Natural Ways to Address Stress and Libido
Thanks to an increasingly busy and intricate world, stress is a pervasive element in modern life. When you can't go anywhere without constant noise and traffic around you, it is no wonder. Stress affects the body in a wide variety of ways. It can affect your ability to focus. It can interfere with digestion. Tension from stress can cause aches and pains in the body. It can also interfere with relationships. It's no surprise that there also appears to be a direct link between stress and libido. Millions of people are constantly on the search for ways to relax, unwind and relieve stress.
The Effects of Stress on the Body
Stress affects the body more than most people realize. If you carry your stress in a certain location in your body, you could be tensing these muscles slightly without realizing it. This can lead to muscle aches and head aches. Stress can also upset your digestion. You may experience nausea, heartburn, diarrhea or constipation. You may find yourself easily fatigued or you may have difficulty getting to sleep at night. Excessive long-term stress can even lead to serious conditions like heart problems and diabetes.
The Connection Between Stress and Libido
Given the effects that stress has on the body, it is not difficult to draw the line connecting stress and libido. It is common for people to lose interest in sex when they are under a lot of stress. In the short-term, stress causes an increase in testosterone production. However, long-term stress will cause that increase to drop off significantly. This decrease results in lower sperm production and can even lead to erectile dysfunction or impotence. For women, stress can cause their menstrual cycles to become irregular or more painful. It can also exacerbate the symptoms of menopause.
Ways to Deal With and Reduce Stress
Meditation
Being able to be still and simply focus on one thing than on the myriad of things going on around us daily can give our minds the much-needed break that they deserve. It can also change your neural pathways in such a way as to make you more resilient to stress.
Exercise
Exercise helps you to get your blood moving and gives you a way to work off that excess fight or flight response. It also causes you to produce feel-good chemicals which can help to combat depression and anxiety.
Breathe
Doing a breathing exercise encourages you to simply focus on your breath. Like meditation, it can help clear the mind. It also encourages your body to slow down. It counter-acts the fight or flight response by slowing your heart and lowering your blood pressure.
Laughter
Laughter can lighten your mood. It gives you something to focus on rather than yourself and distracts you from your problems. Like exercise, it also encourages the production of those feel-good chemicals that help to combat depression and anxiety on a chemical level.
Herbs
Certain herbs such as lemon balm, valerian, eleuthero and lavender have been shown useful in helping to instill a sense of calm and reduce stress.
Herbs for Stress Reduction
Herbs can be used in conjunction with other stress reduction methods to help encourage relaxation and boost libido. There are many herbs that are purported to be useful in reducing stress and anxiety. Using these herbs alone or combined in a formula can do wonders for helping to relieve feelings of stress. Here are a few and how they should be used.
1. Licorice Root
Licorice root is a natural alternative to the hormone cortisone. Cortisone helps the body handle stress. Licorice is believed to help normalize adrenal gland function, and help maintain blood sugar levels within normal ranges. Some people will even tell you that it helps calm the mind. Steep dried licorice root in hot water for a soothing tea.
2. Passionflower
Passionflowerr is considered a mild sedative that can help soothe anxiety, insomnia and depression. Use the parts that grow above ground. Dry them and put them in a tea. You can also find tinctures and capsule form.
3. Lavender
Lavender has long been known for promoting calm and relaxation. It can also help to promote healthy hormone balance and stimulate the immune system. Used mostly for its scent, it can be put into sachets or made into an essential oil. It can also be used in teas.
4. Eleuthero
Also known as Siberian ginseng, only the underground portions are used medicinally. Traditionally, eleuthero has been used to improve everything from athletic performance to stress to fatigue.
Reducing Stress Improves Libido
When you successfully deal with and reduce stress, you generally find that the stress-related physical symptoms you have been experiencing fade. Health and immunity improve. Many people sleep better at night. Appetite returns as digestion improves. Relationships improve as libido returns. Once the connection between stress and libido has been established and the stress dealt with, the libido is free to return to normal.
Stress can impact all areas of your life and health. When stress begins to affect your libido, then it also begins to affect your most important relationship: the one you have with your partner. Finding ways to mitigate stress is important. Natural remedies like herbs can help you improve your health and reduce the effects of stress. In this way, herbs can help you to improve both stress and libido.
