Lifestyle Versus Sex Life

A Danish study comes to the conclusion that an unhealthy lifestyle results in less sex life and significantly raises the probability of sexual dysfunction.

Obesity Is A Sex Killer

The researchers took survey data from 5,552 Danish men and women aged 16 — 97 (!) years and looked at what role lifestyle choices played in sexual inactivity or dysfunction for those who actually had a partner available (I hope that at 97 I am able to contemplate the thought at all).

The results indicate that unhealthy lifestyles come with a bigger risk of not having a sex life at all – the (un-) likeliness was 78% higher for men and up to 91% for women.

For men, the worst factors were obesity (BMI equal or higher than 30), a substantially increased waist circumference (bigger than 102 cm / 40 in) and physical inactivity. For women they were the same; the only differences were that the critical waistline naturally was smaller (88 cm / 35 in) and that tobacco smoking came on top of it.

Being Underweight Can Lead To Sexual Dysfunction

The data of those men who did have sex revealed that obesity but also being underweight (BMI below 20) were both associated with sexual dysfunction. Other factors were physical inactivity during leisure time, high alcohol consumption (more than 21 alcoholic beverages per week), tobacco smoking, and using hard drugs. The last coming in with a whopping 800% increase.

For sexually active women the only risk factor correlating with sexual dysfunction was smoking marijuana – women that did were three times as unlikely to reach an orgasm than other women.

Vicious Circle

It is also interesting to note that an unhealthy lifestyle was more likely found in people who were sexually inactive – which might be a vicious circle between being frustrated, eating and getting more frustrated.

Dr. Frisch, the study’s lead scientist, said:

Hopefully our findings can be used in future counseling of patients with unhealthy lifestyles. Knowing about possible negative consequences of an unhealthy lifestyle to one’s sexual health may help people quit smoking, consume less alcohol, exercise more, and lose weight.

I felt like putting the beaten line “hope beyond hope” in here, as closing point to the article, but refrained from it (which of course I now didn’t).

Picture courtesy of “emelec“.