It’s been shown time and again that exercise has the potential to vastly improve quality of life. Working out can improve heart health, lower the risk of diabetes, reduce stress, lower body weight, and even make you feel happier. But one detail that’s often overlooked is how working out can help you boost libido.
Exercise can improve your life in a variety of ways, from improving libido to making the act more enjoyable. People regularly look to products on store shelves for boosting libido, when spending some time in the gym may be the best way to get you in the mood and show you how to improve libido.
How Exercise Can Raise Your Libido
Fine, so maybe the thought of running around the neighborhood or moving weights for an hour doesn’t exactly turn you on. And while there is nothing inherently sexual about exercise, what you feel afterwards might be the ticket to healthier sex.
1. Boosts Testosterone
Working out with weights, for example, can naturally boost testosterone levels. And the more you work out, the more those hormonal boosts take place. And what does boosting testosterone have to do with healthier sex? Plenty. Your testosterone goes up, so does your libido; and the more frequently you work out (3 to 5 times a week), the healthier your libido will likely be.
2. Releases Endorphins and Adrenaline
The physical benefits of exercise don’t stop with testosterone or weight training. Any activity that gets the heart pumping can lead to endorphin and adrenaline boosts that may leave you feeling ready to jump in the sack. “Runner’s high” is something you may have heard of, and it’s the feeling of euphoria created when your cardiovascular system is working hard and the blood is flowing. What’s basically happening here is that your body is releasing endorphins and adrenaline, making you feel good, less stressed, and ready to keep the good times rolling. When you get home from the gym or a run, jump in the shower and get started!
3. Cardio Exercises
- Dance
- Aerobics classes
- Boxing
- Cycling (indoor or outdoor)
- Jogging
The importance of endorphins, adrenaline, and testosterone released through exercise should not be understated. Each of these factors plays a very important role in mood, mindset, stress levels, and happiness, which are central to libido.
How Exercise Stimulates Blood Flow
One of the lesser known ways exercise helps your blood moving. When people spend a lot of time sitting down, blood flow slows way down. In fact, it can even start pooling in areas, which reduces circulation and can lead to feelings of lethargy and fatigue—not exactly a great combination. When you don’t feel like having sex because you don’t have the energy, it can start a bit of a domino effect. At the end of the day, a sedentary life isn’t just bad for your general health; it’s bad for your sexual health.
When you get blood moving throughout your body, energy levels pick up; you’re less tired and you’re generally feeling better. But the blood also makes its way to those areas that need it the most. For men, good blood flow to the penis is necessary to achieve and sustain an erection. Women need healthy blood flow to achieve arousal and satisfaction as well. At the end of the day, the more blood you have circulating in the necessary areas before and during sex, the better your sex life—and the enjoyment you derive from it—should be. Improved blood flow adds immeasurably to stimulation and therefore, enjoyment.
Simply increasing overall activity during the day can help. Instead of sitting in front of the television set for a few hours a day, spend more time on your feet. This could involve being upright more at the office each day, finding chores or activities around the house and neighborhood and of course, starting an exercise regime.
Exercise Can Boost Confidence and Improve Body Image
Another important element to good, fun, and healthy sex is body image—something exercise can help with immensely. Working out makes people feel good inside and out, and this is very apparent to anyone who’s ever lost weight, built muscle, or accomplished some type of fitness goal. Within a few weeks, the feelings take over and you start feeling better about your appearance. There is research indicating that sexual experience and comfort is strongly linked to how people feel about themselves physically. When people don’t feel good about how they look or have a poor body image, it can lead to distraction and negative thoughts. Such self-consciousness can lead to more inhibited and less healthy, stimulating sex.
On the other hand, there is research showing that the more a person exercises, the more they find themselves sexually desirable, leading to an overall boost in sexual health. These findings aren’t too surprising based on what we know about the physiological benefits of exercise on sexual health, but the psychological ones are important to look at, too. When a person feels better about themselves or how they look, they release the stress of a negative body image and become more comfortable naked. Basically, they feel sexier and the associated confidence boost makes them more willing to not only want and have sex, but to also truly enjoy it.
Exercise is the best way—along with a healthy diet—to experience the physical change that can make a person more comfortable in their own body and provide the motivation to share it with others.
Exercise For Libido
Of course, exercise is only one of the ways you can improve your libido, and like anything else, there are no guarantees. Sex drive is determined by a number of factors, but activity and exercise do have a feature role in a number of them. Boost your libido and enjoy a number of other health benefits, exercise might be the best place to start.
Article Sources (+)
“UF study: Exercise improves body image for fit and unfit alike,” University of Florida, October 8, 2009; http://news.ufl.edu/archive/2009/10/uf-study-exercise-improves-body-image-for-fit-and-unfit-alike.html, last accessed March 9, 2017.
Hsaio, W., “Exercise is associated with better erectile function in men under 40 as evaluated by the International Index of Erectile Function,” J Sex Med. 2012 Feb;9(2):524-30. doi: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2011.02560.x. Epub 2011 Dec 6.