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"Women's sexual desire gets stronger after giving birth." "Women who are muscular and skinny tend to have a stronger sexual desire." Are these perceptions about sexual desire correct? When it comes to libido, both men and women are controlled by testosterone, the male hormone. Testosterone is produced in men's testicles or women's ovaries and adrenal gland. The reason why men tend to have a stronger sexual desire in the morning than in the evening and women tend to do so during their ovulation period is that their testosterone level reaches its peak during these periods.
An appropriate level of estrogen, the female hormone, is also needed to have a satisfactory sex life. The two hormones do not function as opposites: in many cases, they are mutually complementary. For example, lack of testosterone can lead to depression, feelings of helplessness and problems with sexual functions for women, and such symptoms worsen when their estrogen level is abnormal. In treating them, increasing only one of them does not help. "Estrogen helps people think clearly and makes them patient and gentle, and it increases the amount of blood which moves to external genitals, facilitating production of lubricating fluids in the vagina and expansion of the vagina," UNI Woman Clinic president Lim Pil-bin says. "When estrogen declines due to severe stress, it leads to reduced desire and it makes people violent and anxious."
The level of hormone does not determine women's sexual desire. "Women who are healthy both in terms of body and mind, active in their sex life and satisfied with their sex partners are in the normal range in terms of testosterone level, but those who are not are in the very low range or the lower end of the normal range," says Prof. Yoon Ha-na, a urologist at Ewha Woman's University's Mokdong Hospital. "A high level of testosterone in women, however, does not absolutely lead to a stronger sexual desire because there are a variety of other factors to consider, such as cultural and emotional backgrounds, their way of thinking and environment."
Medication can play a role in reducing women's sexual desire. When they take contraceptives for too long, estrogen and testosterone produced by their ovaries decline, which reduces their sexual desire and causes vaginal dryness. Anti-depressants do the same. Depression itself can be a cause for reduced sexual desire, but taking anti-depressants produces the same effect and makes women suffer difficulties having orgasms.
Women who are breast-feeding their newborns tend to avoid having sex with their husbands. Breast-feeding mothers produce prolactin in their pituitary gland, which restricts ovary functions, reduces sexual desire and suppresses ovulation. When someone says "Women's sexual desire gets stronger after giving birth to a baby," they are both right and wrong: it depends on individuals. In addition, lack of sleep, relationship problems between wife and husband and a complex about your new body shape can suppress women's sexual desire.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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