Is Effective Sex Enhancing Sports Performance?

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Muhammad Ali always fasted for sex at least 6 weeks before the big competition. Some of the teams that participated in the 2014 World Cup then launched a strict regulation not to have sex before the match, because the coach believes that sex can interfere with the performance of the players. In fact, Plato said Olympic athletes must avoid sex before the 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 the Olympic Village, sex is a common activity among Olympians and volunteers (Just look at the sex scandal between Usain Bolt and a Brazilian woman at the 2016 Rio Olympics).

Are there just a few truths about the effect of sex on sports performance, good or bad?

Sex increases testosterone production, which encourages athletes

Some people believe that the act of ejaculation attracts testosterone, a hormone from both sexual desire and aggression, from the body. Others also believe that sex will only make athletes tired, which can lead to injury.

"This is a very wrong idea," Emmanuele Jannini A., a professor of endocrinology at L’Aquila University in Italy, said from National Geographic.

Jannini has found that sex actually stimulates testosterone production in men, thus increasing aggression - and this is what you want for an athlete. Conversely, said Jannini, men who chose to abstain from sex for three months (with or without partners), showed a decrease in their testosterone levels to pre-puberty levels.

In addition, the idea that sex at night before the competition is believed to have a tiring effect on athletes or that it can weaken the athlete's muscles outright rejected by many experts. Sex is not a very demanding exercise. If you have to compare, sexual relations between married couples only spend approximately 25-50 calories (up to a maximum of 200-300 calories), equivalent to the energy needed to climb a two-story staircase.

A small study (involving only 10 female athletes and 11 male athletes) reported by Mic found that athletes who frequently masturbated were associated with increased athletic performance, with more than a 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, even though it is much smaller than those who routinely enjoy solo sex: sexual intercourse, for example shows a 3% increase in agility. Athletes who believe in sex make them appear better showing 68% greater potential to produce better exercise performance after sex.

One study published by the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found that testosterone (released by men during orgasm) helps strengthen muscles and leg strength - although testosterone given in supplement form does not originate from sex.

Sex is believed to be an alternative deterrent to athletes

Sexual activity can really help restore muscle pain after a match or other sports injury to women, according to Barry Komisaruk, a professor of psychology at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey.

The same thing is shown by male athletes. The reason: When men orgasm, their bodies release a combination of strengths of dopamine and prolactin, which can hijack your brain to make you feel a little pain.

"At least one mechanism in which sex blocks pain is that the activity blocks the release of neuropeptides called substance P, which are pain transmitters," he said.

His study found that female orgasm produced a strong pain-fighting effect. The effect, Komisaruk said, can last up to 24 hours later 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, increases in some women and weakens in others.

Sex helps relieve anxiety ahead of the match

There is a belief that sex can disrupt the athlete's mind from his focus on competition. They believe that sex will take over the function of logic, and instead fulfill the contents of the head about the memories of the night before, which makes athletes more vulnerable to being contracted even before the match whistle is truly sounded.

Juan Carlos Medina, general coordinator of the sports department at Tecnologico de Monterrey, the University of Mexico, reported from CNN believes that sexual relations benefit athletes. "Sex helps you feel relaxed and satisfied sexually, mentally, and physically," he said. "This contributes to reducing the athlete's anxiety level before an important match."

In a study published in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, researchers gave both athletes endurance and weight lifting a series of concentration and athletic tests after intercourse and found that having sex before did not confuse concentration (as long as it was not done two hours before).

Improving the quality of sports performance is believed to be only a placebo effect

When discussing the psychological effects of sex on sports performance and how it can help improve or destroy athletic performance, scientific research is still very limited.

On the other hand, reported from Greatist, a meta-analysis of four separate studies published by the Journal of Sport Medicine showed that the presence or absence of sexual activity did not have any crucial impact on athletic performance, after observing the results of body strength testing, aerobic fitness, and VO2 max on study participant athletes.

One study conducted by Dr. Tommy Boone in 1995, reported from Sex Info Online, which measures men's sports performance on a treadmill found no difference in aerobic fitness, oxygen processing, or pressure value products between men who had sex twelve hours before a match and those who did not having sex at all. Another study, published in the Journal of Sex Research in 1968, found that men who did not have sex for six days did not show better performance in the strength test than men who had sex the night before.

The conclusion?

Although until now scientific research on the effects of sex on athletic performance, good or bad, is still very limited (and some studies are still relatively small), there is one factor that will outperform all other possibilities when talking about an athlete's performance - mindset. If an athlete thinks sex will affect his sports performance, that concern will certainly be reflected in his actions.

According to an Olympic coach, Mike Young, the results of several previous studies regarding the relationship between sex and exercise performance were strengthened by something similar to the placebo effect: Basically, if sex makes athletes feel more resilient and powerful, the results will mimic that effect.

Consumption of alcohol or cigarettes or lack of sleep due to partying all night long, which sometimes accompanies sexual activity, is a big player that can affect the athletic performance of athletes.