If you stop having sex – be that the result of a breakup, a dry spell or if you’ve decided you want to be celibate – you could experience some changes in your body.
Now, all bodies are different, people have different sex drives and everyone has different needs.
With that caveat out of the way, here are a few potential side effects to having less sex, and unfortunately, women appear to get the short end of the stick.
You might feel sad
Sex is about physical contact, and if you don’t get that regularly, it could lead to you feeling low.
Sex therapist, Sari Cooper, said: “When people have sex, they’re usually having skin-to-skin contact, and this kind of contact is the first primal way we as humans get comforted (as babies with our mothers).
“Sexual connection give partners loads of skin-to-skin caressing and touch, and can help to regulate one another’s moods — generally through the release of the feel-good hormone oxytocin.”
A woman’s vaginal wall may weaken
Mainly applied to women going through menopause, reducing the amount of sex they have could cause the walls of the vagina to become thin, leading to pain when engaging in sex.
Less lubrication down there
A decrease in oestrogen levels could lead to your vagina struggling to lubricate itself properly.
Period pain
Having sex during your period lessens menstrual cramps. Having less sex could mean more painful cramps.
It could increase stress levels
Having sex could decrease stress levels, according to the NHS. If you’re already having sex to relieve this, suddenly stopping could actually make you more stressed.
Your risk for erectile dysfunction, um, rises
Use it or lose it: Men who have sex infrequently are twice as likely to experience erectile dysfunction as men who do it once a week or more, according to a study published in the American Journal of Medicine. The study’s authors suggest that, since the penis is a muscle, frequent sex may help preserve potency in a similar way that physical exercise helps maintain strength. Use it or lose it: Men who have sex infrequently are twice as likely to experience erectile dysfunction as men who do it once a week or more, according to a study published in the American Journal of Medicine. The study’s authors suggest that, since the penis is a muscle, frequent sex may help preserve potency in a similar way that physical exercise helps maintain strength.
But there’s a silver lining…
One common way women get urinary tract infections is having sex. Less sex means less UTIs.
(Reader’s Digest)
