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Life Span and Physiology Are Modulated by Sexual Perception and Reward
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2013/11/27/science.1243339.abstract

Sensory perception modulates aging and physiology across taxa.

Researchers found that perception of female sexual pheromones through a specific gustatory receptor expressed in a subset of foreleg neurons in male fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, rapidly and reversibly decreases fat stores, reduces resistance to starvation, and limits life span together with neurons that express the reward-mediating neuropeptide F.

Mating [INTERCOURSE/COPULATION] reversed the effects of pheromone perception, suggesting a model where life span is modulated through integration of sensory and reward circuits and where healthy aging may be compromised when the expectations defined by sensory perception are discordant with ensuing experience.