Does Sex Effect Exercise Performance?
8/15/2002 - Competitive athletes have questioned the effect of sex on athletic and exercise performance for years - now Dr. Di takes a look at the issue from a scientific view.
So here's the question that all mature athletes want answered, "Does sex positively or negatively affect one's athletic or exercise performance?"
Well, the answer is a resounding yes and no. It all depends on the circumstances. I personally don't think that having sex is a problem unless of course it's overdone. In fact, because it releases tension, sex prior to training and competitive events can be beneficial. From my experience working with bodybuilders and other athletes I have not found that sexual intercourse and/or ejaculation does not adversely affect exercise performance, protein synthesis or serum testosterone levels. And I can tell you that abstinence is not a common practice among serious bodybuilders and other athletes.
On the other hand sexual stimulation with or without ejaculation, while apparently not affecting serum testosterone levels, may increase serum cortisol levels and thus result in a decrease in protein synthesis and a catabolic response. So if it's overdone, it can cause some catabolic effects.
From the three studies discussed below, you can see that sexual intercourse does not diminish exercise performance, and it does not seem to affect serum testosterone. Excessive sexual stimulation and ejaculation, however, may increase serum cortisol levels.
Understand that you have to keep in mind that the social, emotional, psychological, and physical aspects of sexual activity with or without ejaculation have quite an influence on cortisol secretions.Thus, while a study on cheetahs and stallions will show a high cortisol response there was no cortisol response in men that are aroused through the use of erotic stimuli.
One definitive study looked at the rationale for athletes in the USA being told not to have sexual intercourse prior to competing. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of sexual intercourse 12 hours prior to maximal treadmill exercise on aerobic power, oxygen pulse, and index of relative cardiac work. Eleven male subjects were tested on the treadmill with and without prior sexual intercourse. The results from the maximal exercise tests showed that aerobic power, oxygen pulse, and double product were not different. Therefore, the data suggests that it is justified to dismiss the point of view that sexual intercourse decreases maximal exercise performance.
Another study this year found that there were no changes in serum testosterone one and 24 hours after ejaculation. And yet another recent study found that even with intense sexual stimulation, serum testosterone was not affected but serum cortisol was dramatically increased. Sexual stress induced an increase of cortisol, which did not inhibit testosterone secretion, and high testosterone levels did neither influence the cortisol pattern. This lack of effect on testosterone with an increase in cortisol has also been found in previous studies.
In one study using stallions, the increase in cortisol was felt to be responsible for the suppression of the normal testosterone increase that occurs with time during breeding. Thus the authors of this study felt that the increase in cortisol impacted on serum levels of testosterone. So it seems that excessive sex can be counterproductive by increasing the catabolic hormone cortisol and possibly affecting a normal rise in testosterone - resulting in a decrease in the testosterone/cortisol ratio.
Bottom line. Sex is OK and won't affect your training or be counterproductive unless you overdo it. In moderation it might even help in some cases by relaxing you prior to competitive or other stressful events.
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Pre-match sex may be good for sportsmen
PARIS _ Footballers and rugby players may perform better if they have sex before the match, according to new research that turns on its head the conventional belief that sportsmen should become monks before a key game.
The widely held belief is that testosterone, the hormone related to sex and aggression, builds up if a player has no sex, making him friskier and feistier on the field.
According to the British weekly, New Scientist, researchers at Italy's University of l'Aquila have found that testosterone levels in fact build up after an increase in sexual activity.
They made the discovery after measuring the testosterone in the blood of more than 80 patients with long-term impotence, and found their levels of the hormone to be about two-thirds of those of sexually active men of equivalent age.
"It's the restoration of sexual activity that raises testosterone to normal levels," a researcher, Emmanuele Jannini, was quoted as saying.
He believes that in men the body adjusts testosterone levels to match sexual drive to the level of sexual activity -- and the same may be true for women.
"It's an adaptive mechanism. If a man has sexual intercourse, testosterone causes him to desire the next sexual intercourse."
The conclusion is that sportsmen do not necessarily have to be closeted into a life of abstinence before the game.
"It's a matter of the character of the athlete. If he needs to be more aggressive, it's better to have sex." -- Sapa-AFP
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