It's Hotter Away from Home

Unless, that is, you construct your vacation to produce an environment conducive to sex. Denise, 30, a stay-at-home-mom from New Jersey, says her vacations are just as hectic as life back home, even when she and her husband Richard, a software developer, leave the kids behind. "I feel I have to soak up as much grown-up fun as I can," she says, "so we're running around like crazy, trying to see and do as many things as possible ... But we'll have sex like every night," compared to two or three times a month back home: "We are just more at ease, we can stay up later and get up later without feeling guilty or hurried, so of course the sex is better."

Sex also gets a boost when you don't have to worry about your 7-year-old barging into your bedroom (this advantage is lost, of course, if you book one hotel room for the whole family), or about being late for work if the mood strikes at dawn. And at the risk of falling into gender stereotypes, experts say that "better" can mean different things for women than it does for men. Women wax euphoric about the quality of vacation sex; men like the quantity. Adam, a 31-year-old office manager (and Kristin's boyfriend) says all sex is good sex, but what makes vacation sex better is that there's more of it. In fact, several men told NEWSWEEK that their wife or girlfriend tends to drink more on vacation, becoming less inhibited. (On the other hand, one 30-year-old women suggests, "maybe it's just that men are less annoying after a few drinks.")

The vacation effect is certainly not limited to those under 40. In a 2007 study, middle-aged women (median age: 47.6 yrs) recorded physical affection, sex, stressful events and their mood every morning for 36 weeks. Physical affection or sex on one day significantly predicted a better mood and less stress on the following day. That suggests that just as feeling relaxed and happy does wonders for responsiveness and desire and hence sex, the arrow of causality can point in the other direction, too: sex improves mood. And lo and behold, "positive mood on one day predicted more physical affection and sexual activity with a partner, but fewer solo orgasms, the following day," scientists reported in a 2007 study. Sex "and physical affection improve mood and reduce stress, with improved mood and reduced stress in turn increasing the likelihood of future sex and physical affection," they conclude--exactly the situation on a typical vacation.

Being in novel surroundings can also improve the quality as well as the quantity of intimate relations. A 2005 study found that gay men engage in 11 times as much risky behavior when they're at a vacation resort than they do at home, for instance. That reflects the sorry fact that sex--especially for long-term couples--can get dull, predictable and boring when it happens within the same four walls and on the same bed year after year. "When your midcoital view changes from a grimy New York street to a sweeping Pacific horizon, it's hard not to sense an improvement," says Jeff, 27, a Web-site manager. Being away from home also means being away from neighbors, which can vanquish inhibitions. Greg, 31, a staff sergeant with the U.S. Marines, attributes the improved quality of vacation sex to the fact that you can make more noise: "Who cares about the neighbors? You're never going to see them again."

with Jeneen Interlandi

© 2008