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 Physical changes, better mood and reduced anxiety are credited with
the improvements in sexual function and reduced pain among women
with the hormonal disorder, according to the researchers.
“It is an important study because few studies examine women’s
sexuality and because it raises questions about the role of exercise
in depression, anxiety and sexual functioning,” said Dr. Katherine
Sherif, who directs Jefferson Women’s Primary Care at Thomas
Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA, but was not involved in
the study.
Researchers included normal-weight and overweight women in the
study, noting that weight problems are common with the disorder,
known as PCOS, and a source of mental health problems that could
affect sexual function.
“It is the first study to show that resistance training (as opposed
to aerobic exercise) improved several aspects of sexuality in obese
women with PCOS compared to overweight women without PCOS,” Sherif
said.
PCOS affects between 5 and 10 percent of fertile-age women,
according to the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development. Its cause is unknown, but may include genetic factors
because the condition tends to run in families. Symptoms of PCOS are
caused by an excess of “male” hormones, known as androgens, and
often unusually low levels of estrogen.
Symptoms include unpleasant physical changes, including excessive
hair growth, acne, seborrhea, hair loss, obesity and fat
distribution along the trunk and upper body, Dr. Lucia Alves Silva
Lara and her team note in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
The study team points out that past research has found women with
PCOS often have low self esteem because of their altered appearance
and may have problems with their sexual function, including pain
with intercourse.
Past research has also shown that physical resistance training has
helped boost weight loss, physical strength, self image, health, as
well as sexual function, in women with other health problems, the
researchers add.
For this study, 43 women with PCOS and 51 without the condition were
recruited. The average body mass index, a measure of weight relative
to height, in women with PCOS was in the overweight range, with
waist circumferences averaging 81 centimeters (about 33 inches). In
the comparison group, body mass was slightly lower but still in the
overweight range, with waist circumferences averaging 76 cm (about
31 inches)
Both groups of women participated in a 16-week exercise regimen that
included stretching and using bench presses, extensor benches and
other physical resistance equipment to work out hip, leg, arm and
trunk muscles. Intensity of the resistance exercises rose weekly,
while repetitions decreased, as the program progressed.
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The women answered questions about sexual function, including
desire, excitement, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction and pain, as
well as anxiety and depression, at the beginning of the program and
again after 16 weeks.
Those with PCOS scored higher on sexual function and felt
significantly more desire, excitement, lubrication and less pain
after 16 weeks than they had at the start. They also had higher
levels of desire than the women without PCOS.
The comparison group had significant decreases in pain, after the
exercise regimen. And both groups of women had lower rates of
anxiety and depression.
Sherif, who started the first academic program on PCOS in 2000 at
Drexel University in Philadelphia, noted that the decrease in
anxiety and depression, as well as the shared exercise experience,
made it difficult to attribute improvements in sex to the exercise
alone.
“Exercise helps improve mood, whether or not a woman has PCOS,”
Sherif said, in an email to Reuters Health. “Improvement in mood, in
turn, no doubt improves sexual functioning. However, resistance
training, which increases lean muscle mass, is more likely to help
overcome insulin resistance compared to aerobic exercise.”
The authors say more study is needed to confirm their results and
pinpoint the best type of exercises and appropriate duration of
exercising. Sherif said a randomized trial would help.
“A randomized trial in which women were assigned to either an
exercise class or just given a list of exercises (or met as a
support group) would have been possible and certainly ethical,” said
Sherif. “It would help isolate the factors that improved sexual
functioning and mood . . . is it being part of a group that helps,
or is it the exercise that helps?”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1RJAEAr Journal of Sexual Medicine, online May
18, 2015.
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