Exercise...For Your Sex Drive
Cardio, please! (Photos: Nicolas Moore)
Exercise jump-starts sexual desire—even for women who experience low libido as a side effect of antidepressants. Researchers studied 52 women whose sex drive had decreased after they had been medicated for depression. Three times a week for three weeks, they worked out to a video (strength training and cardio with resistance bands) for a half hour and then had sex either right afterward or at least six hours later. Sexual arousal and orgasm improved the most for women who had sex right after exercising, especially those who had reported the most dysfunction. Antidepressants slow heart rate, which affects arousal, so getting the heart pumping at 70 to 80 percent of its maximum rate for 20 minutes will help, says the studys lead author, Tierney Lorenz, a research fellow at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University in Bloomington. Cardio workouts increase arousal for 5 to 10 minutes afterward; adding weights or resistance bands provides a boost for 30 to 45 minutes, Lorenz says.
By Louis B. Morris
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