Can working up a sweat in the bedroom give you a six-pack?
Can you skip the gym if your lovemaking are intensive enough?
Is sex really good exercise?
Just how many calories does great sex burn?
And positions are good for both pilates and procreation?

And the answer is...

Sorry, nope! Ray Rosen, chief scientist at the New England Research Institutes, a private research outfit, estimates that the average sexual interlude might be equal to walking up two flights of stairs. In other words, sex all by itself is not a good weight loss strategy. But on the other hand, he insists, sex is good for you in a myriad of other ways.

A University of California San Francisco team led by Dr. Leslee Subak is implementing a new study that uses sexual dysfunction as a sort of "canary in a coal mine" for other conditions... like cardiovascular disease, depression and diabetes. “There are not many data,” Subak explained, “and the data that exist are not necessarily conclusive, however it does appear that decreased physical activity is an independent risk factor for sexual dysfunction.”

So, the question is... does good sex lead to better health, or do people have better sex because they are already healthy? That intertwinement is tough to unravel, but, Rosen said, “the evidence is stronger that being healthy is a facilitator. It paves the way for good sex rather than the other way around, though there is some evidence for the second proposition as well.” Either way, being fit, keeping yourself at an appropriate weight, eating properly, is smart. We all know this, of course, but we live in a country that is among the fattest, least fit, on earth. Yet we are also a country that is preoccupied with sex and sexual imagery. We like talking about it, thinking about it, bragging about it, but we are wrecking our facility at actually doing it.

The benefits of exercise are probably even immediate. Studies done at the University of Texas by Cindy Meston’s female sexuality group have shown “a significant increase in physiological sexual arousal with exercise” after just 20 minutes on a treadmill.

As both Subak and Rosen point out, getting fit and losing weight are not necessarily panaceas. We may be depressed, we may be in a bad relationship, we may face financial stress — who doesn’t these days?! — and all that can affect libido and performance. Sex is complicated. But exercise also happens to be a great stress reliever and a well-documented therapy for depression. It improves body image and confidence. And there is a feedback loop.

“Frequent sex does a lot for mood,” Rosen explained. “It does a lot for self-esteem, for the partner relationship.” So, he said, “people who work out, get in shape, not only have a better physiology, but also improvements in their relationships.”

More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34514075/ns/health-sexual_health/?ns=health-sexual_health