Low libido? What to do if it’s happening to you!
While it’s been a few years since we’ve seen formal studies on low libido in young women, we are seeing more and more social studies coming out that suggest young people (women included) are having less sex.
A new study from the Archives of Sexual Behavior showed that people are having far less sex now than they did even ten years ago. Another recent study from the same journal showed heterosexual women are having fewer orgasms than any other demographic.
Although our culture is becoming more “sex positive” and embracing sexuality as a healthy, essential part of our lives, it seems that we’re still having less sex and not always enjoying the sex we have to the fullest. Although our sex lives is a complex issue with many impacting factors, low libido or lack of sex drive is definitely one of the drivers behind this trend.
More and more women are coming to FLO Living reporting that their sex drive barely exists whether they are single or coupled, with or without kids. Having no to low libido is a common symptom that sometimes stands on its own, but more often than not is accompanied by other factors: fertility struggles, menstrual difficulties, adrenal fatigue and/or low energy.
If you can relate, then listen up. I’m calling this a silent epidemic, but don’t worry, help is at hand.
I believe that you have the power to shift this trend by making simple dietary and mindset changes. And we believe it because we’ve seen it. Women who follow the Sexy FLO program report incredible changes in their libido and energy, and we want to see the same happen for you. To start, let’s identify what could be the cause of your lack in sexual energy.
Main underlying causes of low libido in women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s:
- Over-working. Keeping up with insane work schedules in addition to other personal obligations adds up to a common result: burnout. In some countries they’ve had even to implement laws around when employees can and should check email in order to ease the work/life imbalance. Constant connection to the office via our smartphones can mean we’re never not working. Too much stress and too much demand on your mental and physical energy results in the depletion of your poor little adrenal glands, the powerhouse glands that are responsible for the output of your stress hormones and most of your testosterone, which is where that desire for sex comes from. Increased output of stress hormones means decreased output of juicy sex hormones. Stress can delay your period and make you gain weight - all because of how it impacts your hormone balance.
- Birth control or other medications. If you’re on the pill, anti-depressants, or other medication, this something very important to consider when it comes to your sex drive and your hormonal balance, as very often a side-effect is a low libido. We encourage you to talk to your doctor about this potential and partner with other practitioners to find the right kind of support and wean off what is not necessary for you. The birth control pill has a lot of side effects including several that directly impact your love life. And anti-depressants have been shown to negatively affect a woman’s fertility.
- Masculine energy dynamics. When I developed the FLO Living protocol to treat my PCOS, I launched into research on the masculine and feminine energies. This might sound a little woo-woo at first, but stay with me – it’s actually a strong, vital element of Traditional Chinese Medicine practices. It’s not about telling women to speak softly and be submissive or teaching men to be tough and aggressive – as you might expect – in fact, it’s quite the opposite. As a result of the demand on women to perform well in business, to sometimes be the primary breadwinner of the family, and to compete with the go-go-go energy of much of the working world, there has been a tendency for many women to get locked into that kind of “masculine” energy, which can be counter-productive when it comes to getting intimate in the bedroom. We all know that getting turned on is not as simple as pushing a button. The fear and anxiety producing part of the brain – the amygdala – needs to be turned off in order for a woman to get turned on, as Dr. Louann Dr. Brizendine, author of The Female Brain, explains in this article with Oprah and Dr. Oz. “It requires turning off the worrywart circuits in the female brain to have an orgasm,” Dr. Brizendine explains. We all need to balance our masculine and feminine energies - both women and men - as they are in us all. Once we lean too far to the masculine, we can suffer with the side effects.
What you can do to naturally improve a low libido
Now that you’ve identified what might be causing your low libido, let’s talk about practical tools you can begin using now to get your sexy back.
- Support your adrenal glands. Especially if a demanding work schedule is a reality for you, you’ll need to take extra good care of your body and in particular your adrenal glands to avoid symptoms of adrenal fatigue. Taking Jarrow’s Adrenal Optimizer is one way to begin this process of adrenal support. You can also add these researched aphrodisiacs to your daily routine to supercharge your sex drive.
- Make pleasure part of your job. Don’t just survive through your day, thrive within it. Adding pleasure to your day in simple non-sexual ways can greatly improve your ability to feel pleasure in the bedroom. Try bringing flowers to your desk or playing music you love during your morning commute. Indulge in body lotions or perfumes (organic, of course!) that make you feel beautiful. Get regular massages. Check out the ideas of our favorite pleasure revolutionary, Mama Gena. You can bring more feminine energy into your working day in some easy, simple ways. I have 4 daily practices I use to ground myself in my feminine energy and make my busy schedule work for me.
- Take matters into your own hands. You need to ask for you what you want, but first you need to know what you want. Make time to research your sexuality and the underlying causes of your low libido. Read tasteful erotica and see what turns you on - take a wander around Literotica.com. Read about your anatomy and the physiology behind turn-on, and get to grips with the 5 Cs of self-pleasure. Once you know yourself better, don’t be shy to ask for assistance or experimentation from your partner. No partner? No problem. Then you can really take matters into your own hands more often, if you know what we mean. But give vibrators a miss, they’re actually limiting your pleasure.
Always remember, that once you have the right information about how your body really works, you can start making health choices that finally start to work for you! You can do this – the science of your body is on your side!
To your FLO,
Alisa
