It’s impossible to call your whole-body plan for your health complete until you’re taking care of your sexual health as well. Yes, this definitely means having safe sex, getting tested for STDs, and visiting your doctor on a regular basis. However, it’s important to realize that maintaining your sexual health is also about embracing your sexuality, getting to know yourself as a sexual being, and embracing what you learn about yourself in the process. Let’s take a closer look at what you should know to get where you want to be.
Great Sex, Healthy Body
Sex doesn’t just feel incredibly good on multiple levels. Having truly satisfying sex (and plenty of it) is actually phenomenal for your health, sexual and otherwise. The following are just a few of the many ways it helps you build and support a healthy body.
Stronger Immune System: According to research, people who have sex at least once or twice a week take fewer sick days off of work. They’re also less likely to be incapacitated by an illness when they do get sick. This is because their bodies show higher levels of an antibody that protects the body from disease.
Healthier Heart: Like all physical activity, sex is great for your heart and can lower your risk of developing heart disease or having a heart attack. It also helps balance your body’s levels of both testosterone and estrogen, making you less likely to develop additional conditions like osteoporosis.
Better Pain Management: An orgasm triggers the release of multiple feel-good hormones within your system. Among these are natural painkillers that can make it easier to manage conditions like arthritis, chronic back pain, and persistent headaches.
More Restful Sleep: There’s a reason why you often feel the urge to enjoy a quick nap after a particularly satisfying roll in the hay.
Orgasms cause your body to release prolactin, which in turn makes a nice, restorative snooze seem like the best idea in the world. Sleep enjoyed after sex tends to be deeper and more restful for that reason.
Lower Stress Levels: In today’s fast-paced world, stress is a bigger problem than ever, but an active sex life can definitely take the edge off. Being so close and connected to a partner helps trigger the release of endorphins, as well as activates your brain’s reward system. Sex is also amazing for your mood, your self-esteem, and your body image.
Having plenty of amazing sex is good for your libido as well. The more you have, the more you’ll want to have, and the more health benefits you’ll continue to enjoy.
Low Sex Drive: What to Do
If a healthy sex life and active libido can be correlated to good health, what does it mean if you have little to no sex drive? Does it signal a health issue or mean that there’s something wrong with you? A low or non-existent sex drive definitely doesn’t mean you’re “broken”. However, you shouldn’t simply assume you’re just “wired that way”. In fact, you may be doing yourself a disservice by not at least investigating the reasons behind an apparent lack of libido.
Health Issues: A sudden or unexplained lack of libido may be a sign that something isn’t right with a person’s health. It’s definitely worth ruling out disease or an underlying condition with a checkup and perhaps some blood work. Common culprits include but are not limited to diabetes, depression, cancer, and heart disease.
Fitness and Nutrition: A sedentary lifestyle, poor nutrition, or both can definitely affect libido, among many other things. If you know you could stand to eat better or exercise more often, a lagging libido may be a sign that it’s officially time to take action. In many cases, people notice their sex drive getting higher as they become healthier and get into increasingly better shape.
Experimentation: It’s normal to settle into a routine to at least some extent as you age, especially if you’ve been in a relationship for a long time. Don’t make the mistake of thinking experimentation has to stop once you’ve settled down though. Sometimes jump starting a low libido is as simple as trying something new in the bedroom. Try giving roleplaying a shot,
bring a sex toy into the bedroom, or sharing a few choice fantasies with your partner.
Sexual Self-Awareness: Getting in better touch with what truly turns you on mentally, as well as how your body needs to be touched in order to reach orgasm, is also sometimes all it takes to develop a stronger interest in sex. Masturbation and fantasy can be wonderful tools for becoming more self-aware sexually speaking and making sex itself much more enjoyable.
While everyone has the right to have sex or not as they please, the benefits of making sex a part of your life are too good not to at least consider. Explore the possibilities today, and see what happens.
