It’s completely normal for women to experience fluctuations in libido throughout different stages of life. However, when a consistently low sex drive starts to affect your well-being and relationships, it’s important to take the time to explore the underlying causes. Hormonal changes, stress, medications, and lifestyle factors can all play a role. Here are some of the most common reasons for low libido in women and insights on how to restore balance and regain a healthy sense of desire.
Causes of Low Libido
Physical Causes
A wide range of illnesses, physical changes, and medications can cause a low sex drive, including:
- Sexual problems: If you have pain during sex or can’t orgasm, it can reduce your desire for sex.
- Medical diseases: Many nonsexual diseases can affect sex drive, including arthritis, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, chronic pain, and neurological diseases.
- Medications: Certain prescription drugs, especially antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, are known to lower the sex drive. Birth control pills and blood pressure medication can also lower libido as a side effect.
- Lifestyle habits: A glass of wine may put you in the mood, but too much alcohol can affect your sex drive. The same is true of street drugs. Also, smoking decreases blood flow, which may dull arousal.
- Surgery: Any surgery related to your breasts or genital tract can affect your body image, sexual function, and desire for sex.
- Fatigue: Chronic fatigue and poor sleep can drain your energy and reduce libido. Lack of sleep affects your mood, hormone levels, and overall well-being, making it harder to feel interested in intimacy. Exhaustion from caring for young children or aging parents can also contribute, or fatigue from illness or surgery can play a role in a low sex drive.
What You Can Do: If you suspect your medication is affecting your libido, you can talk to your doctor about alternative options. While it’s important to treat underlying medical conditions properly, adjusting medications can often make a significant difference. For fatigue and poor sleep, establishing a healthy sleep routine and addressing underlying sleep disorders can boost your energy levels, which can improve your desire for intimacy.
Hormonal Changes
Hormones play a significant role in regulating libido. Fluctuations in estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone levels can lead to a drop in sexual desire. Major life stages like pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause, and menopause are common times when hormone-related libido changes occur.
- Menopause: Estrogen levels decrease during the transition to menopause. This can make you less interested in sex and cause dry vaginal tissues, resulting in painful or uncomfortable sex. Although many women still have satisfying sex during menopause and beyond, some experience a lagging libido during this hormonal change.
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding: Hormone changes during pregnancy, just after having a baby and during breastfeeding can put a damper on sex drive. Fatigue, changes in body image, and the pressures of pregnancy or caring for a new baby also can contribute to changes in your sexual desire.
What You Can Do: Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) can help restore balance and reduce discomfort. Consulting with a certified hormone replacement provider is crucial to determine the best course of treatment for your needs.
Psychological Causes
Your emotional well-being and mental health can affect your sexual desire. How you feel about your body can have a major impact on your sexual confidence, and weight changes, scars, or physical changes from aging or pregnancy may lead to self-consciousness, which can reduce interest in intimacy. There are many psychological causes of low sex drive, including:
- Mental health, such as anxiety or depression
- High levels of stress, such as financial stress or work stress
- Poor body image
- Low self-esteem
- Body image concerns
- History of physical or sexual abuse
- Previous negative sexual experiences
What You Can Do: Prioritize self-care, seek therapy, and practice stress management techniques such as mindfulness, meditation, or yoga. Build self-confidence through healthy lifestyle changes, counseling, or self-care routines to help improve your body image and reignite your libido.
Relationship Issues
For many women, emotional closeness is essential to sexual intimacy, so any problems in your relationship can be a major factor in low sex drive. Decreased interest in sex is often a result of ongoing issues, such as:
- Lack of connection with your partner: Poor communication of sexual needs/preferences or an overall lack of emotional connection can contribute to a reduced interest in intimacy.
- Unresolved conflicts or fights: Contributing to the overall emotional health of the relationship, sometimes relationship problems can result in trust issues and the lack of desire for physical closeness.
What You Can Do: Make sure you communicate your needs regularly to foster open and honest communication. Resolving conflicts early on once each individual is calm can prevent resentment from building. Couples counseling may also be beneficial for relationship-related concerns.
How Can BHRT Help?
Some of the abovementioned causes of low libido will require medication or lifestyle adjustments, but another effective solution for low libido due to hormonal shifts and imbalances during perimenopause and menopause is bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT). Here’s how BHRT can help improve libido in women:
- Restores Estrogen Levels: Estrogen plays a key role in sexual health by maintaining vaginal lubrication, blood flow, and overall arousal. BHRT can help replenish estrogen levels, making intimacy more comfortable and pleasurable.
- Boosts Testosterone: Testosterone is essential for female libido, as low testosterone levels in women can lead to reduced sexual desire, fatigue, and difficulty achieving orgasm. Bioidentical testosterone can help restore energy, improve mood, and enhance sexual interest.
- Balances Progesterone: Progesterone helps regulate mood and sleep, both of which can impact libido. BHRT can help balance progesterone levels, promoting relaxation and overall well-being.
- Improves Mood and Reduces Stress: By stabilizing hormone levels, BHRT can help improve emotional well-being, making it easier to feel connected and interested in intimacy.
- Increases Energy and Vitality: BHRT helps optimize hormone levels, leading to better energy, motivation, and an improved sense of well-being.
With the right balance of estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone, women often experience an increase in sexual responsiveness, making intimacy more satisfying and enjoyable.
If you’re experiencing persistent low libido along with symptoms like fatigue, mood swings, or vaginal dryness, BHRT may be a good option for you. A consultation with Julie, a board-certified family nurse practitioner and Worldlink Medical-certified advanced BHRT provider, can help determine if bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is the right approach for you.
A low libido can feel frustrating and even isolating, but it’s important to remember that you’re not alone, and there are solutions available. Understanding the possible causes is the first step toward improving your sexual health and overall well-being. Whatever the reason, we’d love to help you create a personalized plan to restore your libido and enhance your quality of life.
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