What’s behind low sex drive
Loss of sex drive happens to many people over the course of their lives, and science suggests there is no one clear reason for it. Instead, it can be one – or a combination – of several social, hormonal, physiological and psychological factors that lower your libido, and cause you to be less interested in sexual relations. Here, we examine each of these factors.
Social
This is usually the term professionals use when talking about interpersonal problems causing a low sex drive, which can mean a lack of intimacy or attraction to a partner.
This is common in long-term relationships and marriages, where your routine sexual relations have begun to bore one or both parties, leading to what’s known as ‘‘erotic dissatisfaction’’.
Problems within your relationship and its dynamics also fall into the social factor when looking to uncover the potential cause/s of low sex drive. Individuals and couples who see social factors as potential influencers on their sex life are often advised to seek psychosexual therapy with a clinical psychologist.
They are trained to help you discuss emotional issues that could be leading to any kind of erotic dissatisfaction, intimacy, or other issues, and help you find ways to address them.
Hormonal
The hormones estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone can all affect women’s sex drives, and these hormones fluctuate constantly.
A woman’s individual menstrual cycle will be influential on her sex drive, and though it differs from person to person, there is a pattern of low libido immediately before menstruation for some women.
Being on the pill or other hormonal methods of birth control can affect sex drive, but again, it’s unique to the individual and their own make up of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Some women find their sex drives decrease when on birth control, others find they increase.
Women’s sex drives are also affected during pregnancy, nursing, the years leading up to menopause, and menopause.
Your thyroid may also be causing hormonal problems if the gland is under-active, leading to a low sex drive, and there’s also a medical condition called hyperprolactinaemia which raises the level of the protein named prolactin in your blood, potentially decreasing libido.
Men aren’t immune to hormonal problems causing low sex drives. As they age, some of their testosterone coverts to estrogen and this can have an effect on both penis functionality and libido. High cortisol levels can also affect testosterone production at any time in men’s lives.
Physiological
Physiologically, a common factor in men’s lowering of sex drive is erectile dysfunction or ejaculation problems, while in women loss of libido may be attributed to vaginismus (a genito-pelvic pain disorder) and vaginal dryness.
All of these issues are very treatable in consultation with a doctor.
Many other medical conditions are also associated with the lowering of sex drive. One of the most common is obesity and the issues that come with it.
High cholesterol and insulin resistance, for example, are both issues that can cause low sex drive, particularly in men.
Cardiovascular disease and diabetes also have negative effects on libido, and many medications for similar illnesses (including medication for high blood pressure) can also mess with your sex drive.
On the note of medications, many others also cause libido problems, particularly SSRIs (commonly prescribed as antidepressants) and other drugs used in mental health treatment.
Psychological
Chronic psychological issues affect all parts of people’s daily lives, including their sex lives. Particularly, depression, stress, anxiety, and exhaustion can be detrimental to anybody’s sex drive.
If we use depression as an example, this is an issue that causes a feeling of hopelessness and can often be attributed to a lack of confidence.
Adding extra difficulty, depression itself can hurt your relationship and cause distance between partners, as lack of a sex drive can be taken personally.
Those with chronic depression can also experience a loss of sexual desire, delayed or inability to ejaculate or orgasm, or may simply be disinterested in sex because their depression (and its relationship with self-worth) is so all-consuming.
Those with psychological disorders are usually advised to treat these first, and address the sex drive side effects later.
As mentioned, many medications can further decrease sex drives and this side effect should be discussed with your doctor, as other medications (and, importantly, non-drug alternatives such as therapy) are always available.
❚ Lee Suckling has a masters degree specialising in personal health reporting. Do you have a health topic you’d like Lee to investigate? Send us an email to life.style@fairfaxmedia.co.nz with Dear Lee in the subject line.