Life Fit Chat with Laura Lewis: Sex Better Than Money for Happiness

Money can't buy happiness, but new research suggests that sex can ... apparently the equivalent of $100,000 a year for married couples. After analyzing data on the self-reported levels of sexual activity and happiness of 16,000 people, "Happiness economics" researchers, Dartmouth College's Bruce V. Rauner, Professor of Economics David Blanchflower and Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick in England, report that sex "enters so strongly (and) positively in happiness equations" that people who go from monthly intercourse to weekly intercourse experience the impact as the equivalent to what $50,000 would generate in happiness. And, what's more, couples experience the impact two-fold as the equivalent of $100,000. Their research goes on to suggest that divorced couples experience a depletion in happiness equivalent to the loss of $60,000.

The researchers do make the point that being financially poor but sexually active is not a passport to lifetime happiness, but simply that more money does not equate to more sex. Blanchflower claims, "The evidence we see is that money brings some amounts of happiness, but not as much as what economists might have thought. We had to look to psychologists and realize that other things really matter." According to their recently published paper, "Money, Sex, and Happiness: An Empirical Study," the happiest folks are the most sexed folks: Married people. According to their research, married folks report to be getting more action in the bedroom than their single counterparts.

So this certainly begs the question ... does sex make one happier, or are happy people more sexually attractive? You tell me!