Mental Health

Cheating Men More Prone to "Sudden Coital Death"

By Drishya Nair | Update Date: May 24, 2012 02:03 PM EDT

Now men have more reasons to be faithful to their partners. According to a latest study, cheating on their wives is not just risking a marriage, but also risking their life.

A study by researchers at the University of Florence suggests that men who are unfaithful, and especially those who involve with younger women, are more prone to "sudden coital death" than faithful spouses. Apparently, the chances of a cardiac arrest are more when a man is engaged in  extramarital sex in an unfamiliar setting, than when he is having sex with his spouse at home, the Daily Mail reported on Tuesday.

According to the researchers, men indulging in extramarital sex were at "a higher risk of major cardiovascular event." Whereas, heart attacks are less common when a man has sex with his wife in a setting familiar to him.

Although there is no particular reason attributed to the phenomenon, there are some possible explanations given by the researchers which include guilt conscious, stress of hiding an affair and perhaps the pressure to perform with the younger lover.

The cause of the death was found to be blocked up arteries for more than one-third of deaths according to researchers because the act of sex causes fatty plaque that has accumulated in the arteries to rupture.

"Extra-marital sex may be hazardous and stressful because the lover is often younger than the primary partner and probably sex occurs more often following excessive drinking and/or eating," researcher Dr. Alessandra Fisher said in the study. "It is possible that a secret sexual encounter in an unfamiliar setting may significantly increase blood pressure and heart rate, leading to increased oxygen demand," she added.

This is not the first study that has found a co-relation between infidelity and heart failure. An earlier study at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this year showed that 75% of 5,559 people who died abruptly from heart complications during sex were engaging in extramarital sex, according to Huffington Post.

Another study by Italian researchers in 2009 revealed that men who involved in illicit relationships for long period of time are more prone to a serious heart event than other men.

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