Don’t worry guys and gals: Getting lucky shouldn’t ever land you in the cardiac ward.

That’s the verdict passed down by a research letter published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology earlier this September. Analyzing survey data taken from a 10-year-long study of 536 patients who had previously suffered a myocardial infarction, or heart attack, the authors found no connection between sexual activity and heart attack risk, whether prior to the heart attack or after their recovery.

"Based on our data, it seems very unlikely that sexual activity is a relevant trigger of heart attack," said lead author Dr. Dietrich Rothenbacher, professor and chair of the Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry at Ulm University in Germany, in a statement .

More specifically, the researchers found that 0.7 percent of those asked (3 patients) reported any amount of sexual activity (mastubation included) in the hour before their heart attack, with nearly 80 percent of patients’ last sexual activity occurring at least a full day before (an unlucky 14.9 percent reported no sex in the past year prior to their attack).

Similarly, they found no significant association between the degree of previously reported sexual activity to a later adverse cardiovascular disease event. There had been 100 such events in their study sample. Though they weren’t able to find out the amount of sex their participants were engaging in after their heart attack, the researchers cited research showing that it only slightly decreases from pre- to post-heart attack.

The likely explanation for their findings is that sex just isn’t much of a strain on the body, bruised egos aside. According to the authors, your regular roll in the hay is “comparable to climbing two staircases or taking a brisk walk.”

The urban myth-like belief has continued to endure, though, perhaps partly because relatively little research has been dedicated to debunking it. The authors also glumly note that less than half of heart attack patients are routinely given information about sexual activity as they’re discharged from the hospital.

“[I]t is important to reassure patients that they need not to be worried about sexual activity and should resume their usual sexual activity,” they wrote.

Despite giving the green light for everyone’s freak flag to fly, the authors were careful to explain that certain medications taken for cardiovascular health can either increase the chance of erectile dysfunctions or interact poorly with other medications intended to improve your sexual function. For those reasons, they cautioned, it’s crucial that doctors discuss these risks openly with their patients.

Source: Rothenbacher D, Dallmeier D, Mons U, et al. Sexual Activity Patterns Before Myocardial Infarction and Risk of Subsequent Cardiovascular Adverse Events. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2015.