When stressed, sex is a great way to boost your mood. It makes you feel loved, connected and your body releases oxytocin, which is the love and cuddle hormone that makes you feel happy and uplifted after sex. However, the very stress you may try to take a break and escape from also decreases sexual performance in both men and women. For women in particular, stress and worry is a hamper for orgasming during sex.
When stressed, your hormones are extremely imbalanced and that can affect your sex life as well.
Reasons behind the hormonal imbalance.
When stressed, cortisol and adrenaline are running high in your body. You’re unable to relax, highly worried and very restless. Moreover, the production of feel-good hormones such as serotonin and oxytocin reduce. High levels of cortisol can lead to blood vessels being constricted and high levels of mental alertness, both of which make it harder to orgasm. Even the presence of sex related hormones, estrogen and testosterone reduce. This hormonal imbalance with increased stress means you’re unable to relax and fully enjoy sex.
Why stress is stopping women from enjoying an orgasm
Performance related stress. There is always an element of performance that can cause stress. This brings an extra element of stress into sexual activity. However, when worried about performance and all the thoughts that come with it, it is very difficult to enjoy yourself and reach orgasm. Past sexual experiences and performance issues including the inability to orgasm previously may cause further stress and tension during sex. As a result, you enjoy it less and are unable to orgasm.
Your brain is busy. Your brain is your biggest sex organ. It sends messages to all your nerve endings, blood vessels and helps you enjoy sex. When stressed, your brain is all over the place. It’s working on overdrive, feeling frazzled and may be super distracted as well, trying to balance your body. As a result, your ability to focus on arousal, pleasure and ultimately, the ability to orgasm suffers.
Fear of vulnerability. Sex is a very emotional and deeply intimate experience. You are as close to a person as possible and that also leads to feelings of vulnerability. You feel vulnerable and exposed while having sex and your mind is on overdrive to try and come to terms with that fear. Vulnerability can even cause self-esteem or body image issues which increases stress. It brings a fear of rejection and you’re unable to enjoy sex due to the lack of condifence. This can also hamper your ability to orgasm. Furthermore, that sense of vulnerability can manifest itself as stress in the body and lead to your muscles tightening and blood flow rising. As a result, it may be difficult to experience an orgasm.
Stress reduces your sex drive, makes your brain restless and doesn’t allow you to relax. As a result, when having sex you’re unable to enjoy it fully and experience an orgasm. Stress is stopping your joy and in order to overcome it, it’s ideal to know how can you increase your sex drive and destress at the end of a long day.
Evolve helps you proactively manage stress and provides instant stress relief. The Evolve app is now live globally on Android & Apple, click here to try for free!
