4 Ways a Little Decadence Is Good for You

Indulging yourself may have some positive effects on brain health

Ken Budd

Updated June 11, 2025

A happy woman putting a piece of chocolate in a man’s mouth

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Lose weight, get in shape, stop eating Twinkies — good health can seem like a chore. But some of our favorite guilty pleasures are actually good for us. Try indulging in these four.

1. Have sex — frequently!

Making love can be good for your brain. In a two-year study of more than 6,000 people ages 50+ published in 2018 in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, those who enjoyed “more frequent sexual activity and greater emotional closeness” performed better on memory tasks than their less sexually active counterparts. The upsides may continue later in life, too. In people ages 75 to 90, more frequent sex was linked to better cognitive functioning, a 2023 longitudinal study in the Journal of Sex Research found. The bedroom benefits aren’t limited to your brain. In a different study, regular sex was associated with pain relief, better sleep, lower stress and greater happiness based on an analysis of new and existing research published in 2021 in the International Journal of Sexual Health.

2. Listen to Mötley Crüe

Or Andrea Bocelli. Or Men Without Hats. The type of music doesn’t matter: If you enjoy it, your brain will benefit. People showed the highest levels of complex interactions between brain regions when they listened to music they selected themselves — and felt a positive emotional attachment to — compared to when they listened to less familiar choices, according to a small study of 12 people published in 2019 in the International Journal of Neuroscience.

Whether it’s Beethoven or Beyoncé, music can boost your mood. Seventy-five percent of people ages 50 to 80 said music helped them relax or relieve stress, according to University of Michigan’s 2024 National Poll on Healthy Aging. Music can also affect regions of the brain involved with everything from memory to thinking skills, as reported in AARP’s Global Council on Brain Health in 2020. “Few human experiences activate so many circuits in our brains as music,” says Jonathan H. Burdette, M.D., professor and section chief of neuroradiology at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Burdette was study leader of research reported in 2014 that found that people listening to the music they liked, rather than a particular type of music, increased connectivity in the brain. “I know personally, if I listen to music during the day, I will have a better day,” he says.

To learn more about the upsides of music, visit AARP’s “Music and Memory.”

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3. Take a nap, but keep it short

A short snooze has major brain benefits. In a review of 35 studies published in 2022 in The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, brief naps "benefited cognitive health in older adults compared with both non-napping and long or extended napping."

Napping for short periods was also linked to improved attention, episodic memory (which allows you to remember specific events), spatial ability (the understanding and conceptualizing visual information, such as maps) and overall cognitive performance, while “long or extended napping was consistently associated with poorer cognitive health.”

So what are the ideal conditions for a short snooze? The prime time for a nap is between 1–3 p.m., says sleep expert and cognitive neuroscientist Sara C. Mednick at the University of California, Irvine and the author of The Power of the Downstate: Recharge Your Life Using Your Body’s Own Restorative Systems. “This time has been related to a naturally occurring dip in alertness,” she says. As for optimum length of the nap, Mednick recommends 90 minutes. But if your time is limited, even 5- to 20-minute naps may improve brain performance, researchers have found.

4. Get a massage

A relaxing rubdown can help ease problems such as anxiety, insomnia and headaches, according to Mayo Clinic. “Research shows that massage therapy helps to support a healthy stress response system, reduces stress-related hormones and can improve immune system function, ” says Karrie Osborn, senior editor with Massage & Bodywork magazine.

Some soothing stroking can also spice up your relationship. When 19 couples (average age close to 37) completed a three-week massage course, their massage sessions reduced their stress, improved their physical and mental well-being and increased satisfaction with their relationship, researchers from England’s Northumbria University reported in 2019 in Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine. And, both partners said they felt better regardless of whether they gave or received the massage.