Lack of or a low sexual desire is one of the most common sexual dysfunctions. Getting to the root of low libido can help you enjoy sexual activity again.
As many as 43 percent of women and 31 percent of men have experienced sexual dysfunction, and one of the most common problems is low libido, or a low sex drive.
Missing the spark that makes you want to enjoy sexual activity is a prevalent type of sexual dysfunction, but it is also one of the trickiest to solve.
Recognizing Low Libido
For some people, low libido is a new problem that has a physical or emotional cause. Others may have had low sexual desire their entire lives, and that may be a result of the way their brains are hardwired, says Carolyn Nemec, MD, a women’s health specialist at Cleveland Clinic Willoughby Hills Family Health Center in Willoughby Hills, Ohio. When it’s an ongoing problem, doctors call it hypoactive sexual desire disorder.
Hypoactive sexual desire disorder means there’s a lack of desire for sexual activity and an absence of sexual fantasies, says Bruce Carr, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. People who have the disorder also experience distress over their low sex drive.
In many cases, low libido happens for no apparent reason. It comes out of the blue to people who have a good relationship with their spouse, Dr. Carr says. When he studied women with hypoactive sexual desire, he was surprised by how many premenopausal women reported to him that they lacked the desire to have sex.
“The classic patient would say she was having sex before marriage and at the beginning of her marriage, but after a few years, for no reason, she no longer desired sex at all,” Carr says. Many of the women said they had sex only to please their husbands.
Low Libido in Men and Women
For women, low desire is one of the most common sexual issues, and it can affect you in many ways. Low desire may mean not wanting to have sex, not wanting to masturbate, having few sexual fantasies, and being worried about the lack of desire.
In a recent U.S. study of 2,207 women between the ages of 30 and 70, researchers found that 36 percent had low sexual desire. About 8 percent had hypoactive sexual desire disorder, defined as having distress about having low desire.
For men, aging is a big factor in low libido. Studies have found that men with higher amounts of testosterone circulating in their blood have a higher sex drive, but testosterone levels drop as men age. Researchers say that as many as 10 percent of men in their forties have a sexual dysfunction, but up to 80 percent of men older than 70 experience it.
Getting at the Root Cause of Low Libido
What drives sex drive, especially for women, is complicated. It can be difficult to know exactly what is causing low sex drive. Possibilities include:
- Birth control pills.
- Menopause.
In that recent study of sexual desire, 52 percent of women who had gone through menopause were more likely to have low desire, while only 27 percent of premenopausal women reported low libido. The researchers estimated that at least 16 million women 50 and older had a low sex drive, while about four million felt distress over having low desire.
Aging.
Family problems and stress.
Depression and anxiety.
Trauma in your past.
You can live with low libido, but why should you? Sex can bring pleasure to both you and your partner and make you feel closer, so it’s worth trying to heighten your sex drive if it’s low. That may mean opening the lines of communication with your partner, talking to your doctor about physical causes of low sex drive, and possibly seeing a certified sex therapist. The good news is that there are steps you can take to rekindle your sex drive and enjoy sexual activity again.
Learn more in the Everyday Health Sexual Health Center.
Thursday, January 30, 2020