The only thing that gets some couples more heated than a tense, emotionally loaded argument? The makeup sex that comes after.

While your personal post-fight sexual history might be all the proof you need, research does show that romantic conflict often increases feelings of sexual desire in people. (Its easy enough to shake off your annoyance about having to go to your in-laws for the weekend when youre experiencing that heady, sweaty post-orgasm moment of bliss.)

The argument itself leaves you feeling emotionally distant from a partner, while the sex that follows works as a kind of Band-Aid, emotionally and intimately repairing the closeness that was fissured during the fight. Research shows that the effect is strongest when the argument is successfully resolved not just tabled to prioritize sex.

Generally speaking, heightened feelings do wonders for sex. A 2008 study out of Israels Bar-Ilan University suggested that people tend to be more interested in sex with their partner after being primed with feelings of emotional threat, such as being asked to imagine their S.O. falling in love with someone else.

In couples therapy, many men and women report falling into a pattern of fight, and then get freaky, said Marissa Nelson , a marriage and family therapist in Washington, D.C. (It sure beats the other route couples take: withholding sex for a period of time after an argument.)

For many, conflict is something to be avoided so this is a way to reconnect without words or apologies, she said. Whats more, the release of the love hormone oxytocin during sex makes couples feel closer. They get that feel good rush that soothes some of the emotions that may have come to the surface during the argument.

Sometimes, makeup sex can add spice and novelty to the relationship and sexual routine.

I always say to my clients that sex is a place you enter and a role you step into, so if that time after an argument is a safe place to explore more kinky or assertive sex, that can be very sexually satisfying, Nelson said.