In previous years there has been a lot of talk about sex diminishing athletic performance. Now this myth has been exposed by researchers in Italy.
The researchers gathered studies that claimed that sex has a negative impact on sports performance and applied stricter criteria for these studies. Only 9 studies were legitimate enough to make scientific conclusions about the topic.
Surprisingly, the analysis of these studies showed, that there is no scientific evidence that sexual activity has any affect on athletic performance.
One of these studies reviewed female athletes and their performance. As it turns out, having sex the night before their sports event has no impact on their strength. Another study showed a positive effect of sex for marathon runners.
The researchers were surprised about the lack of legitimate scientific proof. They believe this topic is mostly seen as a joking matter. Turns out that sex can only have negative effect on performance, if it takes place less than two hours before the sports event. Studies show, that sex can actually be beneficial to sports performance.
Review on the previously done research also revealed, that in most cases studies are done on males, but not on females. Therefore there is a lack of comparison between genders. Also cultural differences have not been taken into consideration.
In all the studies there is a major oversight on importance of psychological or physical effects of sexual activities on athletic performance. Also, this impact has not been studied on different kinds of sports. There is a need for further and more thorough investigations in the topic. For athletes every second is of importance, and it is shocking that comprehensive research has not been done.
The authors of the study concluded, that since there is a lack of legitimate scientific proof for possible effect of sex before sports, athletes should not feel guilty when engaging in sexual activity before performing.
