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Looks like a panacea

Paul Lewis© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

U.K. health service website makes a bold recommendation

London: It can help reduce stress, soothe pain, cure insomnia, lower the risk of a heart attack and, as if that was not enough, make your hair shine and your wrinkles vanish.

"Forget about jogging round the block or struggling with sit-ups," says the U.K. Government's patients' helpline, NHS Direct (NHS: UK National Health Service). The key for healthy living is, in fact, "a good bout of `sexercise'."

Undertaking "regular romps," according to an official posting on the homepage of the NHS Direct website, will bring a plethora of health rewards, from staying fit and burning calories to combating cancer. "Orgasms even release painkillers into the bloodstream, helping keep mild illnesses like colds and aches and pains at bay, and produce extra oestrogen and testosterone," the site says. "These hormones will keep your bones and muscles healthy, leaving you feeling fabulous inside and out."

But Dr Melissa Sayer, an expert in sexual health, said the site made unproven claims. "It's good to see the NHS are promoting sexual well-being. But they are making claims that can't be scientifically substantiated. Yes, there is evidence that sex has benefits for mental well-being, but to say there is a link with reduced risk of heart disease and cancer is taking the argument too far."

Ann Grain, head of external affairs at NHS Direct, which receives over a million online visitors a month, defended the site and said it aimed to move towards a magazine style homepage. "This isn't just a bit of fun. There are still serious messages there, and everything we write is backed by science and clinical evidence," she said. "But we partly put it up because of the run-up to Valentine's Day — I don't think we'll need it after that."

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