Is Sex Considered Exercise? Debunking Myths and Answering FAQs

Sexual behavior is pleasant, but it requires physical exertion during the process. People can’t help wondering whether sex is a kind of exercise, and there are doubts about whether it will affect the heart function after intense sex. The following are answers to several frequently asked questions.

Does sex count as exercise?

According to published inArchives of Sexual Behavior journalSexual activity speeds up the heartbeat and expends energy, according to a review article in . In studies of people wearing trackers, heart rate (the rate at which the heart contracts and beats in beats per minute) averaged between 90 and 130 beats per minute, with peak values ​​between 145 and 170 bpm (beats per minute). Women tend to have lower heart rates than men.

Also, the average amount of energy expended during intercourse varied widely, depending on people’s position, sex and other factors, such as whether they were being observed at home or in a laboratory. In one study, total energy expenditure during a single session of sexual activity amounted to 130 calories, while in another experiment, the highest was about 101 calories for men and 69 calories for women. Roughly, these numbers are similar to those for moderate running.

These measurements suggest that sex can cause moderate to high physical demands, José M. Muyor, a professor at the Center for Health Research at the University of Almeria in Spain who led the review, told The Washington Post.

Can sex cause heart disease?

Published in 2022Journal of JAMA Cardiology Injuries and deaths from cardiac arrest within an hour of sex in London are actually uncommon, a new study has found.

Of 6,847 fatal cardiac arrests referred to a pathology center in London between 1994 and 2020, only 17 occurred during or almost immediately after sexual intercourse, the study showed. But six of those 17 were women, and most were relatively young, with an average age of 38.

Similarly, a 2018 study in Paris of cardiac arrest survivors between 2011 and 2016ResearchAbout 0.6 percent, or a total of 17 men, mostly in their 50s, experienced cardiac arrest during or shortly after sex, it found. In comparison, 229 of the other cases occurred during exercise or other exercise, and 2,782 occurred in other situations.

Eloi Marijon, a professor of cardiology at the University of Paris in France, told The Washington Post that cardiac arrest during or caused by sex is still very rare. And the more often a person has sexual intercourse, the lower the risk. Like other muscles, the harder the heart works, including sexual activity, the stronger it becomes and the more resistant it is to the risk of cardiac arrest. He is a co-author of the Paris study.

Does Sex Affect Sports Performance?

Published in 2022Scientific Reports journalReviews on the website indicate that sexual activity 30 minutes to 24 hours before exercise does not appear to affect aerobic fitness, musculoskeletal endurance, or strength/power.

The review pooled data from nine studies involving 133 people, almost all men, who had sex in the hours before some type of physical testing and found that intercourse did not improve physical performance.

Gerald Zavorsky, a professor of physiology and cell membrane biology at UC Davis, who led the review, told The Washington Post that there is no reason to avoid or promote sex before a contest or sexual rivalry.

Overall, viewing sex as a sport alone may diminish other dimensions such as emotional appeal. However, there is evidence that exercise is one way that sex performance can be improved.A study of more than 6,000 men and women in 2019Researchshowed that the more people exercised, the less likely men were to have erectile dysfunction and women were less likely to have sexual dysfunction.

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．Does sex count as exercise?