Christmas may be a time for giving, but a study has found that people are having less sex in the run-up to Christmas.
Getting in the mood takes on a new meaning around Christmas. Whether it’s decking the house in lights, waking up to a breakfast of mince pies, or gifting presents to everyone, including pets, it’s a wonderful time of year in many ways – except in the bedroom.
According to recent research, interest in sex drops off almost entirely in the three days before Christmas, only to return over the new year.
And the spike in sexual activity over the new year overtakes more romantic holidays, such as Valentine’s Day, contributing to higher birth rates during the following September.
Researchers at Stanford University in California used data from Clue, the women’s health app, to better understand sexual habits. The data included anonymous sexual activity logs from more than 500,000 women in the UK, France, Brazil, and the US, and is said to be the largest dataset of real-time reports of women’s sexual activities.
The research also found that in general, holidays usually lead to a peak in sexual activity, including bank holidays and Valentine’s Day, while there’s a notable difference on weekends and weekdays too, with people having more sex on weekends.
The same can’t be said at Christmas, with sexual activity dropping off in the days leading up to December 25.
‘In the case of younger or child-free women, this could be due to them spending Christmas with their parents, rather than romantic partners,’ said Laura Symul, one of the researchers.
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Whether that’s the reason for this seasonal drop in sex or not, the situation improves after Christmas Day. Clue users report an increase in sexual activity which lasts from Boxing Day until the new year, peaking on New Year’s Day.
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