Stress and Your Libido

As a mom, you know that motherhood is no easy feat. While it is truly a blessing and the best thing to ever happen to you, the chaos and stress surrounding motherhood is incalculable and never ending! Between your kids and your partner, it's hard to take some time for yourself to rewind and relax. Stress is a huge part of any mom's life, but it can also affect another part of your life: your libido.

According to Mayo Clinic, a woman's sex drive is based on a complex interaction of many components that affect intimacy, like your physical well-being, emotional well-being, past experiences, your beliefs, your lifestyle and your current relationship. Stress can easily cause any of those to get off kilter, which is why it is one of the biggest factors in your libido.

Any kind of financial, work, lifestyle or relationship stress can cause a low sex drive. Here are a couple reasons why:

1. Stress response:

Stress response is basically when you're faced with a stressful situation, whether you stay and fight the stress or run away from the stress. If your stress isn't reversed, it can lead to chronic stress and interfere with hormones involved in your libido. But when you fight and reverse the stress, your libido soars. You can reverse stress by employing stress relievers like breathing techniques, meditation, or even working out! (via About Health)

2. Busy lifestyle:

It's no secret that a busy lifestyle can lead to stress. But how does it lead to a low libido? Because of your busy lifestyle, you have little downtime. Your energy is almost completely drained by the end of every day. Your busy mind makes it hard for you to relax, which therefore takes a toll on your sex drive. Sex with your partner that is necessary for a healthy relationship just seems like another task on your to-do list. To combat this, try cutting out unnecessary things in your schedule to make room for what really matters instead of mindless matter that no one benefits from. (via About Health)

3. Relationship stress:

This might be the most taxing form of libido-lowering stress. Conflict in your relationship can cause all sorts of problems in the bedroom. And because both men and women say they are affected by their partner's libido, one person's low libido could mean a low sex drive for the other person as well. The solution here is obviously to work out the stresses in your relationship the best you can. Sometimes just giving the effort is enough to get your libido back up. (via About Health)

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