Higher sex drive and exercise link
October 17th 2010 01:56
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By Stephen Adams, The Daily Telegraph October 16, 2010
Fitness fanatics have higher sex drives, according to scientists who claim they have found a link between exercise and personality.
Those who take exercise also tend to be more aggressive and socially dominant, said Dr. Peter Biro, an Australian academic.
He said their findings, which came from studying the relationship between behaviour and metabolic rate in insects, birds and animals, gave weight to the stereotype of the athletic "jock" and the socially awkward "nerd."
Biro said there was enough evidence from studies to suggest those who had a higher metabolism, and thus tended to exercise more, appeared to exhibit particular behaviour traits that often included a higher sex drive.
"Some of us are couch potatoes while others are drawn to sport and exercise," he said. "We often associate the athletic 'jock' type or person with being aggressive and social, whereas the more sedentary 'nerd' often is seen as more socially awkward and submissive. These are generalizations, but most people would probably agree there is some truth to them."
Biro, of the University of New South Wales's Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, has written a review article with Judy Stamps of the University of California, Davis, in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution.
It concludes there is now enough evidence to suggest a link between personality and metabolism -- the chemical process that converts food into energy to fuel the body.
Biro said: "Animals in captivity often engage in energetically demanding behaviour when they have unlimited food available.
Given they don't need to move about in search of food as they would in nature, we might ask why they are apparently 'exercising.'
Recent research suggests this behaviour might be related to an individual's capacity to generate energy -- its 'metabolic capacity.' "
He added: "Male crickets with sex on their mind tend to call to attract mates more and have a higher metabolism."
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