If you’ve ever pondered the importance of sex (not including procreation), look no further than your paycheck. Sex not only keeps you physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy, it can also keep you from going broke. According to a forthcoming study in the International Journal of Manpower, healthy employees who have more frequent sex earn higher wages.

Individuals who are happier and more fulfilled in their lives tend to be more productive and successful in their work, leading to a better salary. This delves into the motivational theory known as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which states every individual is born with a set of needs, including physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization. Basic needs such as food, water, and sexual activity must be met before any other motivations occur. If these needs aren’t satisfied, then the individual can’t function or attain further achievement.

The theory suggests we all need somebody to love and to be loved, in a sexual and non-sexual way, by others. The absence of this can make people susceptible to loneliness, social anxiety, and depression, which can affect their working life, wrote Nick Drydakis, an economics lecturer at Angila Ruskin University in Cambridge, England, and his colleagues, in the paper.

Drydakis and his colleagues sought to examine the relationship between sexual activity and wages. Data collected on 7,500 people aged 26 to 50 who lived in Greece were analyzed in the study. Both straight and gay couples were included with 5.5 percent identifying as LGBT. Demographic information, health status, and their sexual activity levels were observed. The participants were also asked about their employment status and how much money they made.

The findings revealed employees who had sex two or three times a week earn 4.5 percent more than their less sexually active counterparts, regardless of their physical or mental health. Those who reported not having sex at all made 3.2 percent less than those who were. The researchers also noticed a pattern: Those who had more sex were also more likely to be outgoing, have lower rates of diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis. The positive association between regular sex and salary remained constant and stronger for those between ages 26 and 50, even when factors like higher education, sexual orientation, and job were taken into account.

Meanwhile, health-impaired employees who are sexually active earn 1.5 percent more money than those with similar symptoms who are not. Employees taking medication had 5.4 percent less sex, while those with diabetes had 2.4 percent less, and those with arthritis and rheumatism are 3.9 percent less, according to the press release. Those with cancer are 5.4 percent less sexually active compared to those with psychiatric/psychological symptoms who are 3.7 percent less.

Drydakis and his colleagues did find an association between sex and wages, but they stress that having more sex does not necessarily cause people to make more money. Rather, sexual activity is seen as an indicator of good health, which has been associated with higher earnings. The study also picked up on the fact that disabled employees were 13 percent less likely to be sexually active and seemed to routinely suffer almost a 10 percent drop in work productivity.

A similar 2003 study by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America found a positive correlation between being sexually active and exercise. Mental health, personal happiness, satisfaction, self-esteem, among many others is related to frequency of sexual activity. People with active sex lives also exercise more frequently, have more strength and endurance, and have better eating habits than their less sexually active counterparts.

All in all, more sex is not necessarily the cause of more money, but the benefits sex provides, such as good health, leads to career success.

Regardless of the outcome, most individuals can easily rally behind the idea sex sells — or in this case buys.

Sources: Drydakis N. The effect of sexual activity on wages. International Journal of Manpower. 2015. Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The Health Benefits of Sexual Expression. 2003.