How Does Stress Affect a Woman’s Sexual Health?
You must have heard a couple of times that stress is not healthy. Unfortunately, it doesn’t affect only your physical and mental health; it can also negatively affect your sexual health.
From worrying about financial issues to family-related problems, women deal with so many concerns that can impact their sexual health and potentially cause relationship or marital issues.
When stressed, the body focuses on enhancing the essential functions that are vital for survival, such as increased heart rate and blood flow, while paying less attention to non-crucial functions like sexual intercourse.
According to a 2017 study published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry, women are vulnerable to stress and trauma-related disorders, and the female sex hormones estradiol and progesterone play a significant role in this. Another study that assessed the impact of it and workload among physician residents in training found that stress negatively affected most women physicians’ sexual health domains, such as arousal, desire, and satisfaction.
This leads to the question, “How exactly does it affect a woman’s sexual health?” This article will answer that question in detail.
How can it reduce libido in women?
Impact of Stress on Sexual Health
There are different ways sex can affect a woman’s sexual life, such as:
1. Psychological effects
Stress can cause you to be busy and disorient or distract your mind. Trying to have sex amid distractions may not work because it either reduces your desire for sex or makes you mentally and emotionally absent during sex.
Stress can affect your mood. It can lead to depression and anxiety, which can significantly reduce libido.
2. Physiological effects
One of the significant ways stress can affect a female’s sex life is through hormones. Chronic stress can trigger the release of cortisol and epinephrine hormones, reducing sex drive.
This can also affect your menstrual cycle, putting you off the mood for sex. Worries can prevent you from climaxing and make it harder to reach orgasm because a higher production of cortisol reduces your interest in sex, making it harder for you to focus on your arousal.
3. Lifestyle changes
Suppose you don’t deal with your stressors (the things causing you stress), and they overwhelm you. In that case, you might end up picking up unhealthy habits such as emotional eating or overeating, smoking, drinking, and another poor lifestyle as a way to take your mind away from the stressors.
These poor and unhealthy lifestyle choices can affect how you look and your self-esteem, which can interfere with your once-healthy sex life.
4. Metabolic changes
Stress can indirectly affect a woman’s sexual health through metabolism. The hormone released when the body is stressed can impact metabolism (chemical processes that convert food to energy).
When your metabolism is negatively affected by stress, it can cause weight changes. You might end up not feeling good about your new weight. When you don’t feel good about your body, it reduces your interest in sex and makes you not want to engage in sexual activity.
Four Ways to Cope with Stress to Improve Your Sexual Health
Luckily there are things you can do about your stress-related sexual health issue. If you put in the time and effort, you can minimize stress and improve your sexual life with your partner. You may want to consider the following sexual health tips:
1. Manage your stress and sexual health
- One way to cope with stress is by practicing stress management.
- You can do this using effective relaxation techniques such as meditation, aromatherapy, and breathing exercise.
- Getting a massage and doing yoga. Talking with a therapist specializing in stress management can also help you identify the best coping techniques for you.
2. Practise self-care
You won’t feel good about having sex or enjoy sex if you don’t feel good about yourself. This is why you must practice self-care. Practicing self-care involves adopting a healthy lifestyle, such as exercising, eating good food, getting good sleep, reading books to strengthen your mind, practicing relaxation techniques, and giving your occasional body treats.
3. Do things together with your partner.
No matter how busy you are, it would help to make time for your partner, as this helps strengthen the bond you share with them. Sex is not the only thing you can do with your partner. You can cook together, exercise together, cuddle with each other, go for massages and go shopping together. It helps maintain intimacy while you seek help for improving your sexual health.
4. Work on your relationship
Stress and sexual health – Studies have shown that relationship stress may affect a person’s sexual health more than other types of stress. So you need to examine your relationship. Are you having conflicts with your partner always? Disputes with your lover can cause emotional, physical, and psychological stress, affecting your sexual health. It would help if you talked to your partner
about seeing a relationship/marriage therapist. It is essential to talk things through with your partner because a decline in sexual performance often affects relationships.
If you continue experiencing a decline in your sexual performance even after practicing stress-coping mechanisms and lifestyle changes, you should consider booking an appointment with your gynecologist.
This is to rule out any underlying condition affecting your sexual health and help you get the best suitable treatment.
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