The missionary position, with the man on top, is one of the most popular sex positions for couples to use, but it can become monotonous at times.
To give its readers some spicy inspiration, Nerve.com's staff put together the "Position of the Day Playbook," a guide for couples to use for a little variety in their nighttime play period. Nerve.com is a Web site dedicated to creating a forum to discuss sex issues.
An interesting sex experience for couples can do more than give a little zest to a relationship. From a healthful standpoint, sex can offer some benefits to one's physical and psychological health.
Jeff Clark, professor of physiology and health science, said sex is not a weight loss plan, but it does burn calories and help reduce stress.
"In terms of weight loss, it's pretty limited," he said. "Doing it once a day would reduce people's weight if they don't replace the calories."
When someone has a heart attack or other health problems, doctors tell the patient to wait until he can climb two flights of stairs before he participates in sexual relations again, Clark said.
"That should be a good comparison for the physical activity of sex," he said.
But, according to the writers at Nerve.com, some positions can involve a lot of calisthenic exercise. John Constantine, advertising and business assistant for Nerve.com, said the staff compared sex positions to activities in a calisthenic exercise book. They based the calories burned during each sex position on the average weight of a man, 175 pounds, and the average weight of a woman, 125 pounds, as well as a 12-minute duration for each sex act.
"I will tell you right now that some of them are downright impossible," Constantine said. "And I say that from personal experience."
Sam Apple, book editor and director of interactive media for Nerve.com, said the estimates for calories burned are not reliable.
"At a certain point, it's really just guesswork," he said.
Besides burning calories, hormones such as testosterone and estrogen are released when someone has sex. These hormones produce "feel good" emotions in a person, Clark said. Brain chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine are also released and can create feelings of relaxation and happiness.
Chocolate can produce some of the same effects, Clark said.
"But as my brother says, 'Candy is dandy, but sex won't rot your teeth,'" Clark said.
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