Sex at Christmas Tends to be Off Menu Until Fireworks at New Year – Study

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Sex at Christmas tends to be off menu until fireworks at new year - study:

Researchers have long noticed differences in birthrates at various times of the year, but whether this was the result of seasonal fluctuations in fertility or sexual activity was unclear. To investigate, Laura Symul at Stanford University in California and her colleagues turned to data from the Clue women's health app, which included anonymous sexual activity logs from more than 500,000 women in the UK, France, Brazil, and the US. "It's self-reported, but it is still the largest dataset of real-time reports of women's sexual activities," Symul said.

The research showed that holidays - including bank holidays and Valentine's Day - were always associated with a peak in sexual activity. "There was also a very strong difference between weekend and weekdays - people have more sex on weekends," said Micaela Martinez at Columbia University in New York, who was also involved in the research. "It suggests that having leisure time with your intimate partner facilitates sex."

However, the records indicated that the three days running up to Christmas represented a no-go zone for many women. In the case of younger or child-free women, this could be due to them spending Christmas with their parents, rather than romantic partners, Symul said.

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