Marathon Runners Have a Higher Sex Drive
They are also more likely to go Mad!
When it comes to finding a mate, the human race is all about ancient history. Can a man track an antelope to exhaustion? Men who have this ability tend to have longer ring fingers which is an indicator of being exposed to more testosterone in the womb. “Beautiful hands” is often something you hear from women when describing an attractive man.
As described in this post, humans are designed for long distance running. We have a natural spring built into our feet and achilles and a fantastically efficient cooling system, which makes it possible to track faster animals until they overheat. This would have been vital for survival in ancient times, hence the attractiveness of long distance runners.
Long-distance running may be a lonely pastime – but academics say that men who can run for miles may find it easier to attract women.
People who are better at running half marathons are likely to have been exposed to high levels of testosterone in the womb, researchers from Cambridge University said.
This means they not only have better cardiovascular efficiency but also a strong sex drive and high sperm count – suggesting that historically they were chosen by women as more desirable mates.
Lead author Dr Danny Longman, from the university’s division of biological anthropology, said: ‘The observation that endurance running ability is connected to reproductive potential in men suggests that women in our hunter-gatherer past were able to observe running as a signal for a good breeding partner.’
His team found that the best half marathon competitors tended to also have longer ring fingers – a signal that they had seen higher levels hormone exposure in the womb.
They said the finding suggests females had selected mates for athletic endurance.
This may be because ‘persistence hunting’ – exhausting prey by tirelessly tracking it – was a vital way to get food.
It means that men who could run long distance were more attractive to women – a trait the researchers say has persisted through the generations.
And the same link to testosterone does not necessarily apply to those who are better at sprinting short distances – because in hunter gatherer societies endurance would have been more useful than brute force.
Persistence hunters may also have possessed other qualities, like intelligence and generosity, which women looked for in a mate.
Dr Longman said: ‘It was thought that a better hunter would have got more meat, and had a healthier – and larger – family as a consequence of providing more meat for his family.
‘But hunter-gatherers may have used egalitarian systems with equal meat distribution as we see in remaining tribes today.
‘In which case more meat is not a factor, but the ability to get meat would signal underlying traits of athletic endurance, as well as intelligence – to track and outwit prey – and generosity – to contribute to tribal society. All traits you want passed on to your children.’
Dr Longman said that while training and muscle strength were more important than hormone exposure in running performance, the size of the study meant the findings were ‘conclusive’ evidence of a predisposition.