A new study published in the journal PLOS One suggests that men with a low libido are almost twice (1.82 times) as likely to suffer an early death. 

The research comes from Yamagata University and it studied more than 20,000 people. 

It sampled its data from 8,558 males and 12,411 females in Japan for over a decade and examined links between sexual interest and “all-cause” mortality. 

These include cardiovascular diseases and cancer, with the study analysing the medical records and survey responses it could get its hands on. The study authors said that: 

“Although sexual activity and sexual satisfaction are considered of benefit to psychological health and wellbeing in older groups, the association between sexual interest and longevity has not been investigated.” 

Participants were asked to complete sexual interest surveys during health check-ins, with those reporting lack of sexual interest tending to be older, likely to drink more, suffer from diabetes, laughed less and suffered from some form of psychological distress. 

Results showed that men over the age of 40 who had low libido were 1.94 times as likely to die from cancer and 1.36 times as likely to die of heart disease. Researchers noted that while women were more than twice as likely as men to report lower libidos, this did not link to there being higher mortality. 

It has not yet been decided as to what the association is, but a constant lack of sexual interest can be a sign of poor habits that raise the risk of chronic disease. 

#MaltaDaily