By Pip Reed
Director and Co-Founder of The Health Clinic
Have your bedroom activities consisted of more intimacy with your pajamas than your loved one lately? Are you going to bed before your partner so you don’t have to come up with yet another excuse for why you’re not in the mood? Are you wondering how to reignite that chemistry, but just don’t have the energy?
Your hormones may be to blame, and they may not just be holding you back in the bedroom.
Our hormones affect every aspect of our wellbeing: our mood, energy, drive, motivation, ability to lose weight, how we interact with people, our attitude, stress levels, metabolism, our libido, and our performance. If this delicate balance of sex hormones (oestrogen, testosterone, progesterone), stress hormones (cortisol), and thyroid hormones are out, it inevitably starts to impact every area of our life and can lead to some serious health issues and lack-lustre performance.
These hormones play a vital role in ensuring we are able to meet daily demands and expectations placed on both ourselves and our loved ones, and even a slight imbalance can cause a ripple effect.
An imbalance in your sex hormones, for example, will affect you externally, with skin issues such as jawline and chin acne being a sign and symptom of an imbalance often associated with excess testosterone and/or oestrogen, whereas weight gain or stagnant weight loss in particular areas of the body, such as the mid-section, or the hips and thighs will often indicate a lack of progesterone and excess oestrogen and cortisol. This telling distribution of weight can certainly indicate something going on internally, including Polycystic Ovaries or Endometriosis – conditions found in women of all ages affecting their quality of life, and certainly their performance.
Men with sex hormone deficiencies may see external signs such as ‘man boobs’, excess weight around the midsection, and even premature balding. Internally, they may be suffering an androgen deficiency which often results in a lack-lustre sex drive and decrease in libido, leading to all types of insecurities, embarrassment, and that ‘mid-life crisis’ syndrome we’ve all heard of, where in an effort to rediscover their once youthful selves, men and women go in search of something bigger and better to make themselves feel worthy again, ending relationships, quitting jobs, and making poor life decisions, all in a bid to find that drive they once had in abundance.
Instead of searching externally for possessions and experiences they hope will make them feel like their old selves, they should be first looking internally as to what might be going on with their hormones with a trusted health practitioner. They may just find a very simple solution that does not include the use of drugs and/or synthetic hormones, but instead focuses on repairing the stress response, rebalancing the sex hormones and assisting the thyroid hormones through natural holistic practices, which will all result in weight loss, muscle gain (if lacking testosterone), improved libido, better sleep, less PMS symptoms, more stable moods, better performance, and improved relationships.
Treatment may include a tailored diet plan to reduce oestrogen, such as a vegetarian and grain free diet; specific supplements to enable the body to naturally increase hormone production; exercise regimes designed to boost testosterone; and lifestyle changes to assist natural healing through sleep and reduced stress.
If a lack of sex drive is something causing issues in your life, then perhaps it’s about time you delve deeper into what’s really going on, and where else in your life is lacking in performance. It might just be you, not your partner after all.
