Want good sex for a lifetime? Get off the couch! Exercise gives you energy (
86), relieves stress, triggers the release of mood-boosting endorphins, helps you reconnect with your body, improves health conditions that can interfere with sex (72), and can help you lose weight and feel more confident. It also increases blood flow, muscle tone, and agility, all of which decline with age but are critical for arousal and performance, balance, and being able to hold sexual positions comfortably.
While people tend to report more sexual complaints as they get older, such as lowered libido or erectile dysfunction (ED), exercise seems to counteract those problems. For example, a 2010 study in the Journal of Women’s Health noted that the hormonal shifts of menopause can decrease sexual desire in women, but those who reported having better health and exercising regularly had significantly more desire than their peers. Similarly, women ages forty-one to sixty-eight said that they participated in sexual activities more frequently and enjoyed sex more if they were physically active, according to a 2009 University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study. For men, a 2010 review of studies noted that exercise has been shown to improve sexual response and even reverse ED, as well as benefit overall cardiovascular health.
Any kind of activity that gets your heart pumping will boost blood flow to all parts of your body, including your genitals, which can increase arousal and lead to better sexual performance. In fact, improvement in blood vessel health is one reason why exercise is so effective in treating ED, suggests a 2010 review of studies in the Journal of Sexual Medicine. Exercise also activates the sympathetic nervous system, which is involved in the early stages of sexual arousal and may enhance sexual response, according to a review of studies by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin.
Try to do at least thirty minutes of exercise a day on most days of the week. Breaking it up into ten-minute chunks will still benefit your body if that’s the only way you can squeeze it in, but try to make a few of your sessions longer to increase your endurance and keep your blood vessels young and healthy.
Resistance exercise, whether you use weights, elastic bands, or your own body weight, increases muscle tone and strength—and that can enhance your sexual response and ability. It can also help you feel more confident with your clothes off: University of Houston researchers found that as little as six weeks of strength training significantly improved how men and women rated their appearance and body satisfaction. To build muscle, do strength exercises twice a week on nonconsecutive days for thirty minutes or more. Be sure to work all your major muscle groups: chest, upper back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, quadriceps (quads), hamstrings and glutes, calves, and abdominal muscles.
In addition to traditional strength moves, you may have heard that exercises targeting your pelvic floor muscles, called Kegels, can increase pleasure and sexual satisfaction in women, since pregnancy and childbirth can weaken those muscles. But aging also affects pelvic floor muscles—in both men and women. That means Kegels can actually benefit men as well. Kegels increase blood flow and muscle tone to pelvic floor muscles, which improve vaginal intercourse. In men, they can help fight ED, which occurs more frequently as you get older: In a 2005 study of men who did Kegels every day for three months, 75 percent regained or improved sexual function. And for both men and women, they can help prevent urinary incontinence down the road. To do a Kegel, tighten your pelvic muscles as if you were stopping the flow of urine. For sexual benefits, do ten Kegels several times a day for eight to twelve weeks. You can do them anywhere (in the car, while watching TV) or incorporate them into standard moves like crunches. Remember, just like any other strength exercise, you have to keep it up to maintain the benefits!
