Prof. recommends foreplay as flu remedy

Jet, Feb 28, 1994

For flu sufferers to get themselves well and back to work, one professor is suggesting something more than orange juice and chicken soup.

To fight the flu, Rosalyn Watts, an associate professor of nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, advises tender touches, comforting caresses, and sensual strokes. In a word, foreplay.

But all this should take place without any expectation of intercourse, says Watts, who has a doctorate in health education.

This touchy-feely intimacy, she ensures, will soothe away the stress associated with the flu. Watts call her prescription to fight the flu "the art of lovemaking."

"I really think that if a person is being stroked and touched and caressed, and if they're beginning to feel relaxed, that may minimize the stress of the illness."