--- title: Men With Intense Workouts Have Less Active Sex Life: Study description: Men who strenuously exercise on a regular basis have a smaller libido than those who do lower intensity exercise, a new study has found canonical: https://time.com/4681843/workout-intensity-lower-libido/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-24T16:17:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:49:11.789Z article:section: Health og:title: Men Who Prefer High-Intensity Workouts Have a Less Active Sex Life, Study Finds og:description: 1,100 men were surveyed about their exercise habits and libido og:url: https://time.com/4681843/workout-intensity-lower-libido/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Men Who Prefer High-Intensity Workouts Have a Less Active Sex Life, Study Finds twitter:description: 1,100 men were surveyed about their exercise habits and libido twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Men Who Prefer High-Intensity Workouts Have a Less Active Sex Life, Study Finds > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: How to Start Working Out in the Morning [Watch (HLS stream): How to Start Working Out in the Morning](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BzjQrXSz.m3u8) (1:10)  _Published 2016-11-27. We picked the brains of trainers and nutritionists for lifestyle changes you can make to help you become the person who wants to rise and grind._ by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Feb 24, 2017 4:17 PM UTC by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Feb 24, 2017 4:17 PM UTC Men who strenuously [exercise](http://motto.time.com/4672635/venus-williams-diet-exercise-secrets/) on a regular basis have a significantly decreased [libido](http://time.com/23982/low-libido-11-drugs-that-affect-your-sex-drive/) than those who engage in lower-intensity exercise, a [new study](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28195945) has found. Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill surveyed 1,100 men aged 18 and older using a questionnaire to ascertain detailed information about their exercise training habits. They were also asked about their libido, answering questions on their sexual activity, arousal, desire, attraction, fantasy, appetite, fulfilment, need for intimacy and more. The study’s authors found that participants with the least-intense training regimes had greater odds of having a high or normal libido than those who trained at the highest intensity. The conclusion, therefore, was that regular exposure to high intensity and endurance exercise was “significantly” associated with a lower libido state in men. “Clinicians who treat male patients for sexual disorders and/or council couples on infertility issues should consider the degree of endurance exercise training a man is performing as a potential complicating factor,” the study’s conclusion added. The research paper, called “Endurance Exercise Training and Male Sexual Libido,” was published in the journal _Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise_. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4681843/workout-intensity-lower-libido/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4681843/workout-intensity-lower-libido/"},"headline":"Men Who Prefer High-Intensity Workouts Have a Less Active Sex Life, Study Finds","datePublished":"2017-02-24T16:17:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:49:11.789Z","description":"1,100 men were surveyed about their exercise habits and libido","url":"https://time.com/4681843/workout-intensity-lower-libido/","keywords":["Exercise","health","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/exercise/","name":"Exercise"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4681843/workout-intensity-lower-libido/","name":"Men Who Prefer High-Intensity Workouts Have a Less Active Sex Life, Study Finds"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How to Start Working Out in the Morning","description":"We picked the brains of trainers and nutritionists for lifestyle changes you can make to help you become the person who wants to rise and grind.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/BzjQrXSz/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-11-27T18:37:59.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BzjQrXSz.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4681843/workout-intensity-lower-libido/","duration":"PT1M10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4681843/workout-intensity-lower-libido/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```