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Can Excercise Give Your Sex Life a Boost?

The benefits exercise can offer your sex hormones.

Key points

  • Research shows that high-intensity training has the most beneficial impact on testosterone in men.
  • Moderate resistance training and cardio can help keep sex hormones in women in check.
  • Sex hormones are also involved in inflammatory responses, puberty, intimate desire, fat distribution, and more. Exercise can help with these.

Should you be exercising or making love to your partner? It seems you should do both! Research shows that high-intensity training has the most beneficial impact on testosterone in men. While moderate resistance training and cardio can help keep the sex hormones in women in check.

Hormones help manage various bodily processes like growth, sleep, and appetite. In contrast, sex hormones play a fundamental role in reproduction and sexual development. The gonads and adrenal glands are the primary glands that create sex hormones.

That includes the testes in men and ovaries in women. Sex hormones are also involved in inflammatory responses, puberty, intimate desire, fat distribution, and more. Their levels, however, tend to fluctuate with age, menstruation, stress, pregnancy, medication, etc.

With a sex hormone imbalance, people tend to develop health issues like infertility, hair loss, bone loss, and poor sexual desire. Exercise can help with that. If you want to know more about the benefits of physical activity on sex hormones, then you’ve come to the right place. Here we will show you exactly why that happens.

 Pexels/marcus-aurelius
Exercise for both men and women shows benefits when it comes to sex and the sex hormones.
Source: Pexels/marcus-aurelius

For Women – Physical Activity and Sex Hormones

People often turn to supplements and drugs to manage their hormonal problems, such as mood swings, depression, stress, and sleeping problems. But, if you want to get a noticeable impact, then exercising makes for a solid choice.

Exercise is here to take the hormonal balance to the next level, enhancing the quality of life and well-being. Females have progesterone, estrogen, and tiny amounts of testosterone, and these are the typical sex hormones that affect arousal, sexual development, and desire.

According to Harvard experts, moderate to vigorous aerobic activity can get you in the mood. To fully understand its productive outlet, you should look at how exercise can impact hormones.

Estrogen – Menopause symptoms stem from poor estrogen levels, such as hot flushes, night sweats, and reduced sex drive. One way to combat this problem is to do regular physical activity, and reports indicate that a 150-min exercise regimen a week for 16 weeks can help. Moderate to vigorous aerobic activity caused drastic changes in estrogen metabolism, and it also decreased the risk of breast cancer in women.

Progesterone – Normal physical activity won’t hurt the progesterone levels. Instead, it can keep the body in tip-top shape. As long as you don’t overdo it, the hormone can benefit from exercise.

Testosterone – Resistance training can boost testosterone in women for a short time, and this can help distribute the fat evenly and regulate weight loss.

Based on reports, 20 min of cycling improves sexual arousal in women by a staggering 169%. It also restores vitality, mobility, and cardiovascular fitness. Those who exercise regularly tend to have better muscle function and metabolism, which benefit your sex life.

Although this boost in sexual arousal is short-lived, it is more than enough to give the sex hormones a kick in the right direction.

For Men – Physical Activity and Sex Hormones

Testosterone is the most dominant sex hormone in men, and research indicates that this sex hormone regulates sex drive, distribution of fat, bone mass, strength, and overall muscle mass. But, most importantly, it can affect the production of sperm and red blood cells.

After heavy and intense strength training, testosterone levels spike, the rise in levels could last for 15 min to 1 hour. Men who exercise in the evening develop a more prolonged and significant testosterone rise than those who do strength training in the morning.

Plus, with healthy weight loss, exercise can reduce the prevalence of hypogonadism by 46%. Why does that matter? Hypogonadism in men delays puberty and hampers normal development, and it can interfere with muscle mass and deepening voice.

But, not much is known about the impact of physical activity, mainly heavy exercise, on male libido. Some experts hint that moderate activity boosts testosterone production. So, it could ramp up your sex life.

Other Benefits of Exercise That Can Make a Change

Although it is good to do your favorite physical activity to boost the sex drive and enjoy stable sex hormones, there are many other benefits to exercise. As if better sex was not enough, let’s discuss why staying fit and healthy should be a top priority, and that’sat’s because exercise can:

Alleviate stress – Physical activity is a direct stress-busting technique, and it pumps up the body with a healthy dose of endorphins and helps you feel better. So, whenever you feel on edge, try letting off some steam at the nearest gym or enjoy an exercise at your favorite spot.

Sharpen the mind – When we exercise, we improve many cognitive processes linked with problem-solving, reasoning, and planning. That’s why physical activity amplifies cognition in all sexes, explains Columbia University.

Boost stamina – The more you perform, the easier it is to strengthen the lungs and boost circulation. With time, you are building endurance and stamina. Those who regularly pay attention to their fitness routine enjoy better circulation and heart function. Options like swimming, running, jogging, and weight training are practical methods for improving stamina.

Decrease blood pressure – Better stamina and heart health go hand in hand. This is especially present in people who do regular physical activity. Because your heart pumps more blood, the arteries work correctly. Therefore, reducing the blood pressure. That’s how you create a beneficial environment for all the organs in the body. Since the cardiovascular system is essential for a healthy system, doing any exercise should be on the top of your list.

Final Thoughts

There is more to physical activity than meets the eye. Those who are sold on exercising more often can drastically improve their sex hormones. Due to its numerous health benefits, many experts are recommending that people lead an active lifestyle. Not only for their overall health but sex life as well. So, if you ever have any doubts about the beneficial properties of exercise, then think about the benefits it can offer your sex hormones. Now that you know the sheer impact of exercising, you will be more eager to implement it in your day-to-day routine.

References

https://blog.nasm.org/weight-loss-specialist/hormonal-balance-metabolis…

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/understanding-how-…

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3648856/

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