The SEX LIFE OF OBESE PEOPLE

I hope none of you are obese or morbidly obese.

A good way to know if you are overweight or obese is to use a BMI calculator. You can find one here and here.

Why is this post getting too particular about being obese? Here's why:

When a person is morbidly obese, their sex life often suffers. Desire for sex, performance, and enjoyment can nosedive. Many simply avoid sex altogether, new research shows.

In fact, morbidly obese people are 25 times more likely to report problems in their sex lives, compared with normal-weight people. "What struck us was this magnitude of difference .... far greater than any of us expected," researcher Martin Binks, PhD, a psychologist and director of behavioral health at the Duke Diet and Fitness Center at Duke University Medical Center, tells WebMD.

All the obese people --- plus 282 normal-weight people --- completed questionnaires asking about four aspects of their sexuality: enjoyment of sexual activity, sexual desire, difficulty with sexual performance, and avoiding sexual encounters.

• Almost two-thirds --- 65% --- of obese people in the treatment group reported significant sexual problems; 41% of the nontreatment group cited sexual problems; only 5 percent of normal-weight people did.



• In the treatment group, 50 percent had difficulties desiring sex, 42 percent had performance problems, and 41 percent avoided sex. In the non-treatment group, 29% had desire difficulties or performance problems; 24 percent avoided sex. In the normal-weight group, 2 percent had function problems and 3 percent avoided sex.



• Enjoyment was seriously impaired. Twenty-eight percent of the treatment group and 30 percentof the nontreatment group reported less enjoyment of sex, compared with 4 percent of the normal-weight group. That's 10 times less enjoyment among the obese people, Binks points out.



• Women reported more sexual problems than men did. However, those getting treatment had fewer problems compared with obese people not seeking treatment.

[WebMD, Nov 15 2004]

This is one more reason why overweight or obese people need to lose weight.

Remember, it is not only obese people who suffer from sexual problems. Their partners suffer more for sure.

Thanks to Polo for this Photo