A radio station caller in Boston told the DJs at WZLX that he had gone 12 years without sex. TWELVE YEARS without sex.

Apparently, his wife went through early menopause and lost interest and he was trying to stay faithful -- and did. Wow. That is a man who loves his wife.

I can say unequivocally right now that there is no way I could go that long without sex. In fact, the longest I've ever gone was six weeks and that was after the births of my children, and there was a lot of fooling around in between. Because, dude, sex is a crucial part of the human experience. I would sooner abandon water (or air -- ha!) than sex with my husband.

Sex really does so much for us. It relieves stress and tension. Just think how many times you (or your husband) have come home from a stressful day at work and tried to get some nookie started.

Sex also improves the heart rate, which improves our overall cardiovascular health, which lowers the rates of many diseases and decreases the likelihood of obesity. According to WebMD, sex also increases intimacy (obviously), reduces pain, decreases the likelihood of prostate cancer, strengthens the pelvic floor muscles, and helps people sleep better.

In other words, sex matters. It matters a hell of a lot more than people think.

Think of how you feel after sex. Do the words relaxed, intimate, and happy come to mind? What else makes us feel that way? There are so many guaranteed highs like that in life, why would we give up the one that makes us most human?

It's wonderful that this man was trying to be faithful to his wife, but I believe that any woman who really loved her husband wouldn't ask such a thing. That is the point at which you let him find a girlfriend or at least find someone to pay. Twelve years of masturbation does not a sex life make.

So, how long could you go? A week? Two? I know in my house, once we hit the five-day mark, my husband starts to grumble. I can go a bit longer (maybe closer to a week or so), but then we start to bicker and other things start to annoy us. And, of course, that is a different question than how long one can go without an orgasm. For me, that answer is more like 48 hours. 

For our marriage, for our stress levels, and for our general happiness, sex and orgasm are absolute musts. Life is way too short to give up something so essential for that long. That poor, poor man has a lot of years to make up.

How long could you go without sex?

 

Image via the Italian voice/Flickr