sex drive – Hello Doctor

How your weight affects your sex drive

February 28th, 2018 by The Hello Doctor Team

Not feeling in the mood lately? Your weight might be to blame.

Being overweight isn’t just an unpleasant experience because you can’t fit into your clothes. Extra body fat can lead to heart and other health problems. And, it can also affect your sex life.

For both men and women, high levels of body fat mean higher levels of a chemical called “sex hormone binding globulin”. When there’s too much, you may lose your sexual appetite.

Heavy weight, low sex-drive

Knowing the different ways sexual drive is affected by your weight can help motivate you to get into shape and teach you how to get it back.

Positions are a struggle

There’s no denying that sex is physical and one or both partners being overweight makes moving into different positions more difficult. This also affects how much pleasure you might feel, as certain positions may not be possible.

Climaxing isn’t guaranteed

When you’re overweight there’s a decrease in blood flow to your genitals because the extra weight makes your blood vessels narrow. Your genitals need proper blood flow to reach an orgasm. If you’re too thin, this can also affect your ability to climax, since it can affect testosterone and libido (sex drive) levels.

How it affects women

Being overweight can affect your pleasure button, ladies. Susan Kellogg, director of sexual medicine at the Pelvic and Sexual Health Institute of Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia, found that the width of the blood vessels leading to the clitoris (the area of the vagina most closely related to sexual response) are affected by blockages that impact blood flow. When this happens, a woman’s sexual desire lowers, making you feel less in the mood to get frisky.

Other conditions can be to blame

Weight gain plays a big role in both high cholesterol and insulin resistance (resistance to the hormone insulin, which leads to increased blood sugar) and both conditions have an impact on sexual performance, especially in men. These conditions can cause tiny arteries in the penis to shut down when vessels are clogged with too much fat. Erectile dysfunction (when a man can’t get or keep an erection firm enough for sexual intercourse) is often the unhappy result.

It may affect fertility

If you and your partner have been trying to get it on in the hopes of getting pregnant but are struggling, your weight may be the culprit. Your weight affects fertility because it influences the amount of oestrogen in your body, which is important when wanting to fall pregnant. It may prevent regular ovulation (when eggs are available to be fertilised by a male sperm) which causes you to release less oestrogen. On the other hand, being underweight may cause you to release less oestrogen which also hampers fertility. Both partners affect fertility though, as weight affects levels of testosterone, too.

Get back your drive

Although being overweight affects sexual performance and sex drive in many ways, the good news is that you can make some changes to help your libido.

You can:

Lose a little weight to stimulate sex hormones.
Eat more nutritious foods, which control cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
Exercise regularly to get blood flowing to your pelvic area.
Pick up a sexy novel or watch a sexy movie.
Accept your body at any size because feeling better about yourself helps.
Embrace your sensuality.

References:

What you need to know about testosterone

January 5th, 2018 by The Hello Doctor Team

Ever wondered why some guys are able to build rock solid muscles in no time and others (to their dismay) just can’t? One reason could be due to the amount of testosterone they produce. Testosterone is a sex hormone found in males and females, but it’s more prominent in men. Production starts to increase during puberty and dips after the age of 30.

This macho hormone helps with sperm production, helps male characteristics fully develop and plays an important role in the overall health of men. Here’s what you need to know about it:

Testosterone’s main jobs:

Helps with the growth of testes at puberty.
Controls male physical features.
Aids in the development of facial and pubic hair.
Helps build muscles and strong bones.
Deepens the voice.
Helps produce sperm.
Increases sexual drive.

Running low

The levels of testosterone in a man’s body fluctuate daily, and is usually at its peak in the morning. High or low levels can lead to dysfunction in parts of the body, which are normally regulated by this hormone.

As a man ages, his amount of testosterone naturally decreases, but in some cases, low testosterone can be caused by other issues:

An injury, infection or loss of the testicles
Too much iron in the body
Stress
Obesity
Alcoholism
Dysfunction of the pituitary gland (a gland in the brain that produces important hormones)
Kidney failure
Inflammatory diseases like sarcoidosis (a condition that causes inflammation of the lungs).

Low levels of testosterone causes different symptoms like

decreased sex drive
low energy levels
weight gain
moodiness
less body hair
low self-esteem.

Besides the symptoms, a depletion in this hormone can lead to serious health conditions like erectile dysfunction. This condition, also known as impotence, is when a male has an inability to get or keep an erection firm enough to have sexual intercourse. Although low levels of testosterone aren’t the only culprit for this dysfunction, it does play a role.

Treating testosterone issues

Intramuscular injections (injection directly in your muscles), given anywhere from every two weeks to every 10 weeks.
Testosterone cream applied down the sides of the neck down to the collarbone.
Long-acting subcutaneous pellet (provides a slow continuous release of hormone after being inserted into your buttocks or near your hip).
Clomiphene tablets which increase testosterone and sperm production in the testicles.

Good to know

Testosterone treatments are prescribed only for conditions where the hormone is low and not for age-related drops. Testosterone replacement therapy is also available, but you should talk to your doctor before making the decision to use it as there might be possible complications.

References:

Can depression affect my sex life?

October 14th, 2016 by The Hello Doctor Team

You feel sad, numb and listless, and your depression is starting to affect your partner. Your sex life is nearly non-existent and intimacy feels unreachable.

Feelings of sadness, hopelessness and helplessness are typical features of depression. These feelings can have an effect on your everyday life. If you’re depressed and have lost interest in sex, don’t worry – you are not alone. It’s important to understand that this lack of interest is as much a symptom of depression as feeling low. Continue reading “Can depression affect my sex life?”

Can eating apples improve a woman’s entire sexual experience?

August 8th, 2016 by The Hello Doctor Team

Apparently so! Just like you, we have no idea who comes up with some of these weird ideas for medical studies. But they happen, and the results are often surprising. Take this one for example: Continue reading “Can eating apples improve a woman’s entire sexual experience?”

Ladies, are you ready for your own blue pill?

January 14th, 2014 by The Hello Doctor Team

Is your low libido getting you, well, down? Are you getting anxious or is your relationship starting to take strain because of it? Don’t worry ladies, scientists are working on a new female Viagra that’s set to help boost your sex drive.

Continue reading “Ladies, are you ready for your own blue pill?”