Why Exercise is So Important for a Good Sex Life

There are many factors which can affect your sex life. But one important activity to introduce into your life, if you have not done so already, is exercise. Exercise is extremely important for a good sex life.

Exercise helps you maintain good health and it comes in many forms. Some exercise is better than none at all and regular exercise makes all the difference. Especially, when it comes to sex. Which also is an exercise in its own right!

From walking, running, playing sports to using the gym for weights and classes. It all counts. The more you do the better it will be for your body and your enjoyment of pleasure in bed.

We look at how exercise or the lack of it, can help men and women turn their possibly null sex life into a good sex life.

Benefits for Men

Men who suffer from erectile dysfunction (ED), premature ejaculation and other issues sexually including confidence can all benefit from regular exercise.

A study by The University of Mississippi found that men who are ED sufferers have a 70% higher risk of premature death. This is all due to poor cardiovascular health. Something exercise can help address.

Dr Tobias Köhler, an associate professor of urology at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, says that men finding difficult to get an erection indicates that your heart is the problem area. And could lead to fatal issues such as heart disease and heart attack too.

Dr Köhler explains that the vessels which carry the blood to your penis a very small. They are about one or two millimetres wide, so if you have ‘fatty’ blood (high in bad cholesterol), they can get clogged up very easily, resulting in poor erections.

The fat in the blood is similar to plaque gathering on teeth. This build up is caused by lack of exercise, a poor diet, smoking, age and genetics. Therefore, exercising is one sure way of keeping the plaque down and making it flow easily into the penis.

For men, the body image issue is no different. So, many men hit the gym to build their muscles and get ripped. Then, they use their look to impress and sexually attract women and get noticed for being ‘buff’.

One key aspect is the testosterone hormone which makes them feel more masculine. This same hormone is important for sex. Low testosterone levels can affect your sex drive and your mood.

Testosterone is what actually makes men, men. It’s the fuel for muscle mass, bone density, and body hair. It plays an important role in every major organ system, from the arteries to the brain.

Erections and the increase of libido can be strongly connected to the levels of testosterone in a man.

According to Todd Schroeder, PhD, from the University of Southern California:

“Sometimes it’s 15 minutes after exercise that testosterone is elevated. Sometimes it can be up to an hour.”

So the amount of exercise you do can also impact your testosterone levels.

Especially, weight training which releases testosterone into the bloodstream when muscles fibres are stressed. In particular, squats, which raise testosterone levels highly, using the legs, which are the biggest muscles in the body.

Benefits for Women

Dr Ian Kerner, author of Passionista: The Empowered Woman’s Guide to Pleasuring a Man says: “It’s not just men who need stamina and muscle strength in bed. Women can find themselves unable to give the performance they’d like if their bodies fail them.”

For women, like for men, the importance of blood flow matters. Especially to the clitoris. The area of a woman that engorges when stimulated sexually.

Dr Jennifer Berman, a urologist and sexual health expert in Los Angeles says that your BMI can mess with your sex-life. When you gain or lose body fat, a number of hormones affecting your libido are thrown out of balance. She says “It’s a chain reaction.”

High plaque buildup in the blood vessels that supply the pelvic region, slow the blood flow in a woman to the clitoris and genitals which then can impact sexual arousal. Therefore, exercise for women is as much important as it is for men for a good sex life.

However, it is not just the physical aspect of sex that affects a lot of women due to being overweight or obese. Confidence is also a major player.

Cindy Meston, PhD, director of the Sexual Psychophysiology Laboratory at the University of Texas in Austin says:

“If you’re insecure and you focus on the way your body looks or what your partner is thinking about it during sex, you’re not going to be in the mood.”

Research done by Meston revealed that a woman’s sex drive is also linked strongly to the way she feels about her body. Especially her bum, thighs and stomach.

So, for women, if they look better, their confidence improves, thus, making them feel better when having sex naked.

According to research, women who do vigorous exercise respond more quickly to arousal triggers.

Women who exercise regularly and look after their diet and do a mix of weight training and cardio exercises often find their improved fitness levels can help them to achieve a good sex life.

So, whether you are a man or woman and you find yourself out of breath during or after love-making, the case for exercise to help you achieve a good sex life is a non-arguable one.

Your aim is to keep your body and blood circulation healthy by eating well and doing at least 20 minutes of exercise a day. This will get you on the way to for a better you and allow you to have a more enjoyable intimate time with your partner.