Sex drive – it’s not a subject that most people feel comfortable discussing amongst themselves or sometimes even with their partners. However, low sexual libido, a previously understudied condition, is starting to gain more attention from women, men and medical researchers alike.
Diminished sexual desire often occurs in both men and women with advancing age and can result from a number of biologic and psychological circumstances. For women, who are twice as likely as men to experience low libido, it is often an unfortunate consequence of a hysterectomy and, ironically, estrogen therapies used to treat menopause-related symptoms like hot flashes and insomnia. Even in women of child-bearing years, various factors can lead to imbalances that cause the desire for sexual contact to diminish. In addition, low libido can lead to feelings of unhappiness, concern and frustration, plus it can have a major impact on a woman’s relationship with her partner.
Low libido and impotency in men can be due to a number of factors as well, including stress, underlying disease processes (such as diabetes, neurological disorders, and arteriosclerosis) and/or hormone imbalances.
There are physical and emotional factors that affect your sex drive – and they’re interdependent.
Rekindling the Flame
Because there are many factors that can negatively influence one’s sex drive, no one therapy, formula or diet is going to work well for everyone. However, there are many things that you can do to rev up your sex drive:
- Avoid caffeine, alcohol, saturated fat, hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats and trans fats. These will all negatively impact blood flow and/or hormone levels.
- Get in plenty of essential fatty acids (EFAs). Omega-3 EFAs help promote circulation, decrease inflammation, and help with optimal hormone balance. Eat deep-sea cold water fish (like salmon, mackerel and sardines) or take an essential fatty acid supplement (like Orthomega) daily with each meal.
- Quit smoking! It has been shown that smoking can dramatically decrease sexual desire and function.
- Relax! Stress almost always plays a role in low sexual desire. One of the best things you can do for your sex drive is to learn better stress management techniques. Regular vacations and daily down time don’t hurt either!
- Get regular exercise. Aerobic exercise gets the blood moving and the endorphins flowing. Resistance exercise helps build muscle, increase metabolism and ‘top-off’ hormone levels. Both forms of exercise help not only physically, but also promote better self esteem and self image. Do your sex drive a huge favor and get moving on a regular exercise program!
- Try supplementation. Keep in mind you cannot simply take a pill (whether it be a drug or a supplement) and find lasting relief from any complaint. You’ve got to make some dietary and lifestyle for women or dietary and lifestyle for men changes first. Supplementation can augment a healthy lifestyle, but it will not (in-and-of-itself) give you a healthy lifestyle. However, supplements can help. Find out more about supplements by contacting us.
Low libido will occur periodically throughout our lives. Stress, dietary changes, underlying disease states, hormone imbalance and numerous other factors can negatively affect our sex drive. However, there are a great many things that can be done to increase sexual desire and function. Use the recommendations above and watch your libido take off!