Pleasure Boosts IgA Levels

[Guest guest]

[Pets are good for your immune system, as well as music, and

something else that escapes my mind just now...]

Enjoyable experiences pump up your immune system, confirms Carl

Charnetski, PhD, a professor of psychology at Wilkes University, in

Pennsylvania, and author of Feeling Good Is Good for You. And the

most pleasurable way to protect yourself from colds and the flu is by

having regular sex, he found in a recent study.

Men and women who made love once or twice a week had 30 percent

higher levels of immunoglobulin A (IgA, a mucous membrane antibody

that fights respiratory viruses and bacteria) than those who

abstained and -- to everyone's surprise -- those who had sex more

than three times a week. " Aristotle was right: All things in

moderation -- including sex, " says Dr. Charnetski. " While it's

unclear why too much is harmful, it may be that these people are in

obsessive or poor relationships that cause them stress and anxiety,

which in turn suppresses IgA. "

If more sex isn't on your agenda, try listening to relaxing music,

playing with pets, or even cultivating an optimistic attitude.

Research shows these things increase the antibody, too.

" We've known for a long time that stress is hard on the immune

system, but what's new is finding out that pleasure makes it work

much better, " he says. " Anything enjoyable, from eating chocolate --

or just smelling it -- to making love has the potential to raise IgA.

Even anticipating something nice that's going to happen later in the

week stimulates your body's defenses against illness. It looks as

though pleasure has the opposite cumulative effect that chronic

tension does: Over time, injecting frequent small jolts of joy in

your life starts you on an upward spiral to better health. "

Originally published in Ladies' Home Journal magazine, December 2005.