Low Libido In Women: Why It Happens & What To Do About It
Low Libido In Women: Why It Happens & What To Do About It
It’s common to occasionally lose interest in sex, especially as you get older, and low libido in women is more frequent than you assume. If you’re okay with it, you might not even be bothered by your lack of sex drive.
However, you may wonder how to get things going again if you’re having a low libido for a while, and it starts to interfere with your daily activities or cause an issue with your partner. To find solutions for your situation, you will first need to understand the reasons for low libido in women.
Common Causes for a Low Libido
Low libido is common. Your desire for sex is likely to suffer if issues with your bodily or emotional health, for instance. Your libido can suffer from work stress, particularly if you have to take care of a family. By the end of the day, sleeping becomes a bigger priority than having sex.
Below, you will find a few typical reasons why women experience low libido.
1. Hormonal Changes
Your sexual drive may be diminished by altering hormones if you are pregnant, just gave birth, or are breastfeeding. Fatigue, physical changes, and the stress of becoming a parent may all cause a dip in your libido. This is typical, especially in the initial months following childbirth.
When going through menopause, you could also experience a decrease in your sexual desire. Your estrogen levels fall during this time, which can cause libido loss and vaginal dryness, both of which can make sex uncomfortable.
2. Mental Health
When you’re not feeling well, sex is probably the last thing on your mind. Reasons for this range from untreated anxiety or depression and high-stress levels to bad body image and low self-esteem.
If you’re dealing with stressors by smoking, drinking alcohol, or taking other drugs, your physical health will also suffer as a result. Consider going to a therapist if your mental health is negatively affecting your general health. A therapist can help you manage any mental health issues and teach you effective coping mechanisms.
3. On Birth Control or Antidepressants
The hormones progestin and estrogen are found in the majority of birth control pills. A medication that contains both may cause your level of testosterone, the hormone that fuels your desire for sex, to drop.
Also, typical side effects of antidepressants are SSRIs or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. By increasing your body’s serotonin levels, SSRIs help you feel calmer and less worried, however, they might affect your libido as well. Your doctor or OBGYN can advise you on new medications or dosages and assist you in managing any health issues that may be affecting your wellbeing.
4. Your Relationship
For many women, intimacy depends on being emotionally close. So, if you’re having issues with your partner, it can be the reason why your sex drive is lower than usual. Marriage counselling or couple’s therapy can assist you in working together to overcome the issues and concentrate on repairing your relationship if your connection with your partner is poor, you have unresolved conflicts, or you may have some trust concerns.
Setting aside time for connection and intimacy can go a long way in spicing up your love life if your issue is merely a lack of time or effort. That said, your partner will need to be willing to put in the work to rebuild intimacy in your relationship.
Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder
If your lack of sexual ideas or desire frequently causes you to feel uncomfortable, you could be diagnosed with hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSSD). Your doctor can investigate for reasons why your sex desire isn’t as high as you’d want and find solutions to help, whether or not you fit this medical diagnostic.
The majority of women benefit from a therapeutic strategy that targets the various root causes of this illness. Sex education, psychotherapy, and occasionally medication and hormone therapy are among the recommendations that may be made.
These are the most common symptoms associated with HSDD:
- Little or no interest in sexual activity,
- Few to zero sexual thoughts or fantasies,
- Disinterest in initiating sex,
- Struggling to get pleasure from sex,
- Lack of pleasurable sensations when being stimulated in the area of your genitals.
Treating Low Libido
There are strategies to increase your low sex drive regardless of what’s causing it. Any potential medical causes of your low libido can be found with the assistance of your primary care physician or OBGYN.
From there, they can advise you to alter your lifestyle, modify current drugs or prescribe new ones, and assist you in managing any underlying medical concerns. Another choice is counselling, either as a couple or alone, to help you resolve any personal or relational problems that might be contributing to your low sex drive.
A woman’s libido could increase by reducing stress and making certain lifestyle adjustments such as:
- Exercising three to five times a week,
- Reserving time for intimacy,
- Willingness to experiment with sex (such as different positions, role-playing, or sex toys),
- Avoiding alcohol, tobacco, or drugs because they impair sexual desire,
- Practicing relaxation methods, such as mindfulness-based therapy or meditation to reduce stress.
Medication is another option for treating low sex desire, yet sadly, medicinal interventions for women have not been as effective as they have been for men.
The estrogen levels of many premenopausal and postmenopausal women alter as a result of decreased blood flow to the vagina. Your doctor may suggest estrogen therapy with a cream, suppository, or ring that releases estrogen in the vagina without the unpleasant side effects associated with estrogen pills if low estrogen levels are the cause of your HSDD symptoms.
In Final Words
You might need to try some different things because there isn’t a low sex desire remedy that works for everyone. But the fact is that many people see sex and pleasure as significant aspects of life, and they may unquestionably contribute significantly to your general wellbeing. That is why it is crucial to comprehend how libido works.
You deserve to enjoy your sexual experiences if that is what you want and to take a break from it when you want. The most important thing is that those are your choices, not something that is happening to you without being able to understand it.
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