Stress is not good, and all of us know that. But, while it can affect your health and wellbeing. It can affect your mindset, and yes, it can even affect your relationships. Yes, sex and burnout are closely related and can ruin your relationship.
Yes, stress is not just mental. “It can affect many different body systems and do damage if a person is under chronic stress.” says Jennifer Wider, who is a well-known women’s’ health expert. You won’t believe it, but high-stress levels can wreak havoc in your immune system and can leave you vulnerable to chronic conditions like cancer as well.
And more importantly, it will not let you chill out either. It reduces your sex drive considerably. If you have been suffering from a high stress, you are likely to begin finding your sex life suffer. This will further add up to more stress levels.
How are Sex and Burnout Related?
There are several ways stress can affect your sex drive. We will try to understand it further.
You have two nervous systems
Humans have two nervous systems. One of them is the Sympathetic nervous system, and the other is the Parasympathetic nervous system. When you face challenges, you make use of the sympathetic nervous system. That your body experiences a stress response. As a result, your heartbeat rises, your palms sweat, and you begin feeling a strange sort of discomfort. This is your body’s support mechanism to give you enough energy to face the issue or run away from the actual problem. Once the problem is solved, the parasympathetic nervous system comes into action, and your stress is gone.
However, if you are in a continuous level of stress, the sympathetic nervous system gets somewhat stuck. Your body begins working overtime, and thus the brakes (well, we mean the parasympathetic nervous system) don’t ever come int the picture.
When it comes to your sexuality, it is much more dependent upon the parasympathetic nervous system. Now that you are under stress, your sympathetic nervous system is at play, and you fail to get into the mood. Simply put, sex and stress do not go hand in hand. This study provides a better insight into the effects of stress on the sexual life of the medical students.
Hormonal Changes
When you are under stress, your body produces more amount of cortisol. This is a stress hormone and has the same construction as the Testosterone – the male sex hormone. Thus along with the increased production of the sex hormone, the production of testosterone reduces.
As per Haakon Aars, testosterone is much needed for the right amount of sex drive in both men and women. Thus the reduction of testosterone results in a considerable reduction in the sex drive.
Increased levels of Absence of mind
Sex requires closeness. When stress hormones are released, you will find that your closeness is replaced by the absence of mind. That would mean you will not be able to concentrate on anything around you. You are never interested in anything or anyone around you.
Like we already know, stress activates the sympathetic nervous system, and thus you are in a fight or flight mode. This can make you become aggressive with your partner. The same people you always wanted to hang out with will appear to be an annoyance. This further causes an increased distance between the romantic partners.
How can Stress be addressed?
Want to take control of your stress and improve your sex drive? The right option would be to take appropriate action. Remember – you need to sort this out as a team rather than as an individual.
Some tips in that direction can be
Talk and Talk enough
Talk about your stress with your partner. There is nothing to be ashamed about it. Every one of us experiences stress. Talk about the things and resolve the matter. That would perhaps help you get your libido back.
Sort out the stress together
The stress can better be handled when you work with it as a team. This will help you find the answers in a better manner. In fact, your thought process is limited enough when you are under stress. The right way to beat stress and avoid it affecting your sex life can be with the assistance of your partner.
Get your Brake system back in action
By brake system, we mean the parasympathetic nervous system. Activating your brake system will involve a lot off efforts. In fact, the more attempts you put into being together, you would be able to fight the stress more effectively. Kisses and cuddles can be extremely helpful in achieving those goals.
Focus on the sensation rather than on sex
The touch has been observed to be a powerful stress buster, and you do not need to focus on sex alone to achieve that. Remember, when you hug someone, you will cause the release of Oxytocin hormone. Take time to cuddle and hug.
Hold hands together. You can even consider a partner massage which can act as a great stress buster. The closeness and touch can bring that much-needed relax and induce a feeling of intimacy. This can ultimately increase the levels of closeness and then can lead to sex.
Well, stress and burnout can be a massive killer for your libido and closeness. Take a few precautionary measures, and you can be assured of achieving the best possible sexual drive and bring it out of the clutches of the stress.
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