Sleeping disorders are on the rise. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveyed people in 1985 and in 2004, asking how many hours of sleep they got per night. In just 20 years, the amount of sleep has significantly decreased. Today, over a quarter of Americans under 65 years old sleep 6 hours or less a night. It is reported that 50 to 70 million Americans currently suffer chronically from some type of sleeping disorder [1]. On another note, sexual dysfunction affects 43% of women and 31% of men [2]. Could there be a link?
One recent study looked at women in college to determine how much the amount of sleep affected their s.e.x.ual desires [3]. 171 women were given questionnaires every day for two weeks, which closely monitored their sleep the night before, their s.e.x.ual desires, their s.e.x.ual activity and sexual distress. The researchers found that the women?s s.e.x.ual desires and likelihood of s.e.x.ual activity increased 14% for every additional hour of sleep that they got. These results held true even considering emotional ups and downs, age, menstruation, s.e.x.ual distress, and fatigue.
What this suggests is that sleep directly affects s.e.x. In my mind, this makes perfect sense. When we sleep, everything up to our neurotransmitters have a chance to be repaired and restored. Without at least 7-8 hours of sleep, they are not able to get that reboot. For a thriving s.e.x.ual appetite, the body needs all systems to be in tip-top shape ? s.e.x. relies on more than just the production of hormones. Your brain is deeply involved in the process as well. If the brain and neurotransmitters aren?t healthy, the s.e.x.ual desires won?t be healthy.
For instance, let?s say a man and a woman are completely in love. They are both well-educated, high-ranking executives. They decide to have sex while the woman is working on a longterm, stressful, time-consuming case. Since she gets only 3-5 hours of sleep a night doing case research, she has issues with her neurotransmitters that cause severe anxiety surrounding several issues: her body image ? she won?t let him see her naked at all, human touch ? she refuses to have their skin touch even during s.e.x., and sexually transmitted diseases?she has an obsessive compulsive fear of getting terrible STDs even through kissing. Even though this woman is a well-educated person, the lack of sleep tricks her brain into thinking that something beautiful is now something terrible.
Tips for Good Sleep
Since enough sleep is necessary for arousal and good sex, it?s important to pinpoint the reasons the amount or the quality of sleep are poor. Sleep may not always be as easy as ?lying down and closing your eyes.? For many, the bed serves too many purposes. A work space, a table, a movie seat. The brain no longer associates it with just sleeping and having sex. A good recommendation is to not use electronics in bed, and to not let pets interfere with your sleep.
Now as for the act of sleeping, here are a couple of simple guidelines that will make a peaceful slumber easier to attain. Sleep should occur in accordance with your body?s inner clock. We have a circadian rhythm that helps us know when it?s best to sleep. Although it would be nice if we could change this and become nocturnal when necessary, the fact of the matter is that it?s best for our bodies to go to sleep with the sun and wake up with the sun. Even though this idea isn?t popular in our club- and bar-filled society, it is what our body is designed to do. While the number of hours are important, the time you get that shut-eye is also essential to quality.
When you are sleeping (at the appropriate hours or not), make sure excess light doesn?t come into the room. When our bodies sense light, the chemicals react like it?s time to get up. Studies show that women have a much larger chance of getting breast cancer if they sleep in a room with light seeping in or live in an area with bright lights at night. And beware of the night shift! Women who regularly work nights are 60% more likely to get breast cancer [4].
Sleeping Issues
Bad sex can be caused by many things, but since a huge culprit is sleep, let?s take a look at some reasons we are not sleeping well. Poor sleep is often caused by hormonal imbalance, toxicity, or insufficient nutrients. If you are having trouble sleeping, the problem may be a hormonal imbalance. If the hormones are out of whack, it is often difficult to get to sleep or else the imbalance will wake you up every night in the middle of the night. The hormones must be balanced. Next, toxins can wreak havoc on your sleep. If the body is dealing with toxicity, alcohol abuse or drug abuse, you may not see much quality sleep. Many people think that drinking alcohol or smoking pot will help s.e.x.ual function and then help sleep as well. However, drinking helps neither and marijuana can actually depress the frequency of s.e.x.ual activity. The last common cause of poor sleep is nutritional deficiency, which plays a big part in the sleep equation. Without proper vitamins and minerals, you may be prone to insomnia. On top of that, nutritional deficiency can also affect the ability to make and repair neurotransmitters. Without proper neurotransmitters, the a healthy amount of s.e.x.ual desires can be completely off.
If you experience sleeping problems or low libido, you should see a physician to find the root cause of the issue. Both of these conditions can be big red flags to let you know that something else is wrong in the body. While they are often connected, there may be an initial reason that one or the other became unbalanced. If you would like to learn more about your s.e.x.ual desires, sleep, or the way that they?re related, call today for an appointment. We will take as much time as necessary to see you, answer your questions and examine your specific issues. There will never be a better time than now to get great sleep and great s.e.x.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK19961/
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=188762
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsm.12858/full
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/19/AR20080…