sex might be particularly athletic or follow excessive drinking or eating”.
Guilt may also play a role. The University of Florence team's 2011 statistical analysis of health outcomes for almost 1,700 male patients showed that those involved in stable extramarital relationships had about twice the cardiovascular disease as other patients in the study, particularly if the man reported that his wife was still sexually interested in him. “Deceiving a sexually available and involved mate could lead to a deeper sense of guilt,” the researchers wrote. That type of psychological distress has been shown to up cardiovascular risk.
Already a Digital subscriber? Sign-in Now
If your institution has site license access, enter here.
Rights & Permissions
See what we're tweeting about
26 Comments
Add CommentCommon sense would indicate that older men are more likely to have heart conditions, probably undiagnosed. In addition older married men are more likely to seek extra-marital affairs than younger more recently married men. There is also the factor of mid-life crisis leading to increased stress and the urge to seek out something extra-marital in nature. Nothing really ground breaking here, just an interesting observation.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisah! another case of presenting some hotchpotch statistical correlation as a scientific research.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this““Deceiving a sexually available and involved mate could lead to a deeper sense of guilt,” the researchers wrote.”
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf this ‘research’ holds, all that can be said is this:
1. Sex is one of the most guilt inducing human activity.
1.1. Applying the same logic of correlation is used in this study one can further infer that this is a problem of the western morality.
2. Guilt feeling can induce cardiovascular diseases.
3. So, being part of or believing in the western morality (culture) is dangerous to health.
I agree! Since causation hasn't been established, having apparently only been the subject of speculation, I suggest that this evidence supports the assertion that marital sex eventually becomes less exciting and/or stimulating than extramarital sex...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHi, read this and be a good boy or a Gentle man. ( Applicable to other sex also)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisdunkinjalki: Might want to reread the article. One of the articles referenced a 1963 study in Japan...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOnly those who are bad at math scoff at statistics.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnyone who has done any advanced study of mathematics would know how absolutely crucial statistics is in understanding EVERY SINGLE PROCESS THAT TAKES PLACE IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE. I repeat, THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE! This applies everywhere from the quantum level--the basic building blocks of EVERYTHING and EVERYONE--up to the complex interconnection of factors that govern human behavior.
What exactly qualifies someone writing a comment on an online article, to dismiss as "hotchpotch," the conclusions of numerous reputable institutions and researchers who have spent hours, weeks, maybe years on this work? Do you think you know enough about this subject to make a judgement like that, in the few minutes it took to read this article?
You do not.
Nothing makes arrogance worse than mixing it with ignorance.
How can you possibly determine that causation hasn't been established? A one page article in a magazine is not the place to go into the specific mathematics of the research.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe role of an article like this is to reference the study, and briefly speculate on what it means. To do a rigorous analysis of the research, you would have to read the actual studies from the researchers in question. Dismissing them before doing so is completely irrational.
Kloumann - time for your tablet ... and no scoffing until you've taken your teaspoon of statistics.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn Oz there was a famous story of a federal politician who went as he came - most guys generally felt 'way to go dude!'
I'll second that extra-curricular sex is likely to be more exciting - e.g. the Coolidge Effect
and yes the rich older guy who's had too much good food and wine, picks up an attractive aspiring young female, gets on the job and thank you for coming - I'll be going now !
i agree with Kloumann, though - ultimobo's "Kloumann - time for your tablet ... and no scoffing until you've taken your teaspoon of statistics." -did make me laugh.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell, let's see - this article states:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Guilt may also play a role. The University of Florence team's 2011 statistical analysis of health outcomes for almost 1,700 male patients showed that those involved in stable extramarital relationships had about twice the cardiovascular disease as other patients in the study, particularly if the man reported that his wife was still sexually interested in him. “Deceiving a sexually available and involved mate could lead to a deeper sense of guilt,” the researchers wrote. That type of psychological distress has been shown to up cardiovascular risk."
There were some speculations about causation, but nothing definite mentioned here. As to the suggestion that guilt may play a key role in producing the results, knowing that the University of Florence is located in Italy and that the population of Italy is almost exclusively Catholic, I might conclude that the research subjects were not randomly selected from a valid population statistically representative of the general population.
jtdwyer,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTake it ,then, from personal experience, guilt does play a role. Although, obviously I didn't die, The guilt I felt played a role in my behaviour....before,during and after.
Why would a man be going outside his marriage for sex in the first place? Per biology, women simply do not have the same sex drive, and consequently interest in sex, as men do, and certainly with age as the hormones that influence sex drive decline. Any chance a man might be stressed at home before he ever decides to step out? I think years of being in a marriage stressed by lack of sex could drive a man to point of actually dieing once he finally takes action.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this(Just to be clear, I in no way condone adultery.)
yes, i accept i might be wrong, BUT note that it is a study by "Japanese pathologist" not a Japanese studies... at least that is what the article says.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIrregardless of your personal experiences, selecting a subject population of any specific religion will likely skew the statistical results. Catholics may have particular views about family responsibilities, the sanctity of the institution of marriage and even obedience to church doctrine that may be wonderful but do not represent the views or practices of the general population.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Italian researcher's speculation that guilt might play a significant role in the deaths of unfaithful spouses might be quite reasonable given their familiarity with their subject population of Italian Catholics...
Obviously, no marriage => no death from extra-marital sex. Simple solution. :^)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Irregardless" is not an English word.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPardon me for bringing up a dusty old-fashioned tome of yore, but this is after all consistent with the ancient warnings -- of course, until the advent of modern antibiotics, there were several other probable paths to death:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBible: Extramarital sex is deadly
Pro 2:10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; 11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: [...warnings about evil men] ... 16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;... 18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
Pro 7:4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: 5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. 6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, 7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, 8 Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, ... 22 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; 23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.
Science: Extramarital sex is deadly
Besides this article, for example:
http://www.healthopedia.com/sexually-transmitted-disease/
...hepatitis B, caused by the hepatitis B virus, which can cause serious liver disease and liver cancer ...
Irregardless, it's in my Random House Dictionary for the English Language. It's nonstandard - that's, OK. Whatever - you know what I mean?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irregardless
"...saying that 'irregardless' is not a real word despite all the evidence to the contrary is just a different kind of ignorance."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irregardless
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/irregardless
"Irregardless is always a great word to know."
The best argument is made by
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/irregardless.aspx
Rephrased by me: ir---less is a double negative - 'without no regard'.
On that point I'll concede - it was ircareless of me.
Extramarital sex generates huge guilt which is highly depressing. Consequently, it becomes killer. Avoid this.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisS. N. Tiwary
Director, ASC
How did they rule out over-exertion with a new, younger partner. I'm sure their performance exceeded the usual, they have at home, with the spouse. Sudden, intense, unusual exertion, must be a common factor in cardiac arrest, for those at high risk. Fortunately, they died with a smile on their lips. GK
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is poor scientific research. The cause of death is not extramarital sex. It is cardiovascular disease, which has many possible causes (stress is one of them). If extramarital sex is the primary cause, married women doing it should also die. If the unmarried lover is much older, his/her young married lover should also die. But why only old men dying?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI can claim watching TV can kill. How many old men died of heart attack while watching TV? I bet more than those who died while having extramarital sex. I can also claim marital relationship increases cardiovascular risk. How many married old men have cardiovascular disease? I bet more compared to single young men.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWas this research published in a medical journal or a tabloid?
Any statistics concerning .357 lead poisoning correlated with the extra-marital activity?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am certain that Extramarital Sex can kill because the greatest authority on this subject, currently resident on this planet, has definitively and with great conviction and in very painfully graphic and descriptive detail outlined to me how this would happen if I were ever so inclined to put such a theory to the test and because she has never lied to me I take what she has postulated to be "a prior".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhole article is female chauvinist. Notice how cheating is never wrong for women. Yet they still cant figure out why dwindling numbers of men want to get married.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this