Do you find it upsetting that your sexual health isn't as good as it could be? Nature has a remedy for any issue, whether it be a low sperm count, declining testosterone levels, a lack of libido, or something else.
You can use Ayurveda to your advantage or simply change up a few items in your regular routine to see a noticeable improvement.
1. Take Herbal Remedies For Sexual Function
Ayurveda herbal remedy ashwagandha can help a woman’s satisfaction in bed, bring about improved lubrication and arousal, and help those orgasms along too. It works by improving your physical health and vitality on the whole, apart from supporting good psychological health. Oral administration of ashwagandha has been proven to help improve sexual function in women on multiple parameters (like arousal, lubrication, satisfaction, and orgasm).1 It also eases anxiety and helps rejuvenate a woman’s reproductive organs.2
What ashwagandha does for women, gingko biloba can do for men. Positively influencing the sexual experience at multiple stages, it can help with arousal, orgasm, and satisfaction. Erections and lubrication are both aided by the use of this herbal remedy. Researchers have found it is effective for use by those who have sexual problems due to antidepressant use.3 Ashwagandha too can help men improve sperm count, sperm morphology, and motility. In other words, if you plan to start a family anytime soon, this herbal remedy could be just what the doctor ordered.4
2. Feast On Pomegranates (And Eat Right!)
Those ruby red nuggets of a pomegranate can help boost testosterone levels in men and women. While testosterone is commonly called a “male sex hormone,” women’s bodies produce and need some amount of it too to regulate mood, keep up libido, and keep those energy levels up. You’ll find your mood improves with the consumption of this super food that’s rich in antioxidants. So go ahead and scatter some over your salads and meats or just drink some pomegranate juice for a natural high.5
Also ensure you are getting adequate levels of essential nutrients like vitamins A, C, E, and B vitamins, zinc, selenium, and magnesium through a good mix of fresh produce. These micronutrients play a key role in normal endocrine and reproductive function.
3. Enjoy Coconut Oil And Olive Oil For A Testosterone Boost
Virgin coconut oil can help testosterone production by lowering oxidative stress in your body. In fact, one study found it can even help those who experience alcohol-consumption-linked oxidative stress in the testicles.6
Olive oil too is found to produce similar effects, with research indicating it can raise testosterone levels by as much as 17.4 percent in just three weeks.7
4. Sow Those Wild Oats For Vaginal Stimulation
Wild oats or Avena sativa can help increase sensitivity in the genital region, boosting vaginal stimulation and improving libido. It nourishes your nerves, increasing the pleasurable sensations associated with sexual intercourse. In fact, one study found that it caused genital sensation to increase by 15 percent in women and resulted in a 29 percent increase in the frequency with which the women consuming the oats on a regular basis had orgasms.8
5. Exercise
Getting fit, losing excess weight, and having a better body image all play a key role in a healthy sexual life. You should see your stamina improve too, as you shed the extra weight. Even if you’re already of a healthy body weight, fitness can help you get stronger and let you carry on for longer. On the flip side, if you let the extra pounds pile on, you may see a drop in sperm parameters (both concentration and viability), which will impact your fertility. 9
6. Acupuncture To Beat Stress-Linked Sexual Problems
Acupuncture can restore hormonal balance that goes away due to stress. Stimulating endorphin production in your brain, it leaves you feeling happier and more upbeat. Internally, this also triggers estrogen and progesterone production, as well as follicle stimulating hormone.10 Besides this, acupuncture also reverses the constriction of ovarian arteries, resulting from stress. This allows blood to flow normally to the genital region and your ovaries, improving chances of conception.11 Together they tick all the boxes for female fertility, making the therapy well worth your while.
In men, this treatment can help improve sperm parameters in anyone who suffers from issues with sperm quality. Sperm viability, integrity, and concentration all showed improvement in tests on human male subjects with low sperm quality.12
7. Up That Iron Intake (If you’re Female)
Your body needs iron to keep that libido up and ensure you experience desire or arousal properly, are well lubricated, and, ultimately, experience the pleasure of an orgasm. A study found that iron supplementation helped women overcome sexual dysfunction and the anxiety associated with iron deficiency anemia.13
8. Yoga
Yoga helps your sexual health on multiple fronts. It makes you fit and helps you tone up and lose excess weight. But it also helps you mentally by relaxing you and helping you cope with stress better. Researchers have seen that the practice of this ancient form of exercise improves autonomic function and eases anxiety.14
9. Stay Off Salty Processed Foods
High salt in your diet can cause sodium content in the blood to rise, pumping up that blood pressure. The result? A weaker sexual experience due to hampered blood flow to the genital region. If you’re male, this might even cause erectile dysfunction.15
10. Don’t Binge On Caffeine
Too much caffeine may feel like it’s giving you a great buzz, helping you go at it longer in bed. But it can also make you much more anxious and jittery. So avoid overdoing your intake in the hours leading up to when you have sex, especially if you have a history of anxiety disorders.16
11. If You’re Male, Avoid Food With Phytoestrogens
Certain foods contain phytoestrogens which mimic the actions of estrogen in your body. Soy and some bread can have this effect, causing testosterone levels in your body to drop. And without the right levels of the vital male sex hormone, the rest usually goes south.17
12. Don’t Go Without Sex For Long
If you practice abstinence for too long, it could hamper your sperm health. Studies have found that men who abstain for more than a few days experience a dip in sperm quality and concentration of viable motile sperm.18
View Article References:
| 1. | ↑ | Dongre, Swati, Deepak Langade, and Sauvik Bhattacharyya. “Efficacy and Safety of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) Root Extract in Improving Sexual Function in Women: A Pilot Study.” BioMed research international 2015 (2015). |
| 2. | ↑ | MAYO, JOSEPH L. “Black cohosh and chasteberry: herbs valued by women for centuries.” target 19 (1998): 22-26. |
| 3. | ↑ | Cohen, Alan J., and Barbara Bartlik. “Ginkgo biloba for antidepressant-induced sexual dysfunction.” Journal of sex & marital therapy 24, no. 2 (1998): 139-143. |
| 4. | ↑ | Ambiye, Vijay R., Deepak Langade, Swati Dongre, Pradnya Aptikar, Madhura Kulkarni, and Atul Dongre. “Clinical evaluation of the spermatogenic activity of the root extract of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) in oligospermic males: a pilot study.” Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2013. |
| 5. | ↑ | Al-Dujaili, Emad, and Nacer Smail. “Pomegranate juice intake enhances salivary testosterone levels and improves mood and well being in healthy men and women.” (2012). |
| 6. | ↑ | Dosumu, O. O., F. I. O. Duru, A. A. Osinubi, A. A. Oremosu, and C. C. Noronha. “Influence of virgin coconut oil (VCNO) on oxidative stress, serum testosterone and gonadotropic hormones (FSH, LH) in chronic ethanol ingestion.” Agriculture and Biology Journal of North America 6 (2010): 1126-1132. |
| 7. | ↑ | Derouiche, Abdelfettah, Ali Jafri, Issam Driouch, Mohammed El Khasmi, Ahmed Adlouni, Nada Benajiba, Youssef Bamou, Rachid Saile, and Mohammed Benouhoud. “Effect of argan and olive oil consumption on the hormonal profile of androgens among healthy adult Moroccan men.” Natural product communications 8, no. 1 (2013): 51-53. |
| 8. | ↑ | James Meschino, D. C. “Natural Support for Sexual Performance & Libido Enhancement in Men and Women.” |
| 9. | ↑ | Hammoud, Ahmad O., Nicole Wilde, Mark Gibson, Anna Parks, Douglas T. Carrell, and A. Wayne Meikle. “Male obesity and alteration in sperm parameters.” Fertility and sterility 90, no. 6 (2008): 2222-2225. |
| 10. | ↑ | Female Fertility, The British Acupuncture Council. |
| 11. | ↑ | Chang, Raymond, Pak H. Chung, and Zev Rosenwaks. “Role of acupuncture in the treatment of female infertility.” Fertility and sterility 78, no. 6 (2002): 1149-1153. |
| 12. | ↑ | Sherman, S., F. Eltes, V. Wolfson, N. Zabludovsky, and B. Bartoov. “Effect of acupuncture on sperm parameters of males suffering from subfertility related to low sperm quality.” Archives of andrology 39, no. 2 (1997): 155-161. |
| 13. | ↑ | Gulmez, Hakan, Yigit Akin, Murat Savas, Mehmet Gulum, Halil Ciftci, Soner Yalcinkaya, and Ercan Yeni. “Impact of iron supplementation on sexual dysfunction of women with iron deficiency anemia in short term: A preliminary study.” The journal of sexual medicine 11, no. 4 (2014): 1042-1046. |
| 14. | ↑ | Sengupta, Pallav, Prasenjit Chaudhuri, and Koushik Bhattacharya. “Male reproductive health and yoga.” International journal of yoga 6, no. 2 (2013): 87. |
| 15. | ↑ | Erectile Dysfunction and High Blood Pressure, American Heart Association. |
| 16. | ↑ | Broderick, Pamela, and Ashley B. Benjamín. “Caffeine and psychiatric symptoms: a review.” The Journal of the Oklahoma State Medical Association 97, no. 12 (2004): 538-542. |
| 17. | ↑ | Weber, K. S., K. D. Setchell, D. M. Stocco, and E. D. Lephart. “Dietary soy-phytoestrogens decrease testosterone levels and prostate weight without altering LH, prostate 5alpha-reductase or testicular steroidogenic acute regulatory peptide levels in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats.” Journal of Endocrinology 170, no. 3 (2001): 591-599. |
| 18. | ↑ | Pellestor, F., A. Girardet, and B. Andreo. “Effect of long abstinence periods on human sperm quality.” International journal of fertility and menopausal studies 39, no. 5 (1993): 278-282. |