You know that being tired, suffering from stress or feeling a bit fat can put you off getting frisky – but did you realise that your shoes, the movie you watched this evening or what you had to drink could also dampen your desire? Here are 9 little-known passion killers could be dampening your sex drive.
Text: Bauer/ Good Health/ Additional Reporting: Shenielle Aloysis
Women who drink one or two glasses of red wine a day are more interested in sex (and more easily aroused) than those who don’t drink at all, say researchers at Italy’s University of Florence. The reason is thought to be the wine’s actions on blood flow to the genitals – if this is enhanced, it doesn’t take as much stimulation to get you in the mood. Don’t go overboard, though, too much alcohol dampens sexual sensations.
A study at Israel’s Weizmann Institute found that being exposed to tears dampened down activity in the arousal part of men’s brains. If you fancy a movie, choose something a little bit sexy instead. Not surprisingly, watching other people get frisky tends to trigger the same response in us.
While investigating stress incontinence and pelvic pain, Dr Maria Cerruto at Italy’s University of Verona found that heels between 3cm to 7cm high put strain on your ankles that makes you tighten your pelvic floor muscles, toning them up! Besides, you need to feel sexy if you want sex… wear perfume, slip on matching undies and put on high heels-whatever it takes to make you feel gorgeous.
You use them to let you have worry-free sex but an estimated five to 10 percent of women on the Pill find their libido falls. Switching to an alternative form of contraception may help.
Overall, exercise is great for the libido – it makes you feel body confident, it revs up circulation, and exercisers tend to orgasm easier than sedentary types. However, you can fall into the over-exercising trap, which can leave you too tired for love.”To help restore hormone balance and get your energy and libido firing again, you need more rest,” says Andrew Cate, author of The H-Factor Diet.
According to doctors at the Second University of Naples, Italy, women with high cholesterol levels have lower levels of arousal, are less likely to orgasm and more likely to suffer problems like vaginal dryness. Just like with alcohol, blood flow is thought to be a key here; high cholesterol may lead to narrowed blood vessels around the body, including the genitals. Reducing cholesterol levels with diet and exercise may perk you back up.
When did you and your partner have a full-on, teenage make-out session? According to anthropologist Helen Fisher from the US’s Rutgers University, sloppy, open-mouthed, tongue-twisting kisses help pass saliva from your man to you – and his saliva is packed with libido-boosting testosterone. Stopping the smooches might also stop this natural passion booster.
“Most women need to turn off their brain to get turned on,” say experts. Get rid of anything that distracts you from the task at hand -and that includes the bedroom TV. Studies in Italy revealed that people with a television in the bedroom have 50 per cent less sex.
Within four years from the start of a relationship, less than 50 per cent of women would want regular sex with Mr Right – according to research from psychologist Dietrich Klusmann at Germany’s Hamburg-Eppendorf University. He says that while men keep wanting to have sex once that bond has developed (so you don’t seek satisfaction elsewhere), women think the job is done and desire wanes!