Do you feel you are not earning enough at work? Well, perhaps you need to be having more sex.
(No, this isn't an infomercial.)
A researcher at the Anglia Ruskin University has concluded that a satisfying sex life is linked to being better paid.
Economics lecturer Dr. Nick Drydakis took a sample group of 7,500 people – both gay and straight – between the ages of 26 and 50. Data was gathered between January and December, 2008.
Via e-mail interview, Dr. Drydakis told CBSNews.com how the absence of sexual activity may make people "susceptible to loneliness, social anxiety, and depression that could affect their working life."
He cites Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a widely accepted psychology theory from the mid-20th century based on basic requirements – physiological (breathing, food, sleep), security (of resources, family, health), belonging (love, friendship) – as a way of determining that sexual activity can be beneficial to what an individual earns.
"Contemporary social analysis suggests that health, cognitive and non-cognitive skills and personality are important factors that affect the wage level," reads the study. "Sexual activity may also be of interest to social scientists, since sexual activity is considered to be a barometer for health, quality of life, well-being and happiness."
Further on in the paper, Dr. Drydakis concedes a certain flaw that results from an inverse hypothesis: "Sexual activity may not casually impact wages … higher wagers may encourage some to adopt more sexually active lives. For instance, higher wages may increase the value of attractiveness of a person on the dating market; higher wages may increase purchase of gifts that are thanked for via sex. Unfortunately, there are no references with which to address these claims…"
Which is to say, maybe your higher wages are what's responsible for your robust sex life (or vice versa).
Still, the study ends by reporting that, "Those employees having sex more than four times a week receive statistically significant highest wages."
(And no, in case you were wondering, the study did not include people being paid to have sex.)