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HAVING too little sex increases the risk of a heart attack by more than two-and-a-half times, scientists have warned.

They say people that only indulge on a few occasions - rather than hopping into bed on a regular basis - have a short-term increased risk of heart attack and sudden cardiac death (SCD).

Us researchers found that "episodic activity" was associated with a 2.7 times increased risk of heart attack.

However, analysis showed that the relative risk of heart attack was decreased by about 45 per cent - and SCD by 30 per cent - for each additional time per week that the person had sex.

Experts at Tufts University and the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, who conducted the study, said: "Regular physical activity has been identified as strongly associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease and related mortality."

Activity They added: "Despite the well established benefits of regular physical activity, anecdotal evidence has suggested that physical activity, as well as other acute exposures, such as sexual activity and psychological stress, can act as triggers of acute cardiac events.

"In all cases, individuals with lower habitual activity levels had an increased relative risk for the triggering effect.

"In conclusion, based on our review of 14 casecrossover studies of acute cardiac events, we found a significant association between episodic physical and sexual activity and heart attacks and suggestive evidence of an association between episodic physical activity and SCD."

The study was published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.