It sounds like something out of Ricky Gervais’ comedy film The Invention of Lying, where you could tell someone you need to have sex to make sure they live longer.

The researchers looked at data from a national health survey involving 14,542 participants, although not everyone shared details about their sex life.

New study has found women who have sex frequently better their chances of a longer life.Getty Stock Image

Among them more than 2,000 participants, 94.4 percent said they have sex at least once a month, while 38.4 percent reported having sex more than once a week.

Previous studies have found that the average adult in the US has sex about 54 times a year, which works out to roughly once a week.

The study found that sex is key for relationships.Getty Stock Image

The 2,267 participants, aged 29-50, were divided into two groups: those who had sex more than once a week and those who had sex less than once a week.

Researchers also noticed a trend: the less sex a woman had, the higher her risk of mortality.

Those with depression were about three times more likely to die during the follow-up period if they had infrequent sex.

The researchers said ‘sexual activity is important for overall cardiovascular health’.Getty Stock Image

“Individuals with depression but high sexual frequency don’t feel harmful effects of depression as much,” Dr Srikanta Banerjee, lead author of the study, told DailyMail.com.

However, the researcher noted that “there are multiple theories” to explain these findings.

Next time your partner says they’re not interested, you might want to explain that both of your lives could depend on staying intimate.