“We make jokes about people having a ‘spring in their step,’ but it turns out this is actually a real thing and we should pay attention to it,” said Leavitt, an expert in organizational behavior and management. When work carries so far into an employee’s personal life that they sacrifice things like sex, their engagement in work can decline. Published in the Journal of Management, researchers from Oregon State University looked at the work and sex habits of married employees in a small study of 159 people over the course of two weeks. The effect likely stems from the fact that sex triggers the release of dopamine and oxytocin, which makes it a “natural and relatively automatic” mood elevator, the study noted. The researchers had each of the participants complete two brief surveys each day, and found that those who had more sex at home reported more positive moods the following day. They found that employees who engaged in sex reported more positive moods the next day, and the elevated mood levels in the morning led to more sustained work engagement and job satisfaction throughout the workday. The effect, which appears to linger for at least 24 hours, was equally strong for both men and women and was present even after researchers took into account marital satisfaction and sleep quality, which are two common predictors of daily mood. “This is a reminder that sex has social, emotional, and physiological benefits, and it’s important to make it a priority,” study co-author Keith Leavitt, an associate professor at OSU’s College of Business, said in a statement. “Just make time for it.” 
 
 Twenty years ago, monitoring sleep or daily step counts or actively practicing mindful meditation might’ve seemed odd but now they are all things people practice as part of efforts to lead healthier, more productive lives.
– Sex is good for you. Scientists tell us so, and continue to find ways in which it can positively impact our lives. Now a researcher at Oregon State University is reporting that "making a more intentional effort" to have a healthy sex life is an actual "issue of human sustainability" and, as would of course follow, a "potential career advantage." Reporting in the Journal of Management, his team followed 159 married employees over a two-week period and looked at their sexual behaviors as well as mood, engagement at work, job satisfaction, and more. Sure enough, having sex reaps positive benefits for a solid 24 hours—and for men and women equally, they found—likely due to the release of dopamine and oxytocin, reports New York magazine. Keith Leavitt, a business professor at OSU, goes so far as to say that people should "just make time for it," and notes that it's actually "a real thing" when people have a "spring in their step." If this all seems rather obvious, it did to Gizmodo, which points to studies linking sex with mood benefits all the way back to 1958. But while the study shows correlation and not causation—hey, people who elect to have sex more might be happier already, and being happier in general could be behind that higher work satisfaction—Gizmodo urges people not to overthink it. "There's a college professor in Oregon telling you to make time for sex and expect good things to happen as a result. This is good advice." (One town in Sweden is considering paying workers to take a one-hour sex break.)