LOS ANGELES—We knew it but it’s nice to have it scientifically reinforced. New research by Carnegie Mellon University has found that looking at images of hot women is good for men.
Per Men’s Health, “After men spent a few minutes looking at semi-erotic images (think the Victoria’s Secret catalog), their bodies’ freak-out responses were cut in half compared to guys who viewed nonsexual photos. That’s not all. Men who peeped the hot pics also performed almost 50 percent better on the math portion of a stress test, the study shows.”
The process here is purely biological, with a sweet psychological reward. (love you, brain.) “When you’re stressed,” reports Men’s Health, “your body produces more of a hormone called cortisol, which excites your nervous system and disrupts your brain’s problem-solving capabilities, says study coauthor J. David Creswell, Ph.D. But Creswell’s research shows that stoking your brain’s reward pathways with erotic images appears to limit the stress-cortisol response.”
What that means is that if you work at a job where stress comes into play, erotic porn is now SFW!
The downside to all of this—yes, there’s always a downside—is that “the guys in the study scoped the sexy photos before undertaking the stressful task, so it’s not clear whether looking at hot images can mellow you out once you’re already stressed. However, a few minutes spent perusing erotica at the start of your day may help you stay calm and mentally capable at crunch time.”
Yes, maybe, but the only way to know for sure is to experiment during crunch time.
