男士注意：剧烈运动可能不利于你的性生活
研究男性锻炼与性生活关系的一项初步研究表明，与运动强度较轻的男士相比，剧烈运动的男士性欲偏低。
For years, scientists and active people have debated whether and how exercise affects sexual desire and human reproduction.
多年来，科学家和积极锻炼的人士一直在争论锻炼是否影响、以及如何影响性欲和人类繁殖。
But most past studies have centered on women. Typically, this research has found that when some female athletes, such as marathon runners, train intensely for many hours a week, they can develop menstrual dysfunctions. These problems seem caused by hormonal imbalances occuring because of physical stress and frequently affect a woman’s interest in sex and her ability to conceive.
不过，过去的大部分研究都集中在女性身上。那种研究通常发现，有些女运动员——比如马拉松运动员——一周高强度训练很多小时，可能出现月经不调。这些问题似乎是身体压力引起的荷尔蒙失调所导致的，经常影响女性的性欲和怀孕能力。
But such dysfunctions are rare and usually resolve after the athlete lightens her training load.
但是，这种功能障碍不常见，而且通常会在运动员减轻训练负荷后缓解。
Less is known about the effects of exercise, especially heavy exercise, on men’s libidos and fertility. There have been hints that, in moderate amounts, physical activity increases the male body’s production of the hormone testosterone, which theoretically should ramp up sex drive. Other small studies, on the other hand, have suggested that lengthy and grueling training may blunt the levels of testosterone in a man’s bloodstream both immediately and over the long term.
关于锻炼，尤其是高强度锻炼，对男性性欲和生育能力的影响，人们知道的更少。有迹象表明，适量体育活动能增加男性睾丸素的生成，它在理论上能提高性欲。但其他一些小型研究表明，漫长艰苦的训练可能会立即且长期降低男性血液中的睾丸素水平。
But those studies examined only hormone changes related to exercise, which can be measured easily, and not differences in sexual emotions and behavior, which are tougher to quantify.
但是，那些研究只关注与运动相关的激素变化——这很容易测量——而不关注更难量化的性情绪和性行为的变化。
So for the new study, which was published this month in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, researchers at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill decided to ask active men about their sex lives.
在本月出版在《运动与锻炼中的医学与科学》(Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise)杂志上的这项新研究中，北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校(University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill)的研究者们决定，就性生活问题询问经常锻炼的男士。
They began by developing a questionnaire based on earlier psychological research into men’s sexual behavior that asked, for instance, how often they thought about and engaged in sex. The scientists also created a separate questionnaire with detailed queries about exercise habits, including how often and intensely the men worked out each week.
他们根据以前的男性性行为心理学研究设计了一个问卷，询问他们想到和进行性行为的频率。科学家们还创建了另一个单独的问卷，详细询问运动习惯，包括这些男士每周锻炼的频率和强度。
A final set of questions asked about general health and medical histories.
最后一组问题是关于总体健康状况和病史。
Then the researchers contacted running, cycling and triathlon training groups, university athletic departments, and publications targeted at endurance athletes and asked them to alert members and readers to the questionnaires, which were available online.
然后研究人员联系了跑步、骑自行车和铁人三项领域的训练小组、大学体育部门以及针对耐力运动员的刊物，请他们提醒成员和读者回答这些可以在网上看到的调查问卷。
Almost 1,100 physically active adult men completed all of the questions. Most were experienced athletes who had participated for years in training and competitions.
近1100名经常锻炼的成年男子回答了所有的问题。他们大多是经验丰富的运动员，多年参加训练和比赛。
The scientists used their responses to stratify the men based on both the extent and intensity of their workouts. They wound up with groups whose weekly exercise was short, moderately lengthy or quite prolonged, and separately whose weekly exercise was light, moderate or extremely intense.
科学家们根据锻炼的时长和强度对这些男士进行分组。根据时长分成了每周运动时间较短、适度或很长三组;根据强度分为每周运动强度较轻、适度或很大三组。
It was possible, of course, for someone to be in the top or bottom of both of these categories, meaning that their workouts were both long and intense or light and short. But the scientists wanted to examine each of those aspects of a workout separately, so did not track such overlaps.
当然，有可能某个人同时位于这两个类别的顶部或底部，也就是说，他们的锻炼时间又长又剧烈，或者时间又短又轻微。不过，科学家们想分别研究锻炼的各个方面，所以没有就这些重叠部分展开追查。
They also categorized the men according to their answers about their sex lives, creating groups with relatively high, moderate or low libidos.
研究人员还根据这些男士对性生活的回答将他们分为性欲较高、中等或较低三组。
Finally, they compared the men’s exercise habits to their reported interest and engagement in sex.
最后，他们将这些男士的运动习惯与他们报告的性兴趣和性行为进行比较。
And there were clear patterns. The men whose exercise routines were moderate or light in intensity or duration were far more likely to report moderate or high libidos than were the men whose workouts were especially prolonged or intense, even after the researchers controlled for age. (Older men tend to report less interest in sex, although not by much.)
对比结果存在清晰的规律。即使在研究人员控制年龄之后(老年人往往表示对性爱的兴趣较低，虽然不是低很多)，与锻炼时间特别长或强度特别大的男性相比，运动时间适中或强度较小的男性报告中度或高度性欲的可能性要高得多。
In effect, strenuous exercise “was associated with lower libido,” says Anthony Hackney, a professor of exercise physiology and nutrition at the University of North Carolina who led the study.
领导这项研究的北卡罗来纳大学运动生理学和营养学教授安东尼·哈克尼(Anthony Hackney)表示，剧烈运动基本上“与较低的性欲相关”。
Of course, this was a small sample of men who voluntarily chose to complete a personally intrusive survey. It is impossible to know whether they were truthful or representative of the rest of their gender.
当然，它是人数较少的一些男士自愿完成的一项涉及个人隐私的调查。无法确定他们的回答是否诚实以及能否代表其他男性。
This type of study also cannot tell us whether too much exercise actually causes low libido, only that the two are linked.
这种研究也不能告诉我们，过多运动是否的确会降低性欲，只是表明两者相关联。
And it did not examine why strenuous exercise might dampen libidos.
它没有研究为什么剧烈运动可能抑制性欲。
But Dr. Hackney speculates that both physical fatigue and lower testosterone levels after exhausting exercise likely play a role.
不过，哈克尼博士推测，剧烈运动后的身体疲劳和较低的睾丸素水平很可能起了作用。
He and his colleagues hope to soon mount experiments that directly track exercise, hormone levels and libidos to learn more about their interactions. They also aim to learn more about whether the intensity of the workouts or duration has the greater impact on male sex drive.
他和同事们希望尽快进行直接跟踪运动、激素水平和睾丸素水平的实验，以便更多地了解它们的相互作用。他们还想更多地了解，锻炼的强度和时长哪个对男性性欲的影响更大。
Perhaps most important, he hopes eventually to pin down at what point exercise might start to lower some men’s libidos. Both moderate and light physical activity were associated in this study with relatively high libidos, he points out. “But there does seem be a potential tipping point,” after which more exercise may blunt desire.
也许最重要的是，他希望最终能确定从哪个节点起运动开始降低某些男士的性欲。他指出，在这项研究中，中度和轻度运动都与较高的性欲相关。“但似乎存在一个潜在的临界点”，在那之后，更多的锻炼可能降低欲望。
The necessary studies likely will require years and many cooperative men to complete.
这些必要的研究可能需要很多年和很多男士的合作才能完成。
In the meantime, he suggests that if someone is worried about whether his training is affecting his sex life, he might try exercising a little less, to see if his libido changes.
哈克尼建议，在此期间，如果有人担心自己的训练影响性生活，可以尝试少运动一点，看看性欲是否发生了变化。
This advice could be especially important for couples trying to conceive, he says. “Fertility specialists will often ask a woman about whether and how much she exercises,” he says. “Based on our data, we think they should also be asking the man.”
他说，这个建议对打算要孩子的夫妇尤为重要。“生育专家经常询问女性是否锻炼以及锻炼量的大小，”他说，“根据我们的数据，我们认为他们也应该询问男方这些问题。”
