Tricks From Around the World to Boost Your Libido

If you’ve lost your sexual desire recently, you are not alone. As many as 30 percent of women in America alone suffer from low sexual desire. This can cause problems between partners, and subsequently to problems with self-esteem, wellness and wellbeing.

 

Fortunately, there are lots of little tricks you can try, if you just look at examples from around the world. Spicy foods are fantastic for boosting your libido – these hot, chilli-based foods help to turn up the natural heat in your body and get your blood flowing to the extremities (especially the all-important extremities…) In Mexico, the Jalapeno pepper and Haberno chillie is the spice of choice, or you could mimic the Louisiana folk and add a bit of Tabasco sauce to your meal. This super-hot sauce is made from old red peppers, combined with vinegar and salt and mashed. Then of course we all know that curry is the traditional dish of India, and can come in varying intensities, depending on how badly you want to turn up the heat. Over in Thailand, Srirachu is a very hot paste or sauce that can be used to get things a bit spicy, or you can try the Japanese Wasabi, which has a tangy and spicy flavour. Finally, in South Africa the best way of boosting heat is with the Peri Peri sauce, made with chillies. Try any of these international dishes and you should find that you are soon able to spice things up in the bedroom, too.

 

On the flip side, something like yoga can help you cool down and chill out, if what you really need to regain your libido is a bit of rest and relaxation. Not only does yoga relieve your stress and calm anxiety, but certain yoga positions such as the Eagle pose actually helps the flood to flow in your pelvis, causing a feeling similar to desire and arousal.

Categories: desire, drive, heat, libido, sauce, Sex, sexual desire, spicy, yoga

Warning: Your Weight Could Affect Your Sex Drive

The media often links the idea of lower weight leading to greater sexual prowess, but is this actually the case? In truth, whilst beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder, there is a strong correlation between weight loss and sexual wellness and wellbeing.

 

Obesity can cause all different kinds of related conditions which can affect your sex drive on a mental and physical level. Around 30 percent of all those who are overweight have issues with their sexual desire, sex drive, performance or all of the above.

 

Conditions including insulin resistance (an early indicator for type 2 diabetes) and high cholesterol have an ability to make a difference to your sexual performance, and this in turn can impact on desire, particularly when it comes to men. It stands to reason that a man who has problems getting or maintaining and erection gradually loses his desire for sex after a period of time.

 

When an individual puts on a lot of weight, the hormones in the body are negatively affected and start to fluctuate uncontrollably as a chain reaction. The chemical in the body responsible for sexual function (sex-hormone-binding globulin) increases, which directly causes a drop in testosterone, the hormone responsible for male sexual desire.

 

The more you weigh, the more you produce this sex-hormone-binding globulin, and so the lower levels of testosterone that are available to you, and that stimulate arousal in your body.

 

This, combined with other factors such as high cholesterol, can lead to a real drop in libido. High cholesterol has an impact as it can lead to the buildup of plaque in the blood vessels that supply the pelvic reason, and this can flow the supply of blood to the area that is the most important for sexual arousal.

Categories: binding globulin, desire, drive, high cholesterol, hormone binding, nbsp, Sex, Sex Drive, sex hormone, sexual, sexual desire, weight

The Libido Lowerers: What’s Dampening Your Sex Drive?

Everyone wants a healthy sex life, but a stalled libido can get in the way of your sexual health and even have an impact on your overall wellbeing. The underlying causes of reduced sex drive can be varied, so you don’t have any idea what’s affecting your wellness – and this can be very unnerving. Because of this, if you have a faltering libido often, you can be tempted to suffer in silence. However, a little information can go a long way toward providing a solution, and the reality is that many causes are treatable. So, what possible causes are dampening your burning passion?

 

1. Ageing: As you age, your sex drive is no longer critical for reproduction and – as a result – it wanes. For men, your testosterone will likely peak in your late teens, and then slowly decline at a rate of about 1% per year – although you’ll probably be in the mood for sex way into your 60s. For women, however, the balance of your hormones – progesterone, oestrogen and testosterone – can become upset more suddenly around the age of 35-40, as this marks the beginning of perimenopause (or the period of time in which your body prepares for menopause). As your body is lower in oestrogen, your vaginal tissue will become less healthy, making sex more painful. For this problem, lubricating creams or gels can help, while trying new positions is recommended if your aching joints are making sex less fun.

 

2. Exercise: Generally speaking, a healthy body means a healthy sex life. However, sex is a physical activity and, as such, carries certain risks. Vigorous sex can be taxing on your heart and a host of muscle groups – particularly your lower back – which can put you off having sex in the future. Plus, if you exercise often outside of the bedroom, you may be bringing aches and pains to bed that can dull your sex drive.

 

3. Excess weight: There’s a famous story in which rotund Irish playwright Brendan Behan reportedly turned down an equally large woman’s passionate advances because – even though he’d would have liked to accept her offer, he was ‘afraid our equators would prevent conjugation.’ However, being overweight doesn’t just make sex difficult; it can also put a serious damper on your libido. If the physical assertion involved in sex makes your heart too busy trying to push blood through pounds of excess adipose tissue, it won’t be able to deliver an adequate supply to your sexual organs, which is a key factor involved in arousal. Plus, there’s a link between excess weight and other, libido-lowering conditions, such as diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. If you are overweight, improving your diet can help with all of the above, as well as improving your body image and, as a result, your sexual confidence.

 

4. Tiredness: At the end of a long, busy day, you hardly feel in the mood to get active between the sheets. Tiredness takes its toll on your entire body, causing you to operate at less than 100%. Not getting enough sleep has a direct impact on your body’s production of hormones and this, in turn, influences your sex drive. Simply put; feeling sluggish doesn’t often translate into feeling sexy. If you feel tired all of the time, you may have an underlying medical condition in need of treatment. Chronic insomnia, chronic fatigue syndrome and sleep apnoea can all be as deceptive as they are debilitating, and often require medical attention. However, if you’re merely run-down, some light exercise can give you more energy, as well as avoiding drinking alcohol close to bedtime.

Categories: ageing, body, decreased libido, drive, excess weight, Healthy, healthy sex, libido, nbsp, Overweight, Sex Drive, sex life

How Important Are Hormones to Female Sex Drive?

Everybody knows that most women feel particularly sexual at a certain point in their cycle. This is because the hormones involved with ovulation start telling the body to effectively ‘mate’. But to what extent do hormones control the sexual wellness and wellbeing of a woman; is it the sole driver of sexuality, or do other factors come into play?

 

Unlike other mammals, humans tend to have sex on a regular basis throughout the month. Other mammals (and indeed animals in general) only tend to mate when they are fertile – sex is generally used purely for reproduction and not for pleasure. Humans are different, because they engage in sexual intercourse for pleasure at times and in ways where conception could not occur.

 

There have been many studies into whether ovulation plays a strong role in sex drive, but they have tended to rely on guesswork about when ovulation occurs, by counting the days from the last menstrual cycle in the woman. This is wildly inaccurate as women ovulate at different times, and can even ovulate at different times each month, making the results very questionable. For this reason, some studies seemed to show that the ovulation hormones were linked to sexual activity and other studies showed no correlation or very little correlation between the two things.

 

Now, a new study has been carried out which uses ultrasound technology to pinpoint the exact time of ovulation in nearly 2000 heterosexual women aged between 18 and 40. No women in the study were using artificial birth control and all women kept a diary of their sexual activity. The study found that women tended to engage in sexual activity (including masturbation) more frequently around the time of ovulation, showing that hormones were playing a strong role in these women’s sex drives.

Categories: drive, hormones, ovulation, Sex, Sex Drive, sexual, sexual activity, strong role, study, Women

The Serious Problem Of Women With Low Sex Drive

It is true that we are sometimes guilty in modern society of assuming that men always have a higher sex drive than women – and by extension that women naturally have a low sex drive. But the fact of the matter is that the neither of these two statements are necessarily true and indeed it is an example of where we should not simply rely on cliché and stereotype for our beliefs and opinions. The reality of the situation is that it is far more complicated – some women have a high sex drive, some men have a low sex drive and while in general it may be true that men are more likely to have a high sex drive, and women more likely to have a low sex drive, it is damaging to always make assumptions.

 

What is actually natural is that the sex drive of women fluctuates throughout life, rather than it being a constant of either high or low. Depending on major life events such as a relationship starting or ending, a pregnancy, an illness or going through the menopause, it’s true that the sex drive of a woman can change all of the time. So having a low sex drive should be looked at to see if there are external causal factors or whether it is some sort of illness or condition that is responsible. Some medications can cause a low sex drive, for instance.

 

But in the case where there are no obvious causal factors for low sex drive, it can be due to hypoactive sexual desire disorder – which can cause a consistent lack of personal interest in having sex or engaging in sexual activity. This can be a very distressing condition and it is worth going to the doctor if you are worried that you may be suffering from it. But it is also important to note that you can seek help even if you don’t meet these medical criteria – if you are bothered by your low sex drive it can be well worth getting help as there are many techniques that you can use including sexual techniques and lifestyle that can help to increase your sex drive.

 

The truth is that there is not necessarily going to be a way that you can define having a low sex drive. Everyone has a different sex drive and having less of a sex drive than your partner doesn’t necessarily mean that yours is especially low – it could just mean that theirs is higher than yours. And it is worth pointing out that having a low sex drive does not necessarily mean that your relationship is in trouble – it could be as strong as even but there are other factors causing problems for your sex drive.

 

There are a huge number of causes ranging from sexual problems that you are having, other medical problems in your life, medications that you are taking, alcohol or drugs that you consume on a regular basis, recent surgery or even fatigue. Aside from these physical issues it can also be down to hormonal changes such as the menopause or through pregnancy. And it is even true that it can be down to either psychological or relationship issues.

 

There are a number of potential treatments that can range from anything from medications, counselling or hormone therapies – your doctor will be able to recommend the best course of action for you. You can also choose treatments such as lifestyle changes including getting more exercise, setting aside more time for sex and removing stress from your life.

Categories: causal factors, drive, drive nbsp, high sex, life, low sex drive, nbsp, necessarily, Sex Drive, therapy, Women

Medically Unfit to Drive: Hanging up the Keys

 

Changes in your health can impact your life in many ways. From the food you eat to the activities you participate in, your medical fitness can have far-reaching implications on aspects of your life that you may not have considered. One of these is your ability to drive. Some medical diagnoses and even the addition of new medications can mean you need to think about hanging up your keys for good. But how do you determine when you’ve crossed the line from good driver to road menace? 

 

Moving Away From the Wheel: Factors to Consider

When you receive a new diagnosis or medication from your doctor, it’s important that you understand the full impact it can have on your life. While driving can make your ability to get around a lot easier, some medications and illnesses can make getting behind the wheel dangerous for yourself and others.

According to a study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, a relationship has been found between increased crash risk and declines in vision, hearing, and reaction time, all of which can be brought on by various medical conditions. Here are some factors to consider when deciding if you’re not fit to continue being on the road. 

1) Are you currently diagnosed with a neurological disorder?

As people go through the stages of life, neurological disorders such as strokes or Alzheimer’s Disease can become more prevalent. Currently, strokes are the third leading cause of death for Americans, and it’s effects can greatly impact your ability to drive. Be sure to discuss your condition with your doctor, who can do a full assessment to ascertain if you’re mentally competent enough to drive.

 

2) Does your illness or medication cause any vision issues?

Although getting a vision test is the norm for getting and keeping your driver’s license, vision problems can pop up between tests, thus putting your driving ability at serious risk. Additionally, some medications can cause dizziness or blurred vision, making driving on more dangerous roads such as a mountainous region like Denver a huge risk.

 

3) Are you suffering or recently diagnosed with a joint or movement-related disorder?

It may come as a surprise to some that movement-related issues could pose a problem to drivers. After all, you’re probably driving to avoid having to move too much. However, simple tasks such as turning around to park, being mobile enough to turn the wheel or even using a stick shift can be greatly compromised by mobility issues.

 

4) Are you taking multiple medications?

Medication interaction is a serious issue for drivers across the United States, and the wrong combination of medications can make you as dangerous as a drunk driver. One Denver car accident attorney states that ”a driver who is improperly medicated is a driving menace. Both your doctor and your pharmacist can advise you on any of your medications and how they might affect your abilities. Additionally, be aware that the effects of some medications can be severely heightened with the use of alcohol.

 

Keeping both you and your passengers safe while driving may always have been a priority for you. However, a new diagnosis or medication can greatly jeopardize your safety on the road. Get to know your medication and how it affects you before getting behind the wheel and ensure you discuss your condition with your doctor. The more information you have the more likely you will keep your road journeys safe.

Writer Melanie Fleury has a father who is on several medications that affect his motor skills. He has to remain very diligent about knowing the side effects of each medication before attempting to operate a vehicle. She hopes that others in the same position take the same care to be mindful of what their body can and cannot do. She used the blog of a Denver car accident attorney to learn more about the consequences of driving when medically unfit.

 

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianteutsch/43051087/

Categories: accident attorney, car accident, denver car, drive, Driving, medically, medically unfit, medication, Medications, movement related, nbsp, unfit

How to Make a Vanishing Sex Drive Come Back Again

If you have found that your appetite for all things sexual has taken a nosedive in recent years, you are not alone. Around one in three women report that they have lost interest in sex, and more than 40 million Americans who are in relationships are reportedly not having any sex whatsoever. This may sound extreme, but these statistics are believed to be true, and there are numerous causes behind them, too.

 

Many different things can cause a loss of libido, such as going through the menopause, lack of emotional connection between partners, changes in the body and resulting low self-esteem – to name but a few. There are also some great ways to help recharge yourself and rejuvenate your sex life, so if you are feeling a little below par in terms of your sexual wellness and wellbeing, don’t despair and instead simply try some of these ideas.

 

Firstly, embrace your age. So your body has changed and you have a few more wrinkles – so what? Your sexual potential actually comes with age and both maturity and experience can lead to wonderful things in the bedroom department. You have to keep your mind switched on to ‘sexy’ mode to enable you to continue a sexual relationship, so try to think yourself back into the right frame of mind, and you will find that you have been overthinking things too much. As soon as you get back into doing it regularly, you will find that the more you do it, the more you want it.

 

If you still feel that you are out of kilter, try practising something called the ‘loop’ to recharge your sexual energy. To do this, sit comfortably and close your eyes. Imagine that there is a bowl of warm oil nestled inside your pelvis. Imagine that there is a straw running along your spine, and as you inhale, imagine the warm oil coursing up to the top of your head. Hold your breath and count to three and imagine the energy circulating around inside your head. As you exhale, imagine the warm oil flowing down across the front of your body and back into the pelvis. Repeat six times.

Categories: body, drive, imagine, libido, nbsp, Sex, sexual, warm, warm oil

Want to Have More Sex? Best Ways to Boost Your Libido

The emotional impact of having a difficult sex life is considerable. When you are not connecting with your partner, it can feel that an important part of your wellness and sexual wellbeing are missing, and often people struggle to understand why their sex life has deteriorated or what they can do about it.

 

There are many possible causes for a drop off in sex life – ranging from depression to stress and including things like being too busy to find time for sex, having a turbulent time in your relationship, or simply not feeling very ‘in synch’, sexually.

 

It’s very normal to experience dry spells in your sex life, and s not something that you should worry about. It will probably pick up again, but it is important that you keep an eye on it and make sure that it isn’t a longer-term problem.

 

If you want to attempt to kick-start your sex life, there are some things that you can try to get both your libidos firing again.

 

Working out together can be a great way to get back into your sex life. Not only does exercise increase blood flow to your sex organs, but it also releases endorphins, which make you feel happy, relaxed and confident. Dopamine is also released which helps to build up your self-esteem, which will lead you to feel confident and sexy. Not only that, but jumping in a steamy shower together afterwards can work wonders.

 

Adding a little excitement to your sex life can also be a great idea. You could send naughty texts to one another or buy some sexy lingerie – whatever it takes to make you feel sexy again. You could even take a mini break away together to get rid of your usual routine and spend some time together.

 

If all else fails, make sure that it’s not your birth control that is killing the mood – as some forms of contraception can lead your libido to fall flat and other types can be a bit of a passion killer. Talk to your GP about making a change.

Categories: drive, feel, libido, life, nbsp, Sex, sex life, sexy, time

Try Natural Alternatives To Sex Drive Pills

We often think of our sex drive as something that we just have to live with. If you don’t have a high sex drive and your partner does, it can sometimes make things difficult or awkward in the relationship. But many people think there is nothing they can do about it so it’s not something that needs to be worried about. Unfortunately that creates the problems that when scientists a drug that can supposedly elevate your sex drive, it can create a huge demand but also leave wondering whether it is something they should really do.

So, when it was finally announced that doctors were on the verge of being able to solve the problem of low libido with pills, it became very apparent that there is a serious level of demand for such pills to be made available. Clearly low libido is something that people suffer with – and this appears to be especially true of women. Indeed, it was women who were bombarding the phones of sex therapists when an article published in the New York Times revealed there may be a drug that was about to be ready for general sale.

“My patients who read the story have been asking me about these drugs,” said Lorri Brotto, who is a psychologist at the University of British Columbia and was quoted in the magazine story. “But the study data so far have found that the pills aren’t effective for everyone with low desire – only a subgroup of women.” It turns out that the only women whom it was shown to be very effective upon were those who seem to have trouble feeling sexual stimulation rather than actually feeling a lack of desire for the act of sex, even if you do enjoy it.

The name of these two drugs are Lybrido and Lybridos and they apparently work because they contain small leaves of the libido increasing hormone testosterone which is supposed to help boost your desire to have sex. However, it seems they are actually a long way away from being ready. In fact, even to be considered for approval by drugs authorities, they need to have been shown to be effective in studies of more than 1,000 women to prove that it would be worth making them legal to be put on sale.

The problem is that many women appear to believe that their problems can be solved by simply popping a pill and hoping for the best. However, it is very likely that actually if they are already in this mind set, there is very little that a pill will actually be able to do for them. This suggests that pills need to be avoided altogether by such women and they should look for natural alternative methods for boosting their libido.

It could be that actually what you need is a bit more excitement in your sex life. Low libido is often the fault of boredom within the relationship, which is then causing you to become disinterested in the bedroom. When two people become too familiar with each other it can really make it difficult to keep up with the spontaneity that romance often needs. This leads to you feeling like sex is not worthwhile or even a waste of time.

So try some techniques such as using private email addresses to send flirty to messages and help to spark the desire to have sex a little more often. If you can build up sexual tension like this it makes it far more easy to get a positive sexual experience that you will enjoy and want to have again.

Categories: desire, drive, libido, Pills, Sex Drive, Women

Could These Common Drugs be Killing Your Sex Drive?

Have you had problems with your sex drive recently? It could be that some common prescription medication is to blame for the drop off in your desire. Having a low libido can have a damaging effect on your sexual health, and can also affect the wellbeing of your partner and the wellness of your relationship.

 

Ironically, one of the main causes of lack of sex drive is the birth control pill. You could almost believe that it works by making the woman not want to have sex with the man any more, and thus no conception occurs!

 

Of course, this is not the case for all birth control pills, or all women either. Some women find that the pills increase their levels of a sex hormone called SHBG, which then lowers the amount of testosterone in their blood and makes them not feel like having sex.

 

A small study from Boston University even found that the pill had an effect on the long-term libido of some women, making them less likely to want sex even after they stop taking the pill, but this kind of long-term effect is thought to be very rare.

 

If you think that your pill might be lowering your sex drive, the best thing to do is to try another pill, or even another form of birth control.

 

Antidepressants are another common cause of low libido. Types known as SSRIs, which include Prozac, are the worst culprits. On the other hand, depression itself can cause low libido, so some people are unsure as to whether it is the condition or the medication, and others actually find that antidepressants improve their libido.

 

Diabetes drugs may also lower libido, as well as reducing sexual pleasure and the ability to orgasm. If you are on diabetes medication – or any of the medications listed above – and feel that your sex life may be suffering, don’t hesitate to call your GP.

Categories: Birth Control, drive, drugs, libido, Long term, nbsp, Pill, Sex, Sex Drive, Women

Do Women Really Need a Female-Targeted Viagra?

Viagra is one of the most successful and life-changing drugs to ever have been invented, and has caused a stir in the sex industry ever since it was created – it is now used by over 20 million men worldwide for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. However, a version for women has never been found, despite numerous researchers in a number of companies searching for an answer to this problem. Despite the search being on-going for more than a decade, no-one has ever found a problem to the female sex drive issue. The latest disappointment to add to the list is a drug known as flibanserin, which is a contender for the first approved drug to combat low sexual desire in women.

 

The Food and Drug Administration advisory panel advised against it’s approval, stating that the slight increase in female sexual satisfaction wasn’t enough to outweigh the potential side effects, such as fatigue and depression. Though it is more commonly publicised as a male problem, women do experience sexual dysfunction as well. However, experts claim that the problems is all too often a lack of desire rather than a physical problem with performing. There is a risk of GPs and medical professionals over-diagnosing women with a hypoactive sexual dysfunction, which is characterised by a low sexual desire, which can cause distress. However, for many women, this issue doesn’t need to be treated with a pill – it can be easily treated with therapy or other approaches. Taking a pill, they say, would be an easy way out. It’s true that some women could benefit from a drug to increase their sexual appetite, but they are unsure how many women this would include. Viagra is something of a one-size-fits-all treatment, whereas the same for women wouldn’t necessarily be the case.

 

Studies show that around one in ten women in the U.S experience some form of HSDD, but there is no such thing as a normal sex drive in order to determine how often a woman should be craving sex in order to be considered healthy. This is where the problem lies – a low sex drive can often be relative to the person suffering from it. There are also two other common sexual complaints in female patients, which are arousal and orgasmic disorder. Around five percent of women suffer with this problem and this can often affect other problems such as your sex drive. With this in mind, how can you tell what is affecting your sex drive?

 

The first step if you’re struggling with a low sex drive is to talk to your GP. Many women don’t discuss such problems with their doctor due to embarrassment or because they feel as though their GP isn’t interested in what they have to say. But other medical conditions may be involved, so discussing it is vital in order to get to the root of the issue. It is advised that you book a separate appointment to discuss the problem, rather than trying to fit it into an appointment about another health concern, as it requires a lot of questions and possibly a physical exam. If you’re more interested in sex when you’re not tired, such as when you’re on holiday, then it may be easy to decipher that the problem is fatigue. Your GP may suggest making some lifestyle changes to see if this solves the issue. However, hormonal changes as you age may also be a cause, so it’s vital that you explain everything to your GP so that they can help you.

Categories: drive, hormones, issue, problem, Sex, Sex Drive, sexual, sexual desire, sexual dysfunction, Women