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Man has two pleasures in life, sex and alcohol.
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Scientists from the University of Canterbury, which is located in New Zealand, have discovered that sex ranks first on the list of human joys.
Scientists set out to find out what brings joy and pleasure to a person.
In second place after lovemaking are all sorts of parties and drinking alcohol. At the very bottom of the scale of joys and pleasures are communication on social networks and household chores.
To create a map that would help assess which everyday events in a person's life bring them more or less satisfaction, scientists used text messages.
As it turned out, sex was the leader in all the criteria that were used for the assessment: pleasure, involvement and significance. And fun with drinking alcoholic drinks, although it was in second place in terms of pleasure, but in terms of significance it still took only tenth place.
The head of the study, Carsten Grimm, says that the reason for such an unusual study is the focus and even obsession with life satisfaction. Both governments and the media are focused on this issue around the world. There are discussions about well-being and happiness everywhere, and as the study showed, happiness itself is a much more complex and ambiguous issue than was previously believed.
According to the authors of the study, the results they obtained are of great importance for psychology and also help to take a deeper look at the concept of a “full life.”
So, here is the complete ranking of the greatest and least pleasures.
As we have already noted, sex leads the list of pleasures, followed by alcohol, then religion (in particular meditation), caring for and spending time with children, listening to music, communicating with friends, favorite activities, hobbies, shopping and games.
The activities that people enjoy the least are illness, social media, housework, studying, texting, and working and cleaning.