Could a 1,000-year-old Japanese text hold the key to longevity and the secrets of sex medicine?
For centuries, the Imperial Family of Japan and its physicians have preserved the 30 precious volumes that comprise the Ishinhō, or the “heart of medical prescription.“
These scrolls provide a holistic approach to staying alive — and getting it on — with remedies drawn exclusively from the holy trinity of herbs, nutrition and sexual healing.
Scroll 28, specifically, includes instructions for the creation and preservation of jingqi (the life force) through sexual energy and expression.
The overarching theme of the Ishinhō is the belief that all the body’s systems are interrelated in what scholar Denis Noble calls “an integrated communicative system.”
And longevity science suggests the ancients were on to something with their sex medicine.
To replenish cells, DNA has to be copied into new cells. Each strand of woven DNA is capped with something called a telomere, and each time the DNA replicates to produce new cells, those telomeres get shorter.
Researchers use the length of telomeres to measure biological age and have long believed that activating them can help turn back the clock.
“All we need to do is find something that activates telomeres,” Leslie Kenny, founder of Oxford Healthspan and co-founder of the Oxford Longevity Project, told The Post.
“Well, one of those things is sexual intimacy,” she continued. “And it’s that meditative state that couples can get into when they entrain breath, heartbeat and eye gaze. That actually increases the telomeres.”
Kenny noted that sexual intimacy also increases oxytocin, the anti-inflammatory bonding hormone.
“Oxytocin reduces an inflammatory marker called IL-6, and it will support wound healing and immune function,” she said. “So these are all things we want.“
Stress is another saboteur in the fight against aging and a direct contributor to and amplifier of myriad diseases.
The good news? Sex is an effective de-stressor.
“We can use sexual intimacy as a way to better regulate our emotions,” Kenny said. “Physical affection triggers a release of endorphins, dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin, all of which contribute to emotional bonding, elevated mood and lower inflammation.”
For the male contingent, Kenny cited a 1997 British Medical Journal study that examined the frequency of sexual intercourse and lifespan of 900 men aged 45–59.
Those with the highest frequency of orgasms had a 50% lower premature mortality rate.
While sex is thought to be a near-universal curative kink, the health benefits tied to ejaculatory frequency are up for debate.
Some evidence has linked higher ejaculation frequency to a lower prostate cancer risk, but other research didn’t draw the same conclusions.
For its part, Ishinhō Scroll 28 recommends limiting ejaculation, suggesting that excessive emission of sperm can deplete a man’s life force and lead to premature aging,
There is a long-held Taoist belief that keeping sperm in a closed circuit by abstaining from ejaculation allows the energy contained in the swimmers to be redistributed into the body.
Indeed, some Taoist teachers recommend that men only ejaculate 20 to 30% of the time they engage in intercourse, roughly two or three times out of every 10 sex sessions.
There’s no definitive scientific evidence about the health benefits of semen retention or the decidedly less scientific-sounding “blue balls.”
Kenny believes that ejaculation can deplete precious resources — and that semen retention can be rejuvenating.
“When a man ejaculates, he actually will deplete his body of testosterone, what the Eastern sages have called a ‘man’s essence.’ There have been studies done that show that immediately after ejaculation, a man will lose testosterone,” Kenny explained in a YouTube video.
“The more that this happens, the more his testosterone levels drop. Another thing he will lose is spermidine.”
Spermidine — a naturally occurring compound found in all living organisms — plays a key role in slowing aging, protecting against disease and reducing inflammation by activating autophagy, a process that eliminates damaged cell parts.
“Sperm also include vitamin C, magnesium, glutathione, which is the body’s master antioxidant, and zinc,” Kenny said. “There are a lot of important minerals and antioxidants that the man is losing, so he needs to top up with these other things to replenish.“
To practice saving your masculine essence, Kenny suggests a combination of willpower, breathing techniques and butt-muscle clenching to circumvent ejaculation and fuel an internal orgasm.
Better yet, adhering to the practice can help men build up to the ever-elusive multiple male orgasm, Kenny said.
For gentlemen who prefer to top up rather than hold off, Kenny recommends consuming food rich in antioxidants, especially avocados, leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cabbage.
“You can supplement with B12, vitamin C, zinc and liposomal glutathione,” she added. “You can also supplement with spermadine, or you can get it in your diet from things like a fermented soy bean called natto, wheat germ and peas.”
