How do I assess how exercise affects my sexual health?

Recognizing that exercise and your physical fitness play a role in your sexual health, ask yourself the following questions to help assess just what effect your present level of exercise may be having on your sex life:

• Is exercise a regular part of your lifestyle?
• Think back on various times in your life when you exercised more or
       less. Do you see any relation to periods of high and low desire?
• When you exercise more, does it make you feel more sexually
       confident and desirable?
• If you don’t have time to get to the gym, what other ways can you
       make exercise part of your daily routine?
• Are you relatively happy with your body and fitness level?

Being more physically active and therefore more physically fit should positively affect your sexual health. To assess the actual impact, you can do your own experiment. It's as easy as 1-2-3.

1. Keep a record for 2 to 4 weeks of your sexual activity - when, for how long, level of satisfaction.
2. Then, start your new physical fitness routine. Keep track of both your sexual activity as before and your exercise activity - when, what, for how long. NOTE: No cheating! Do not change anything else except the exercise. No extra moonlight walks, long-stemmed roses, etc.
3. At the end of 4 weeks, compare your sexual activity records from the 'before exercise' period to the 'with exercise' period and see if there is a noticeable difference.

If you did not notice a change, try a different exercise program or try both you and your partner on an exercise program. Each time you try something new, make sure that's all that you change. You can be more certain that the change happened because of the new item. If you change several things at once, you won't know what worked and what made no difference at all.