Muscle, they will say is a slave to exercise. This is actually true when you look at the fact that the muscle when subjected to rigorous exercise develops cramps and stiffens for few days before the pain and stiffness subside. This duration of this fatigue and or stiffness depend majorly on the regularity of the person in exercising that part of the body and of course age. It has been established that the older one gets, the larger the rebound time for the muscle.
Apart from psychological causes such as anxiety and stress, the leading causes of erectile dysfunction and impotence for most men include high blood pressure, low nitric oxide levels and poor blood flow. If you find a way to regulate your blood pressure to a normal level, boost your body’s nitric oxide level, and achieve good blood flow to your groin area, then a good penile erection is almost guaranteed to occur. This is a scientific fact. Poor blood flow could be improved by exercise. Excessive exercise while giving you the most coveted six packs could shrink your sex drive.
At some level of intense exercise, testosterone production level may drop impairing both the production of sperm and reduced sex drive. This may also inhibit luteinizing hormone secretion which controls the function of testes in males. This, of course, will result in both physical and mental fatigue which clamps down sex urge or the drive for sex.
It is a well-established fact that moderate exercise boost testosterone levels for sedentary men but an intense exercise of long duration at the onset will only deplete vitamin A and C in the body. There is need to supplement it artificially or by the right choice of diet. This is as a result of the release of cortisol which is a restorative way in which the body tries to replenish those anabolic vitamins lost due to the intense exercise. Remember that exercise breaks down carbohydrates, lipids and protein. This cortisol tries to regenerate this by breaking down muscle tissue.
A study was conducted on a group of men that relates exercise to hormone levels in their bodies which is independent of their behaviour or temperament. A separate study was also conducted based on a questionnaire which queries men’s sexual behaviour which circles around their thought in relation to sex and how often they indulge in it. In the third study, a separate question was mapped out with detailed queries about exercise habit which covers different exercise routines, duration and the intensity of how the men work out each week.
The study was able to extract from the response of the different categories of men (based on the thought process, duration and intensity of exercise) how they respond to sex urge, its frequency and their general thought process towards sex. They eventually were able to categorize the groups whose weekly exercise was short, significantly lengthy or prolonged and separately whose weekly exercise was light, moderate or relatively intense.
In the end, they compared the men’s exercise routine to their reported interest and engagement in sex. A clear pattern ensued as a result. The end result showed that men whose exercise was light and or moderate reported higher libidos as opposed to men whose exercise routine are tedious, gruelling and lasting for longer periods.
As a result, it was inferred that strenuous exercise was associated with low libido, although this type of study on its entirety cannot ascertain that too much exercise actually causes low libido, but the obvious relationship cannot be overlooked. It may be noted that it was not established the exact point during the exercise that one can class it as either light or strenuous nor the point at which the exercise tends to plummet the libido but that can only be established based on the physical abilities, the level in which one is accustomed to the said exercise, the physical condition of the body. This goes a long way to say that what could constitute a strenuous and long exercise for Mr A could be a mere warm-up exercise for Mr B.
Moderate exercise improves our sexual interest and responsiveness, while extreme exercise dulls it. The definition of "moderate" will vary from individual to individual and it pays to play around with the amount that leaves us feeling energised versus the amount that leaves us feeling drained.
Exercise is perceived by the body as a form of stress and stimulates the release of cortisol. In general, the more your fitness improves the better the body becomes at dealing with physical stress. This means that less cortisol will be released during exercise and also in response to emotional or psychological stresses.
Like earlier revealed, cortisol release has a direct relationship with the time and intensity of exercise. As such longer and intense excess will ultimately lead to the release of cortisol whose real job is to absorb the stress induced by the burning up of the body’s glycogen stores. This study revealed also that the release of cortisol was significantly higher in endurance athletes as compared to light, short duration exercise such as sprints, weight training, though can be said to cause less plasma cortisol concentration, but this only true if there are enough break periods between each exertion and keeping the work level not so high as to induce intense stress.
Is there any way out?
It is possible to enjoy the established advantages of exercise while reducing the impact on cortisol concentrations. Strenuous and energy-sapping exercises, especially for sedentary men and beginners in exercise routines or training sessions, should be done with regular breaks between intervals.
More rigorous training sessions should not be done in the morning if it can be moved to later part of the day, preferably evenings. Plasma cortisol concentration was found to have a direct relationship to time of day in which the exercise took place, while the level is higher in the morning as opposed to any other time of day with the assumption that the body is starved or nutritionally drained in the morning.
It is worthy to differentiate between acute and chronic cortisol release. When the concentration of glycogen in the muscle diminishes owing to exercise, there is a shift in fuel use and this is skewed towards protein or fat so that optimum use is made of the glucose that remains. In the long run, however, excessive cortisol facilitates fat synthesis and the storage while boosting the appetite.
In another view, some training like running which could be termed aerobic in nature has been heavily linked with protein depletion in the muscle which cortisol contributes to. Endurance-trained athletes typically have a higher cortisol response while the resistance trained athletes have been found to have a higher testosterone level.
Vitamin C Role
Daily intake of vitamin C is paramount as it plays a vital role in building collagen, which is a powerful connective tissue in the body and it also affords the skin strength and elasticity. Collagen is found in muscles, bones, skin, blood vessels, digestive system and tendons. Collagen also enhances healing in joints, thus vitamin C speeds up recovery. As an antioxidant, it has no rival and can protect the muscles from damage which could have otherwise inhibited one form reaching full growth potential. Also, it is involved in the production and distribution of steroid hormones through the body.
Elevated cortisol is also associated with causing the following:
- Decreased testosterone
- Insulin resistance
- Elevated blood sugar
- Increased body fat
- The destruction of tendons and ligaments
- Accelerated bone loss
- Shrinkage of brain cells
Suggested dose: 1,000 to 3,000 milligrams spread throughout the day. The use of garlic in combination with vitamin C has been proven to be potent also dosage is in the range of also 1,000 to 3000 milligram spread throughout the day.
Vitamins A and the testosterone connection.
Researchers now know that vitamin A in the testes increases testosterone secretions and a number of anabolic growth factors, including a protein known as steroidogenic acute regulatory protein. It helps transport cholesterol into the mitochondria—the power plants, or energy factories of the cells, where fat is burned.
Vitamin A, in the testes, decreases the production of estrogen, thereby improving circulating levels of testosterone.
Suggested dose: 5,000 to 10,000 international units per day.
Vitamin B3 Role
Palm wine contains Vitamin B3 — unfermented palm wine is a good source of healthy nutrients that help to build and repair tissues in our body. Vitamin B3 (niacin), is one of eight B vitamins essential for good health.
Vitamin B3 helps the body to initiate and build various sex and stress-related hormones in the adrenal glands and other parts of the body. Niacin is known to improve circulation, and it has been proved to inhibit inflammation.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while there is a relationship between strenuous/moderate exercise and men libido, it is easy to see that taking the right food or supplement rich in both vitamin A, B3, and C will more than counterbalance the effect of the cortisol hormone secretion thereby striking a balance.
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