Care2's resident "loveologist" discusses how exercise can improve your sexual stamina.
By Care2 — Written on Sep 25, 2011
I have heard that exercise increases your sex drive, is this true? I have noticed that my stamina is slipping when I make love and that I can't hold anything but the missionary for any amount of time. What kinds of exercises are recommended for maintaining an active sex life?
You heard right. There is no better way to wake up your libido while increasing your sexual stamina and activity than by adding regular physical exercise to your daily routine. Getting your body moving is potent medicine–not only do you rev up your hormones, flush out stress, increase blood flow and increase your physical strength. But the emotional and mental benefits are perhaps even more inspiring–exercise builds our confidence and ability to persist.
Perhaps the most direct benefit of regular exercise to building an active sex life is that through exercise, you wake up to your body. Getting in touch with your body as you work out, hearing your heart beat in your chest, feeling sweat down your face, driving the effort of building up muscles you forgot you had. The energy and sensation of living in a body–awake and working–is sexy. You feel sexier when your body is strong and supple and taking that body image into the bedroom makes a big difference with arousal. Care2: 5 Workouts That Could Help Your Sex Life
Exercise triggers endorphins, the body's feel good hormones. It also increases testosterone, which is one of the body's true natural aphrodisiacs for both men and women. Exercise is one of the best and most natural mechanisms to increase testosterone. It's not surprising that in a study of 30,000 men, in their fifties and beyond, found that regular vigorous exercise is associated with a thirty percent lower risk of erectile dysfunction compared to men who didn't exercise.
Cardio Conditioning and Aerobic Exercise
Passionate sex gets your heart racing and like vigorous exercise stimulates the sympathetic nervous system which increases heart rate and blood pressure. Regular aerobic workouts whether running, biking, swimming or just rapid walking will keep your heart primed and prepared for more excitement between the sheets. A recent study demonstrated that women who watched an erotic movie after 20 minutes of exercise felt more aroused and even showed increased blood flow to the genitals than the control group of women who viewed the film without exercise. Feeling our own body work is where the turn on starts.
To read the full article, check out Care2: Ask The Loveologist: Four Life Changing Exercises for Sex
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Written by Wendy Strgr for Care2.
This article was originally published at . Reprinted with permission from the author.