Exercise Regimen Boosts Sexual Performance: Insights on Yoga's Impact
The internet is filled with lifestyle blogs promoting yoga as a means to enhance sexual experiences, often backed by personal testimonies of improved satisfaction. But does the science support these claims? We delve into the research.
Modern research has started to explore the various health benefits of the ancient practice of yoga, including its potential impact on sexual function. Conditions such as depression, stress, anxiety, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and thyroid issues have reportedly improved with regular yoga practice.
A closer look at the mechanisms behind these benefits reveals that yoga lowers the body’s inflammatory response, alters the expression of genes predisposed to stress, lowers cortisol levels, and boosts a protein that supports brain growth and health.
A study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine found that yoga significantly improved sexual function in women aged 45 and over, particularly in the areas of desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain. As many as 75% of the participants reported improvements in their sexual lives following yoga training. A list of the 22 yogic poses used in the study can be found here.
Men have also posted improvements in sexual satisfaction after participating in a 12-week yoga program, according to a separate study led by Dr. Vikas Dhikav, a neurologist at the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi, India. The participants saw improvements in desire, intercourse satisfaction, performance, confidence, partner synchronization, erection, ejaculatory control, and orgasm.
So, how does yoga improve sexual function? A review of existing literature, led by researchers at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of British Columbia, offers some insight on the yogic mechanisms that contribute to these reported improvements. The practice regulates attention and breathing, lowers anxiety and stress, and activates the part of the nervous system that promotes relaxation, which are all associated with sexual response improvements.
Furthermore, the review suggests psychological mechanisms at play. Women who practice yoga are less likely to objectify their bodies and more mindful of their physical selves, which may lead to increased sexual responsibility and assertiveness.
Another yogic concept, moola bandha, may hold the key to the sexual benefits of yoga. Moola bandha is a perineal contraction that stimulates the nervous system in the pelvic region, triggering parasympathetic activity. This contraction is thought to directly affect the gonads and reproductive organs. Some research suggests that practicing moola bandha can relieve period pain, manage testosterone secretion, and improve sexual function in both men and women.
While the scientific evidence on the sexual benefits of yoga is not yet comprehensive, the findings thus far suggest that yoga may have the potential to improve sexual function through mindfulness, relaxation, and pelvic floor strengthening. Until further research can confirm whether "yogasms" are a real, achievable phenomenon, it seems there is enough reason to incorporate yoga into our daily routines, potentially leading to richer and more satisfying sexual experiences.
Yoga, when practiced regularly, has been found to significantly improve sexual function, particularly in elderly women and men, as various studies suggest. This may be due to the regulation of attention and breathing, the lowering of anxiety and stress, and the activation of the relaxation nervous system that yoga provides, all of which are associated with sexual response improvements. Furthermore, the practice of yoga might lead to increased sexual responsibility and assertiveness in women, while the yogic technique of moola bandha, a perineal contraction, stimulates the pelvic nervous system and could potentially improve sexual function in both men and women, making yoga a potentially valuable addition to one's daily health-and-wellness routine for richer and more satisfying sexual experiences.
