How the Holidays Hurt Your Sex Drive

Dec. 22, 2012— -- Ladies, does all of the cooking, baking, shopping, entertaining, wrapping, and decorating associated with good holiday cheer leave you too jingle-jangled to be naughty OR nice? If so, here's some good news: There's probably nothing seriously wrong with you if you prefer catching some shut-eye to knocking boots this time of year. The main factors contributing to low sex drive in women -- including younger woman -- seem to intensify during the craziness of the holidays.

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Sex Drive Killers

"There's no doubt that some women experience low or no desire, and that this troubles them. That said, we need to be more critical about lumping women into low or no desire groups, particularly as some women are not distressed by their lack of desire," explains sex expert Debby Herbenick, PhD, research scientist at Indiana University and author of Because It Feels Good (Rodale, 2009). "They may not have a particularly warm or kind partner, or they may be very stressed about work or family, or exhausted as they care for a newborn, and may well realize that there are times in life when sex takes a temporary backseat for a good reason."

Contrary to what you may see on TV, a lull in sexual desire isn't always a crisis. "We should challenge ideas that suggest that women or men should always want lots of sex, all the time," Herbenick says.

In a 2010 study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, researchers looked at 400 premenopausal women age 18 or older with low sexual desire disorder. (The researchers estimate that seven to 12 percent of the female population lives with decreased sexual desire and associated distress.) In the study, it turned out that 85 percent of the low-sex-drive women cited multiple factors for their low drive. Here are the main culprits.

1. Stress or fatigue (60 percent of study participants said these factors contribute to low sex drive)

2. Dissatisfaction with personal appearance (41 percent)

3. Sexual difficulties, including problems reaching orgasm (34 percent)

The study authors conclude that boosting self-esteem, along with reducing fatigue and stress, could significantly fire up a woman's sex life.

Holiday Relationship Rescue

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