Improving Physical Health Can Help Sexual Health

There’s been a lot of chatter about how these pandemic stay-at-home measures have led to more unhealthy habits, like eating too much junk food and exercising too little.

But I also have heard that these unprecedented circumstances with this pandemic have created more time for healthier habits. More time to get in shape. More time to cook meals rather than eat out.

Is sheltering in place collectively helping our physical health or hurting it? Maybe it’s a bit of both.

When I was at Target recently, the cookie aisle looked pretty bare. But so did the exercise equipment aisle. So who knows what’s going on as we are hunkering down?! What we do know is there are plenty of humorous memes to speculate on what’s happening. But I digress!

Regardless of a pandemic and whether you’ve been forced to hang out at home, there is something to be said for doing what you can to take better care of your physical health.

I’m not even going to begin to suggest there is a one-size-fits-all strategy for everyone, because there isn’t.

Just the other day, I came across a documentary about an elite CrossFit competition in Dubai, and I determined right then and there that CrossFit would not be for me. I have no desire to rapidly go through a circuit of what seem to be completely unrelated exercises. Run a mile, then do 20 burpees, then climb a rope, then jump sideways on to a box, then do 10 deadlifts. Um, sounds like a good way to blow out a knee.

That being said, I do think I could stand to take more brisk walks around my neighborhood. And stop eating so much sugar. To be fair, CrossFit may indeed be the perfect and preferred regimen for some people, even if it’s not for me.

Like I said—there’s not a one-size-fits-all strategy. But certainly everyone can find a strategy.

If you’ve never really exercised or eaten right, an initial step could be one change in your nutrition, like cutting down on ice cream from every night to once a week, or one change in your exercise, like that walk around the block.

The options are endless on ways you can improve your health, from big ways to small ways. Cut out some empty calories (don’t have the second beer, for example), eat a few more vegetables, take the stairs when that’s an option, invest in that rowing machine or treadmill, take a healthy cooking class, visit a park or nature hike you’ve never visited.

Certainly you don’t want to make major changes without talking to your health care provider, especially if you have existing health ailments or other issues that should be taken into consideration. And if you haven’t had a complete physical in a while, consider making that a priority once the social distancing measures start to ease. Generally speaking, choosing to get physically healthier is never a bad idea.

Maybe you and your spouse could even be good support for each other and embark on health improvements together. It may be quite transformational for your relationship all the way around.

Improving physical health definitely can have a huge impact on a  marriage, including sexual intimacy.

Carrying extra weight can make sex more difficult (positions, stamina, erection longevity, etc.), as well as lower sex drive, so it makes good relational sense to lose the extra weight. Not maintaining good flexibility and muscle strength can leave us prone to injury, as well as limit sexual activity.

Poor nutrition and little-to-no exercise and too little sleep can lead to a myriad of health struggles and feeling sluggish, not to mention a host of body image struggles. And all of this impacts sexual intimacy in marriage. Sure, some of you reading this are already in phenomenal shape. Maybe you watched the same CrossFit documentary I did and were giddy with delight at the possibilities.

But I imagine most of you reading this know you could take care of your body a bit better—and this in turn would be a boost to feeling good sexually, too.

Consider how some choices you make today for better physical health could add up to such a more enjoyable life. You are worth it.

For more reading, you can cruise through my list of past posts, as well as my page with a bunch of posts on orgasm.

Copyright 2020, Julie Sibert. Intimacy in Marriage Blog. Links may be monetized. Never want to miss one of my posts?  Subscribe via email on this page.  And be sure to join my more than 10,000 followers on my Facebook page and 11,000 followers on Twitter.