Secret Libido Killers

Sex drive dragging? One of these may be the culprit.

Your pill prescription

Oral contraceptives decrease your body's production of estrogen and testosterone, two hormones that directly influence your level of sexual interest. As a result, some women on birth-control pills feel less of an urge to get busy. If you experience this, check in with your gyno and ask her to prescribe a Pill with a different hormone combination.

Feeling uptight

When you're anxious, your body releases stress hormones into your bloodstream, which can shut down desire in many women. Tension also has a psychological impact on your interest in sex.

Boozing it up

Sure, a few cocktails can make you feel frisky at first. But alcohol is a depressant, meaning that after a few hours, it slows bodily functions—including your ability to become aroused and be in the mood for physical fun with your guy.

Source: Marjorie Green, MD, Clinical Instructor at Harvard Medical School and Advisory-Board Member of the Women's Sexual Health Foundation in Cincinnati

- from Cosmopolitan Magazine, October 2008

Want Better Sex?

Just a few meditation sessions can jack up your sex drive and speed arousal, say researchers at Canada's University of British Columbia and Israel's Hadassah University Hospital. They measured reactions among 24 women watching an erotic film, then again after the subjects had attended three mindfulness meditation courses. Watching the same movie, the women were markedly more turned on than during the first viewing.

"Mindfulness can directly change brain processing and allow women to experience arousal more acutely," says study coauthor Lori Brotto, PhD.

- from Prevention Magazine, December 2008

More information:

• Mindfulness in Plain English
  • read online or via a free eBook
  • no signup required

  • This is a meditation manual, a nuts-and-bolts, step-by-step guide to Insight meditation. It is meant to be practical. It is meant for use.

• How to do Mindfulness Meditation
• Mindfulness Meditation