Having sex comes with so many awesome perks—stress relief, a stronger bond, and of course, pleasure, to name a few—but can it actually score you a fatter paycheck? New research suggests that the answer may be yes: People who have sex four or more times a week tend to make more money than those who don’t, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Manpower.
For the study, researchers from the Institute on the Study of Labor in Germany analyzed 6,317 responses from men and women in Greece about how often they had sex during the week and what their wages were. Surprisingly, people who said they had sex four or more times a week earned almost 5 percent more than people who got busy less frequently.
Why? First, it’s important to remember that this is a correlation, not a causation. But it makes sense that the correlation would exist for a number of reasons. Having more sex boosts your overall health and mood, which can have a positive effect on your work performance—something your boss is sure to notice, says study author Nick Drydakis, Ph.D., senior lecturer in economics at Anglia Ruskin University. Another option: Having a well-paying job might eliminate stress about money, which can be a major issue in relationships. Less stress—about money or anything—can equal more sex in some cases, says sex educator Yvonne Fulbright, Ph.D., who was not part of the study.
Of course, if your goal is to make more money, there are plenty of other (more effective) ways to make your performance at work raise-worthy. For starters, you can use these 12 tips to impress your boss and land that well-deserved promotion—not to mention a bigger paycheck.