Having an active sex life may help your brain as you age. It turns out that sex more than just pleasurable according to a new study that’s found brain benefits for those still having sex in older life. “The study, conducted in the Netherlands, involved 1,747 men and women from a larger study of aging. The subjects were 71 years old, on average and about three-quarters had partners. Researchers assessed cognitive function with tests of memory, mental processing speed, general cognitive function and fluid intelligence, or the ability to reason and think abstractly. Subjects also responded to four questions about the importance of sexuality personally and to older people generally, and about their current sex life and need for intimacy and touching with aging. Older men and women who were satisfied with their sexual relationships and considered sexuality an essential component of aging performed better on tests of cognitive function than those who felt sexuality and intimacy were unimportant, the research showed.” The study didn’t include those with severe cognitive deficits, so there’s likely to be some bias in the results. But the findings emphasize that sex continues to be important well into old age

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