Sex Ed Debunked

Myth #58: Sex and Sports Performance

• Trailblaze Media • Season 3 • Episode 3

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On this week's episode, Christine and Shannon debunk the myth that sex has a negative effect on sports performance, a myth proliferated by popular media and especially in men's sports. Want to know the truth? Tune in to learn more! 

Follow us on social @sexeddebunked or send us a message at sexeddebunked@gmail.com

Christine:

Hi, this is Sex Ed Debunked, a cross-generational podcast hosted by mother daughter duo, christine and Shannon Curley.

Shannon:

Every episode, we tackle a new myth about sex, sexuality and pleasure, and use research and expert insights to debunk stereotypes and misinformation from the bedroom and beyond.

Christine:

In 2022, we won the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists Award for Best Podcast and also managed to not totally freak out our family and friends along the way. We believe in healthy, sex-positive, pleasure-focused sex education, backed by real research and real experience. Follow us on Instagram.

Shannon:

Facebook or Twitter at Sex Ed Debunked, or email us at SexEdDeBunked at gmailcom to share your sex miseducation tales and the myths you'd like to hear us debunk.

Christine:

Thanks for listening.

Shannon:

Hi, this is Sex. Ed Debunked a cross-generational podcast about sexual health, sex positivity and why little swimmers don't qualify for the Olympics.

Christine:

Shannon. What Well if you didn't guess it on this week's episode. Finally, we're actually talking about one of our favorite subjects, sports, and specifically sports performance and sex.

Shannon:

Yeah, we finally found a way to tie sports in with our actual Sex Ed curriculum. So good on us and just in time for the start of football season.

Christine:

And don't forget beginning of baseball playoff season as well.

Shannon:

Yeah, but it just goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on and on.

Christine:

Well, that's only because our teams are not going to be in the playoffs. That's why we don't care about it. But honestly, this was a question once again that was brought up by one of my students last semester. He was an athlete, I think he did mixed martial arts or something, and he came up to me because he knew about the podcast and he was basically hey, my coach is telling me that I have to abstain from sexual activity before a big bout. Is that true? Before a what? Like a bout? You know, a boxing match, oh, mixed martial Like a match. A match, but it's, you know, that's what they call it in the excuse me.

Shannon:

This isn't the.

Christine:

MMA podcast. My mistake, I think that's what he was doing. It was MMA. So his question was hey, my coach keeps telling me I have to abstain from sexual activity before a big bout. And he asked hey, is that true or is it a myth?

Shannon:

Sure, yeah, and we see this. I feel like we see this trope a lot in media too, although it kind of goes both ways, Like Jerry Maguire, when Jerry has a one night stand, like right before the big game, and then his player that he represents goes on to have one of the best performances of the season. Sex and sports.

Christine:

Well, what's his player?

Shannon:

Sex and sports, sex and sports.

Christine:

Well, and the one that always comes to mind for me, back to baseball, is Bill Dorum, when the pitcher Nuke was on a game winning streak and he said oh, he told Susan Sarandon, his girlfriend at the time, or his you know lover at the time, that he had to abstain until the streak ended, which was led to great hilarity and frustration on her part, of course.

Shannon:

Of course, yeah, but also like again media right, it's like they're getting so distracted during the big game because sex is so exciting and stupid, I don't know.

Christine:

See, that's not about distraction, I think, what the body does, as we know, in sexual activity, if you're doing it right at the end, you're doing it right.

Shannon:

Well, I feel like that is not on brand for this podcast. There is no way to do sexual activity right.

Christine:

In case anyone was wondering In a pleasurable way, got it? Okay, that's what I meant. Doing it in a pleasurable way, of course, but it can be relaxing and oftentimes leads to some kind of sleepiness. Now, whether sleepiness and weakness are related, that's kind of the question here of the day for the podcast.

Shannon:

Okay, yeah. So to get back on track, this myth is about the idea that sex negatively impacts your athletic performance. Where does that come from?

Christine:

Well, there's some history. There is some history behind it. There's this history of like in the Greeks and the Romans that they were telling them to abstain to keep their strength up, because the idea being that ejaculation, in particular, saps their strength.

Shannon:

It's just really funny because it's like who were they sleeping with? Like who were they having sex with? They're going off to battle. It's like just 10,000 men. Who were they having sex?

Christine:

with. Well, they were having sex with other men.

Christine:

I guess yeah if you look at the Greek and Roman tradition, it was you know, sex was what was available, and if you're going off to a battle, that's what was available there was also. There's also a Taoist tradition of that. The chew the life force is part of is encapsulated with sexual energy. So you should be holding on to your sexual energy in order to keep your life force. So there are some myths out there and I think there's some stuff like on TikTok and Reddit about holding in your your semen for guys and that's supposed to make you more energetic and more focused and aggressive.

Shannon:

And all of that. That's like, I believe, that coaches pedal to that. You know, sexual frustration and withholding can lead to more aggression, so then you have more power, okay, hulk.

Christine:

That's not that Somehow frustration frustration equals aggression, which equals better sports performance is some of what that sounds.

Shannon:

That sounds like the Patriot teacher. Yeah, I got it. That sounds like the Patriot.

Christine:

And it's true. So. So then we lead to the obvious question that we always have on this podcast. Well, what does the research say?

Shannon:

Right Does ejaculation really draw so much testosterone from the body that it reduces your aggression and reduces your strength and makes you a bad athlete.

Christine:

Well, and the idea of being going to makes you weak, okay, okay, and I think there's like a part of it is like this concept of well sex is so exhausting, so then you have to recover from it.

Shannon:

How can it be exhausting when it only takes seven and a half seconds, man, oh my gosh, shannon.

Christine:

Okay, so I went in, I went into the research because I was like, okay, there's got to be some stuff on this.

Shannon:

Okay, so, candidly, this is a myth that I don't. I'd have never really thought about this, and maybe it's because I'm a female athlete and I've never thought about like this has never been a particular conversation or anything, but I don't, I don't know. I'm surprised that there's even research on this, but apparently there's enough weird misinformation about this particular relationship between sex and athleticism that there have been studies.

Christine:

Yes, and and Shannon, you're exactly right A lot of this does come from the male focused sports and coaches particularly saying that you know that sexual activity before an athletic event is going to weaken you. So let's go through the academic research and, as I said, there's not a lot of it, but there are some what's called systematic reviews, meta analysis, looking at existing research. So, first of all, there's one that I found from 2016 about sexual activity before sports competition, looking at nine studies. So, once again, not a lot. Interestingly, in the introduction to this study article, they talk about the ancient Greek and Romans who kind of started this whole myth. So we can blame Greece and Rome for the myth, but there's very few scientific data and a lot of it is anecdotal. So this one study said that one the difference, that the real factor here is the interval between your sexual activity and the sports. So in the nine studies this is what's so sad in the nine studies there still was only 133 participants, so you're still that's hard.

Shannon:

That's hard, difficult research to do, right, because you're like go have sex before a sporting event and report on it.

Christine:

Well, and how do they? How do they do that study? Well, there's a few different ways and that's a great question, because part of what the systematic reviews are looking for is quality research and, as we've talked, survey research not as good. And basically survey research would be asking people after their sporting event hey, by the way, did you have engaged in sexual activity last night? And also, how was the big game?

Shannon:

Like yeah, that's how was your sports performance.

Christine:

So the studies, because part of the reason there was only nine studies is they wanted to find nine control trials where they had some one group of athletes participate in sexual activity and then the net and another group not. But what they did and is not necessarily look at sports per se, but looked at physical activity that's related to sports.

Shannon:

Yeah, yeah, because it would be hard to say all sports.

Christine:

sports are different, so right and it's also hard to be like okay, let's, let's schedule an experimental study around a sporting event. So what they would do is they would have one group engage in sexual activity the night before and then the next day measure their strength, their grip strength, how much weights they can lift their cardiovascular, do some stuff on the treadmill, and then compare one group to the other. And so it's athletic performance more than sports.

Shannon:

I keep saying sports, but like and if we continue to say sports in the episode, just know that what we're really referring to in context of the studies is athletic performance.

Christine:

Yes and there's, but it was dealing with athletes who are in sports, so not just people who are working out at the gym, and so what these studies would do was take a baseline of what each participant athlete's performance was on a regular day, then have one group engage in sexual activity that night and then take another scale the next day and another test of strength.

Shannon:

So apparently this is a relationship in research that like merited funding and support. Well, you know what merit is.

Christine:

Because curiosity and curiosity and who knows, Maybe the research was started by some athlete who was told by their coach that they couldn't engage in sexual activity. So like, is this real? And so this one meta analysis that was looking at nine studies, all nine studies, when they synthesized the data, there was zero, zero data to support that the physical performance was any way reduced by engaging in sexual activity. Interesting. Now, caveat is there was another study that also did a meta analysis and found seven studies of their own to look at and similarly, which tells me that they're probably not doing a good literature search because they found different ones. But this other one looked at the distance between the time between orgasm through sexual activity and physical exercise.

Christine:

So, once again, not exactly a particular sport, but looking at physical exercise. And in this one they found that they could not find a statistically significant difference in any of the conditions. Meaning, did they have sex the night before? Did they have sex, no sex at all, or did they have sex, like six days before? No difference in physical performance based on when they were engaging in sexual activity and when they were experiencing orgasm. Well, first of all, you mentioned, you mentioned six, eight, seven minutes.

Shannon:

Well, I know I said seconds. Sorry, I'm a little salty this morning. I meant seven and a half minutes. Let's give them credit where credit's due.

Christine:

Well, it's funny. So this one study, which was actually not a meta analysis, but they were looking at strength performance and they were looking specifically at men who do like weight training and strength training and what they did is they looked at 50 men and they measured their time. They had them put a stop wash on their sexual activity and the average sexual activity was 13 minutes.

Shannon:

Okay, Well, it's almost a whole quarter of football. Good job guys.

Christine:

And I mean all right. So for us thinking that, like somehow 13 minutes is going to be so exhausting that it's going to ruin your sports performance is kind of hysterical. To begin with, the article actually concluded that it has some potential to reduce strength in your lower extremities, but it was a difference between seriously, they called this substantial being able to lift 109 kilograms versus 107. So I would kind of throw that study out as being kind of silly. Yeah, okay, but in the broader spectrum of things, what we're talking about is sex exhausting. Most studies say that sexual activity is going to only burn between 25 and 50 calories, got it? Which is also kind of a little like well heteronormative.

Christine:

True, true, different. So here's what the bottom line is. Although the research is not copious, it's very scant, as we'd say in academia.

Shannon:

Scant about hope. Everyone's taking notes.

Christine:

We're going to learn new words today. We're back in the set, we're back in studio, so we're going to be more like a classroom. What they're basically saying is there is zero evidence that, as long as you're having engaging in sexual activity the day before that, there's any negative impact on sports performance. Is there any improvement? Well, for runners. Runners say that they actually marathon runners and long distance runners say that it actually, like I said, a handful of studies do say that running performance can improve that. There is one caveat Sure, don't engage in sexual activity between 30 minutes and two hours before you're sporting.

Shannon:

Got it not an adequate warm up understood.

Christine:

Understood. So that aspect is definitely not. But anything, most of the studies we're looking at athletes and non-athletes and we're looking at whether or not they engage in sexual activity the night before and the night before was shown to either have no effect or minimal positive effects on sports performance.

Shannon:

Interesting, but we also talk about sexual activity isn't just about the orgasm, and we talked about a lot of times in media. It's like it's the mindset too. It's like I can't get over the amazing sex I had last night and now I don't know how to play baseball anymore. So what about the mental or emotional or psychological impacts Like? Is there any research on that?

Christine:

Well, sex distracting the right. Well, speaking of baseball, I found this amazing quote by legendary New York Yankees manager, Casey Stengel, who said it's not the sex that wrecks these guys, it's staying up all night looking for it.

Shannon:

Ouch, need some ice for that. Call the trainer Yikes.

Christine:

But he wasn't entirely wrong is that when they're looking at the physiological and the emotional impact of sexual activity. Actually, the research says abstaining is going to tend to make you if you're normally have a sexual active life, abstaining is gonna make you feel more frustrated and less relaxed. And so there's a physiological, mental and emotional benefit to engaging in sexual activity before sports performance. As we said, physiologically you're gonna sleep better, you're gonna be more relaxed. So it's not about abstaining to keep that edge. It's actually enjoying sexual activity to kind of be relaxed and focused when you're gonna have engaged in sports.

Shannon:

Well, and what you're also saying is that breaking your routine is gonna lead to frustration and it's gonna lead to disconnect, and it's gonna you're gonna feel off if that's part of your routine and then you're abstaining, which is, I guess, another reason why the whole build-term thing is kind of bullshit.

Christine:

And it's an interesting thing that it's perpetuated, especially like in college sports and college athletics you're hearing. You still say oh. The other one that some of our sports fans will appreciate is Buffalo Bills. Coach Mark Levy, back in the day, told his players to abstain from sexual activity before the Super Bowl and, as some of you might know, buffalo Bills lost four Super Bowls in a row.

Shannon:

Sorry, Bills fans.

Christine:

So maybe that advice was exactly wrong and the research success that that advice was in fact exactly wrong.

Shannon:

What I find interesting about these studies and this topic in general is it's such a common theme that these athletes are having a lot of sex right, I mean like in media. But also lived experience of athletes like that's the mojo is like their big college athletes or their big you know whatever, and it's always the connection between being a big athlete and being sexual and having a lot of sex and having a lot of sexual partners. So it's interesting that the flip side of that is like oh, it's gonna affect your performance because that's such a common, you know, relationship that's talked about is like big athlete, huge sex drive, you know, has a ton of sex, has a ton of partners. But then there's also this flip side of it which is but it's bad for you and you won't perform well, like it's just. I just think it's interesting because I, like I said, I haven't really thought of the myth very much of like sex negatively impacting your athletic performance, but the association between athletes and sex is one that is super common and super well known.

Christine:

Well, we think about athletes. You know athletes are generally gonna be very physically fit and you know they're going to feel, you know they spend time connected to their bodies. So that necessarily is also gonna make them feel, would necessarily could lead to feeling sexual feeling, that erotic energy. And, honestly, athletes, you know, attract people. You know that's, there's a celebrity to it, even if you're at I mean, even if you're at a high school level, right?

Christine:

The jocks always got to date. Yeah, Troy Bullen, I got it. But right, high school level, college level, the athletes got some attention, and so that is kind of culturally what tends to happen. And so I don't know, I wonder, I'm curious. You know, the pushback from coaches maybe is to try to keep their young athletes focused.

Shannon:

Focus, right? I mean, that's what I was thinking. And then I was also thinking, as you talked through the research, like is it amount of sex? Like has that been measured at all? Because you know what, if like, yeah, like this athlete could be having sex with multiple people, like it could be an orgy, like you know, there's so many different possibilities and I think the reason it's like that's a worthwhile question is because that's also just speaking to you know, confounding variables right, but that's not the normal, like that's not the quote unquote norm.

Shannon:

You're not expecting that every athlete is going off and having an orgy, but like that's kind of, I think, where there would be some like yeah, you know what, if you are having sex 12 times in one night, you're probably going to be tired tomorrow.

Christine:

Right.

Shannon:

Well, if you're engaging in an orgy, you're probably going to be tired tomorrow. So it's the extremes of those situations. You can have sex 12 times in one night, I'll be really excited for you. Well, welcome to the queer community everybody.

Christine:

But I know you have another question and the question is is the research all about? Meh, I do have that question. I knew it, I knew it. One study looked at female athletes and that study conclusively said improves performance. And so there was a yes. I see a cheer in the background. Well, and interestingly, I found a quote from Canadian downhill skier and Olympian, karen Lee, who said attributed all their Olympic gold medals in part to their pre-race preparation.

Shannon:

I bet.

Christine:

So at least, like I said, small sample sizes, small studies With the research I would go out on a limb as an academic researcher saying that right now there is no data to show that sexual activity has a negative impact on perform.

Shannon:

I think we just disappointed a lot of athletes out there that have been using their spore as an excuse for why they're not getting laid.

Christine:

You mean the new?

Shannon:

I have a headache, excuse is taken to I can't actually have sex, it's not because I can get it anytime I want, because I can, but I'm not because of the sports.

Christine:

Well, and let's talk a little bit though. So there's, this is the myth, and we're debunking the myth. But let's talk about the flip side exercise and sex. We talk about research being bidirectional. So the bidirectionality then becomes is exercise good for your sexual function and your sexual activity? Yeah, yeah, and it is. It is it's endurance, well, endurance, yes, well, it's 13 minutes. Endurance, endurance, flexibility. Wait a minute, just 13 minutes really required?

Shannon:

I don't know, it depends on who it is. I mean, I would argue that for some not fit, not athletic types, 13 and a half minutes of exercise is probably pretty tough.

Christine:

Well, and you're you know you have a point. There is that one of the, when you are looking at the studies of sexual activity and athletic performance, they are measuring that in terms of performance, like not necessarily a specific sport, but they're looking at cardiovascular health, muscle strain, grip strength, how long you can engage in some activity. So, yeah, maybe we can talk about exercise and sex both being contributing to cardiovascular health. Why not?

Christine:

Yeah, Exercise it is, Though I think that it's not as much exercise as many. Certainly heterosexual Wish With life Wish it could be. But what I'd like to also add about this issue is to continue. What we always talk about on this podcast is to talk about that sexual activity is a holistic or can be a holistic experience, and so and we talk about the psychological impacts, we are talking about those types of impacts that can be positive, not just for sports performance, not just for athletic performance, but for cognitive performance and which means your brain and how you're thinking. And all of that with sexual activity is about blood flow relaxation, stress relief, sleeping better. Research shows for pain reduction If you're not in pain, you're gonna enjoy sexual activity more. So all of those things are kind of intertwined and I'm gonna say please, athletic coaches, please stop telling your athletes that this is bad for you?

Shannon:

Yeah, it's a weird one. Be honest, Before we did this episode, I had never really thought about that connection before, but it's good to know that it's bullshit and not worth putting more of my energy into.

Christine:

Well, and another caveat okay, the research says it is not. It is not the sexual activity, that's the issue, and Casey Stengel wasn't that far off. It's the fact that maybe you're staying up all night or you're drinking or you're engaging in some other types of substances as part of that sexual activity Right the other behaviors, the confounding variables that are making this as we can think about what happens when you're going out on the town. There's definitely other things than just hey, let's just be really quiet and do the thing.

Shannon:

The other thing you heard here first people. Well, it's a really compelling pickup line. Let's just be quiet and do the thing. Well, stay tuned for our next episode on Talking Dirty.

Christine:

We are.

Shannon:

We're gonna have an episode on sexual communication and that's how I think, spoiler, it's not stay quiet and do the thing.

Christine:

So, as just one other tiny caveat, there is a very, very, very rare disorder that's called a post-orgasmic illness, that there are a very, very, very, very, very small percentage of male and females who can experience flu-like symptoms after orgasm. That sucks so, but I think you'd already know that. So if you already know that that has happened to you, then perhaps you should engage in some sexual activity of your force-force performance, but that it's like an itty-bitty, tiny, rare thing that happens on some occasion and it's basically just makes you feel like you have the flu, which does suck. That sucks so bad.

Christine:

But I don't wanna not mention it, because that would be saying that there's zero data and there's a shred of it. That would suggest that there's some validity for a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very tiny part of the population.

Shannon:

So that group notwithstanding, basically, unless you've got orgasm flu question mark, you plan on staying up all night looking for sexy time. You stay up drinking or indulging in other substances that you then blame on your sexual activity. Other than those things, it's totally okay to engage in sexual activity the night before the big game.

Christine:

Just not right before kickoff or right before the first date. Not a viable warm-up For that. 30 minutes to two hours before maybe not so much.

Shannon:

There's just the urge 30 minutes before your game to go get some. Got it All right. So sex it doesn't negatively impact your athletic performance. In fact there could be a bi-directional positive relationship between athletic performance and sex and sex and athletic performance, and at minimum it's not gonna make it worse.

Christine:

Exactly, got it so clearly and I can say quite definitively that is another myth Put to bed, put to bed.

Shannon:

Thanks so much for tuning in for this episode of Sex and Debunked. We'll be back next week with a study session and, as always, if y'all have any questions, comments or myths you'd like us to debunk, reach out to us at sexeddebunkedgmailcom or she does a message across any of the socials at sexeddebunked.

Christine:

Take care everyone.

Shannon:

Go Pats, Ha ha ha. ["sex and Debunked"].

Christine:

Thanks for tuning in for this week's episode of Sex and Debunked During the course of our podcast. We have limited time together, which means that, unfortunately, many identities, groups and movements may not be represented each week. The field of sexuality and gender orientations, identities and behaviors are changing and growing rapidly, and we remain committed to being as inclusive as possible.

Shannon:

Please remember that all of us including us are learning in this area and may occasionally slip up. We ask that we all continue to be kind to one another so that we can create a truly inclusive and accepting environment. As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reach out to us at sexeddebunkedgmailcom on Instagram, facebook and Twitter. ["sex?

Christine:

and Debunked"]. Sexeddebunked is produced by Trailblaze Media in Providence, Rhode Island. Our sound producer is Ezra Winters, with production assistance from Shay Weintraub.