Casual sex boosts overall well-being

Do not let that depression mount over your head if you have had a casual fling recently. Casual hookups are actually good for your overall well-being, researchers say.

Do not let that depression mount over your head if you have had a casual fling recently. Casual hookups are actually good for your overall well-being, researchers say.

"If you want to have casual sex, you definitely should. If you do not want to have casual sex, you should not," said researchers from New York University and Cornell University.

The effects of casual sex depend on the extent to which this behaviour is congruent with one's general personality tendencies, they explained.

For the study, they chose a group of students who kept a weekly diary over the course of 12 weeks documenting casual sex and its effect on their overall well-being.

The team found that socio-sexually unrestricted students reported higher well-being after having casual sex compared to not having sex.

The research appeared in the journal Social Psychology and Personality Science.