Is Cycling Affecting Your Sex Life?

A recent large scale meta analysis of scientific studies looking into the impact of cycling and bicycles on human sexual and urogenital health revealed some alarming findings. And if that’s too many scientific buzzwords for you, boy do we have some bad news for you! 

 

Cycling has proven to be one of the most popular activities in the world and plays an important role in promoting public health in the form of recreation or commuting. So far regular cycling has shown to have an effect on the prevention of many chronic illnesses such as heart diseases, diabetes, cancer, hypertension, obesity, depression, and osteoporosis. 

 

However, it may surprise you that cycling can lead to injuries (and we don’t mean falling off your bike), most of which affect the urogenital system, causing genital numbness, erectile dysfunction, priapism (prolonger erections), infertility, and hematuria (blood in the urine). 

 

Wait, isn’t priapism a good thing? Not if it lasts several hours and hurts. 

 

Notice how the list of ailments are all linked to your fun bits downstairs, so not only might it affect your sex life, but it may make going to the toilet a little unpleasant for you, to say the least. 

 

Do you suffer from any of those?

 

 

On to the details!
 

This large scale study reviewed a variety of factors, such as the position of the cyclist’s hands and body, the height and design of the bike saddle, the pedalling rates and intensities of the cyclists, and even sitting times on the bike while riding. 

 

They compared the findings between genders and cycling styles and postures of cyclists across two decades. 

 

One of the notable studies reported an incidence of genital numbness of 61% and erectile dysfunction of 24% in male cyclists whose weekly training exceeded 400 km, so clearly cycling too long is not so good if you would like to go longer in the boudoir. 

 

 

Another interesting paper 15 years later explored urogenital injuries and sexual dysfunctions in female cyclists, showing that after at least 2 hours of cycling in one day, certain undesirable symptoms such as dysuria (painful peeing), stranguria (slow, painful urination), genital numbness, and vulvar discomfort (appearing in almost half of the sampled cyclists) were found.

 

 

Overall the main findings were that the tiny trusty little bike saddle appears to be the main risk factor for urogenital problems in cyclists. The saddles with holes in them were found to result in regions of higher pressure on the cyclist’s pelvic area, which is not so desirable. On the plain saddle, the pressures were distributed over the entire surface, while on the holed saddle, there were points of higher pressure at the base of the pelvis, especially in women. 

 

 

The study concluded that in general, excessive pressures under the perineal area (colloquially known as the taint, that region between the anus and your fun bits) of cyclists have shown to be quite harmful. In order to reduce prolonged pressure to the precious perineal area during cycling, you are advised to take care of your bike position, specifically the handlebars and saddle, but also take note of pedalling intensity and frequency. 

 

And while the saddles with holes appear lighter and sexier, try to avoid those if you’re keen on having children. 

 

However, don’t sell off your bicycle just yet. With proper bike fitting and by paying attention to your body, you can maintain good pelvic floor health and more importantly, a healthy sex life while still enjoying your other two-wheeled lover. 

 

Just don’t spend too much time with the latter, or someone might get jealous.

 

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So what are you waiting for? 

 

Isn’t it about time for you to test (and torture) yourself by registering for one of our cycling events? 

 

There are tons of opportunities you can seize upon riding the wave of event popularity. Join us at Howei today if you’re keen to start your own journey. 

 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Howei. Any content provided by our bloggers or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.

 

Source: Saddle Pressures Factors in Road and Off-Road Cyclists of Both Genders: A Narrative Review - PMC