July 18, 2015. If all the data on the health benefits of exercise don’t convince you to start – or to exercise more than you already do – maybe this’ll do the trick:
SEX
Whether you’re identifying with a goal or a symptom here, the message from all the research is the same: get off your butt and get active as many days per week as possible. Walk and run; do some strength training; stretch. Do all Your Monday exercises.
The most persuasive and compelling book on the benefits of exercise may be The Roadmap to 100 by Walter M. Bortz II, M.D. (Stanford Medical School, former co-chair of the AMA’s Task Force on Aging, former president of the American Geriatric Society). Dr. Bortz writes, “Men who briskly walked for 30 minutes, most days of the week, had a 15 to 20 percent reduction in the risk of erectile dysfunction. What this suggests is a win-win proposition for men who engage in a balanced exercise program of cardiovascular (aerobic) and weight-training (anaerobic) exercise, the latter to maintain testosterone levels and the former to keep arteries healthy. Aerobic exercise improves the function of the small arteries that control erections, for the same reason that exercise is good for the heart. Enlarged arteries as the result of consistent exercise facilitate optimum blood flow to the organ … With fewer than 25 percent of Americans getting enough exercise, it is not surprising that sexual dysfunction has crept so prominently into the modern vocabulary …”
Drugs
10 100mg tablets of Viagra: $124.95 online (MSRP 149.95)
Rock’n’Roll
A modest proposal: Let’s dance.
Seriously. Dance vigorously – very vigorously – for 30 minutes. Play acrobatic air guitar. Break a sweat. You’ll burn 300 calories, get an aerobic workout and have fun. If you’re in your 60s or just into the 60’s, try this. You get 45 minutes of nonstop dancin’ fool music:
Every Thing Is Everything
Whether it’s in your pants or your head, every vital organ benefits from exercise. In The Roadmap to 100: The Breakthrough Science of Living a Long and Healthy Life, Dr. Bortz describes the paticipants in a 4-hour per week exercise program: “The MRI results were stunning. In parts of each subject’s brain, the blood volume [and its oxygen] had nearly doubled after a mere 12 weeks on the exercise regimen … Mental performance in the human body can be improved by “feeding” the brain extra oxygen … A decrease in the oxygen supply to the brain creates conditions like tiredness, depression, irritability, poor judgment and a variety of health problems. Increasing the oxygen supply to the brain and nervous system can remedy these conditions.”
Cost-Benefit Analysis
What do you think? Exercise for free, for life. Or $125 for ten tabs of Viagra and side effects. If it lasts more than four hours, don’t call me.
It’s Always Something
“Women with hyperlipidemia [high cholesterol] have significantly lower FSFI [Female Sexual Function Index]-domain scores as compared with age-matched women without hyperlipidemia … 51% of women with hyperlipidemia had scores of 26 or less, indicating sexual dysfunction, as compared with 21% of women without hyperlipidemia.” The Journal of Sexual Medicine. Other studies show significant correlations between female sexual dysfunction and diabetes and obesity. So shake it.
More Sex
“High cholesterol isn’t just bad for the heart – it could also make it harder for women to become sexually aroused. That might mean that cholesterol-lowering drugs like statins would help to treat so-called female sexual dysfunction (FSD). Hyperlipidemia, or raised levels of cholesterol and other fats in the blood, is associated with erectile dysfunction in men, because the buildup of fats in blood vessel walls can reduce blood flow to erectile tissue… Women with hyperlipidemia reported significantly lower arousal, orgasm, lubrication and sexual satisfaction scores than women with normal blood lipid profiles.” From No sex tonight honey, I haven’t taken my statins by Linda Geddes, New Scientist, September 2009.
More Drugs
According to Consumer Reports, statin costs range from $32 to more than $150 per month, depending on the particular drug.