Table of contents:
- Sex increases the production of testosterone, which boosts athletic power
- Sex is believed to be an alternative antidote to injury for athletes
- Sex helps relieve anxiety ahead of the game
- Improving the quality of exercise performance is believed to be only a placebo effect
- The conclusion?
Muhammad Ali always "fasted" sex for at least 6 weeks before major competitions. Several teams that participated in the 2014 World Cup then issued strict rules not to have sex before matches, because coaches believe that sex can interfere with the performance of their players. In fact, Plato said Olympic athletes should avoid sex before competition day.
On the other hand, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) reportedly distributed 450 thousand condoms to all athletes during the 2016 Rio Olympics. Some athletes have admitted that in Olympic Village, sex is a common activity between Olympians and volunteers (Just look at the sex scandal between Usain Bolt and a Brazilian woman at the 2016 Rio Olympics).
Is there any truth about the effect of sex on sports performance, good or bad?
Sex increases the production of testosterone, which boosts athletic power
Some people believe that the act of ejaculation pulls testosterone, the hormone of both sexual desire and aggression, from the body. Others also believe that sex will only tire athletes out, which can lead to injury.
"This is a very wrong idea," said Emmanuele Jannini A., a professor of endocrinology at the University of L'Aquila in Italy, quoted by National Geographic.
Jannini has discovered that sex actually stimulates testosterone production in men, thereby increasing aggression - and this is exactly what you want for an athlete. In contrast, said Jannini, men who chose to abstain from sex for three months (with or without a partner), showed a decrease in their testosterone levels to pre-pubertal levels.
In addition, the idea that sex on the night before competition is believed to have a grueling effect on athletes or that it can weaken athlete's muscles is flatly rejected by many experts. Sex is not a very demanding exercise. In comparison, sexual intercourse between married couples only costs approximately 25-50 calories (up to a maximum of 200-300 calories), the equivalent of energy required to climb two-story stairs.
A small study (involving only 10 female Olympic athletes and 11 male athletes) reported by Mic found that athletes who masturbated frequently were associated with improved athletic performance, with a more than 10% increase in agility and about a 13% increase in general strength. Regular sex with a partner also appears to give athletes something of a competitive advantage, though much less than those who regularly enjoy solo sex: sexual intercourse, for example, shows a 3% increase in agility. Athletes who believed sex made them perform better displayed a 68% greater potential for better sports performance after sex.
One published study Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found testosterone (which men release during orgasm) helps strengthen muscle and leg strength - although testosterone given in supplement form does not come from sex.
Sex is believed to be an alternative antidote to injury for athletes
Sexual activity can actually help relieve muscle pain after games or other sports injuries in women, according to Barry Komisaruk, a professor of psychology at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey.
The same thing was shown by male athletes. Why: When men orgasm, their bodies release the powerful combination of dopamine and prolactin, which can hijack your brain to make you feel less pain.
"At least one mechanism by which sex blocks pain is that it blocks the release of a neuropeptide called substance P, which is a pain transmitter," he says.
Her study found that female orgasm produces strong pain-fighting effects. The effect, said Komisaruk, can last up to 24 hours afterwards in cases of chronic pain, such as muscle pain. Komisaruk also found that vaginal stimulation has a strong effect on muscle tension in the legs, increasing in some women and debilitating in others.
Sex helps relieve anxiety ahead of the game
There is a belief that sex can distract athletes from their focus on competition. They believe that sex will take over the function of logic, and instead fill the head with memories of the previous night, which makes athletes more susceptible to being distracted even before the whistle of the game has actually sounded.
Juan Carlos Medina, general coordinator of the sports department at the Tecnologico de Monterrey, University of Mexico, was quoted by CNN as believing that sexual intercourse is beneficial for athletes. "Sex helps you feel relaxed and satisfied sexually, mentally, and physically," she says. "This contributes to reducing the athlete's pre-match anxiety level is important."
In one study published in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, researchers gave both endurance and weight lifting athletes a series of post-intercourse concentration and athletic tests and found that prior sex did not mess with concentration (provided it wasn't done two hours earlier).
Improving the quality of exercise performance is believed to be only a placebo effect
When it comes to the psychological effects of sex on sports performance and how it can help improve or destroy athletic performance, the scientific research is very limited.
On the other hand, reported by Greatist, a meta-analysis of four separate studies published in the Journal of Sports Medicine showed that the presence or absence of sexual activity does not have any crucial impact on athletic performance, after observing the results of tests of body strength, aerobic fitness, and VO2 max on study participant athletes.
One study conducted by Dr. Tommy Boone in 1995, reported by Sex Info Online, which measured men's exercise performance on a treadmill found no difference in aerobic fitness, oxygen processing, or pressure value products between men who had sex twelve hours before competing and those who didn't. have sex at all. Another study, published in the Journal of Sex Research in 1968, found that men who had not had sex for six days did not perform better on strength tests than men who had sex the night before.
The conclusion?
While scientific research on the effects of sex on athletic performance, good or bad, has been very limited to date (and some studies are still relatively small), there is one factor that will beat all odds when it comes to athletic performance - mindset. If an athlete thinks sex will affect his sports performance, that concern will inevitably be reflected in his actions.
According to Olympic coach Mike Young, the results of several previous studies on the link between sex and sports performance were reinforced by something similar to the placebo effect: Basically, if sex makes athletes feel more resilient and energized, then the results will mimic that effect.
Consumption of alcohol or cigarettes or lack of sleep from partying all night long, which sometimes accompanies sexual activity, are big players that can affect athletic performance.
