Getting good sleep is critical to being a happy and healthy person throughout your life. It makes you more productive in the office, better socially, keeps you in a positive headspace, and generally boosts your energy and overall quality of life. Whether you decide to choose more hygienic firm mattresses, stick to a sleep schedule or wind down in the evening, there are thankfully plenty of things you can do to improve your sleep quality and duration.

 

Sleep is not only important for your performance and health in general, but also your sexual health. If you experience a lack of sleep, your sex life is almost sure to take a turn for the worst. This can not only be stressful and annoying but has the potential to lead to issues and turmoil in an otherwise strong relationship.

 

But just how can your sleep habits impact your sexual health? Well, that is exactly what this article is going to take a closer look at. Read on to learn four of the ways that how you sleep can affect your sexual health.

 

A Lack of Sleep Can Reduce Libido

One of the first ways that sleep can affect your sexual health is that it can hurt your libido. Your libido is essentially your sexual desires and without it, you won’t have much of an interest in sex. If you find yourself struggling to sleep, and practicing bad sleep-related habits, it is quite common to see much less sexual desire than normal. This is true in both males and females, in many cases, though the problem is often believed to be more prevalent in women. 

 

If you begin to sleep more consistently, you will have more energy and will thus take more of an interest in sex. This may not happen immediately, but catching up on your sleep will very soon have your levels of sexual desires back to where they normally are, in most cases.

 

Sleeping more will also see a boost in testosterone in men, which will help libido and help keep sexual desires at a healthy level. Also, the more you sleep, the sexier you feel in most cases. You will feel more well-rested, look healthier, and generally feel better about yourself. A big part of sexual desires is how good you feel about yourself and how you look/appear to your partner.

 

Sleep Disorders Can Increase Likelihood of ED

In addition to hurting your hormones and making you desire sex less, sleep issues can also have physical effects on your sex. In particular, there are some sleep disorders that have been tied to ED (erectile dysfunction) in men. 

 

ED is a widespread issue that affects tens of millions of men in the USA alone to some degree. It takes place when a man struggles to achieve or maintain an erection, making sexual intercourse impossible. While it can happen on its own, ED is often seen primarily as a side effect of another condition like diabetes or heart disease.

 

Another thing that can often increase the likelihood of dealing with ED is sleep loss. In particular, those who suffer from OSA (obstructive sleep apnea) are much more likely to experience ED than those who don’t have the disorder. This relation between OSA and sexual dysfunction also exists for women.

 

Also, if you work non-standard hours and have to sleep and wake at strange times due to shifts, that could also have an impact on your likelihood and chances of experiencing sexual dysfunction problems like ED.

 

Poor Sleep Impacts Mental Health, Which in Turn Impacts Sexual Health

Poor sleep can do a lot of negative things in our lives, but one of the worst is the negative impact it has on our mental health. It leaves us exhausted, stressed, and makes things like depression and anxiety much more difficult to deal with.

 

As you could imagine, this impact on mental health is another reason why a lack of sleep can hurt sexual health. If you are stressed, tired, and generally not in a good mood, the last thing on your mind is sex in most cases. As a result, as long as your mental health is in a questionable space, your sexual health will often suffer.

 

Also, when you are tired, your body will often suppress your sex hormones and instead produce stress hormones to help you feel better. While this can help your mental state, it will certainly hurt your sexual desires and performance.

 

Poor sleep can also lead to relationship problems and disagreements (due to the fact you are overtired), which can make achieving optimal sexual health difficult. It is hard to be intimate with someone when you are actively in an argument with them.

 

A Lack of Sleep Can Hurt Your Fertility

In addition to impacting your sexual performance and desires, a lack of sleep can also hurt your ability to be fertile, in some cases. If men deprive themselves of sleep, it can noticeably lower their sperm count, which can make conceiving a child much more challenging.

 

The reason for this is that the lack of sleep you are getting is lowering the number of sex hormones your body is producing (it is instead focusing on stress hormones, as mentioned earlier). If your healthy sleep cycle is interrupted and you are producing less testosterone,  your sperm count will be worse and the quality of the sperm you do have will be lowered.

 

On the female side of things, a lack of sleep can lead to an irregular menstrual cycle, which can make it more difficult to know when ovulation is occurring. So if you are attempting to have a child, it is a good idea for both partners to get enough restful sleep in their lives to give yourself the best chance of success.

 

In conclusion, we hope that this guide has been able to help you learn how your sleeping habits impact and influence your sexual health.

 

Contributor: admin