Bedroom bonus: Sexual satisfaction and a sense of higher purpose seem to go hand-in-hand for some women.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—Good sex is reward in and of itself. But a study presented last week at the annual meeting of the North American Menopause Society, held in San Diego, found that sexual satisfaction in women seems to have an additional, hidden benefit: a higher purpose in life.

THE DETAILS: Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center tracked sexual satisfaction in 728 women, ages 40 to 65, in a five-year study. The participants answered annual questionnaires on their health-related quality of life, menopausal status, hormone therapy use, and social support. In years two and four, they also answered questions about their engagement in and enjoyment of sexually intimate activities like kissing, hugging, oral sex, and sexual intercourse. And at one point, all the women completed the Life Engagement Scale, a six-statement test (takers are asked to agree or disagree with each statement) designed to assess how engaged you are in your life with statements like, "There is not enough purpose in my life," "To me, the things I do are all worthwhile," and "I have lots of reasons for living."

What the researchers found was that the women who reported higher levels of sexual satisfaction and enjoyment in sexually intimate activities (because, the study found, they had more social support, better emotional well-being, and less vaginal dryness, on average) also reported a higher sense of purpose in life. The researchers did not find a link between the frequency of sexually intimate activities and a higher sense of purpose in life. Nor did hormone therapy significantly factor into the women's sexual enjoyment or life engagement. “Hormone therapy hasn’t been a factor in any study that’s looked at this, actually,” reveals lead author Beth A. Prairie, MD, M.P.H., assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “Does hormone therapy make any difference at all? Probably—but the effect size is probably so small that when you compare it to the other things going on in a woman’s life, it’s minimal.”