Past research has discovered that stressful and displeasing events can impede the growth of brain cells in adults. Princeton researchers wanted to test these findings to see if pleasant events would then have the opposite effect.
Researchers allowed male rats access to sexually receptive female rats either once a day for two weeks, or only once in two weeks. The rodents' blood was monitored for the stress hormone glucocorticoids, which is widely believed to impede brain cell growth. These results were then compared against male rats that had never had sex.
All groups had cell growth in the hippocampus, which is the region of the brain associated with memory and most sensitive to unpleasant experiences. However, the rats that had more sex had an
This article appears in Jul 29 – Aug 4, 2010.