Sexual activity, either partnered or solo, improves sleep efficiency and reduces wakefulness, with partnered sex boosting next-day motivation and readiness by ~10% Digest

A recent pilot study found that sexual activity—either with a partner or through solo masturbation—reliably improved objective measures of sleep, such as sleep efficiency and time spent awake during the night. While participants did not subjectively report better sleep after orgasm, objective monitoring demonstrated that these bedtime encounters led to modest yet consistent enhancements in how well they slept.

• Sleep efficiency improved from roughly 91.5% on nights without sexual activity to about 93% when orgasm occurred.
• Participants spent about 7 fewer minutes awake during the night following sex (solo or partnered).
• Motivation and readiness for the day rose by 8–11 points (on a 100-point scale) after partnered sex.
• Couples displayed greater synchronization of REM sleep when co-sleeping, even in the absence of sexual activity.
• Hormonal shifts from orgasm, including increased oxytocin and prolactin and reduced cortisol, may drive these improvements.

Despite its small sample size and limited participant diversity, the study highlights how sexual activity might offer a natural, non-pharmaceutical intervention to subtly enhance sleep quality in healthy adults. Further research with larger, more varied populations is underway to determine whether this effect could benefit those experiencing chronic sleep difficulties.