Want to be happier at work? Have more sex

Feeling unsatisfied with your job? You’re not the only one. According to a survey done in 2016, more than half of Australian workers are dissatisfied with their jobs.

A new study, however, has found the answer to boosting your engagement at work: satisfaction in the bedroom. Researchers from the College of Business at Oregon State University in the US reported that adults who had a more active sex life at home were more likely to report greater job satisfaction.

Sexual behaviour prompts the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that regulates the pleasure and reward centres of the brain and impacts both mood and physical and psychological wellbeing. Sex also releases oxytocin or the “love hormone”, which plays a big role in social bonding and sexual arousal.

The researchers decided to investigate how sex at home might impact job engagement and job satisfaction the next day, based on previous research into sex and mood and integrating it with work-life enrichment.

It's important to remember that sex is important as it has social, emotional and physiological benefits.

For the study, 159 married, employed adults were asked to complete a short survey twice a day for two weeks. In the survey, the participants were asked about their sexual engagement at home, their mood the next day and their behaviour at work after sexual engagement.

The results were extremely positive and revealed that sex at home is associated with more positive moods the following day. The findings showed that, when employees engaged in sex at home, they reported increased positive effects at work the next day, independent of the effect of marital satisfaction. Sex also increased daily job satisfaction and improved job engagement.

However, the study also highlighted the negative impact of daily work-to-family conflict, which showed that employees who brought the strain of work into their home life were less likely to engage in sex at home in the evening eventually leading to poor productivity at work.

The researchers also noted that the widespread use of technology and smart phones makes work accessible everywhere. This means that employees are contactable at any time and are expected to respond to emails even when they are with their families outside of work hours. Technology has its place, but researchers advise that it’s best to unplug when you are at home to create a healthy work-life balance.

This study definitely supports that a healthy sex life boosts your mood and psychological wellbeing, which has a positive impact on your work life.

So the next time you’re feeling frustrated with your work life, you know what to do!

Source: Journal of Management