How Does Lack of Sleep Affect Your Sex Life?
Experts often recommend that adults must take at least a sleep up to 7 to 9 hours every night. However, 1 in 3 adults are subject to not getting enough sleep regularly and are part of the poor sleep cycle.
Lack of sleep can lead to many health problems and impact your overall wellness. It may also negatively impact your sex life and contribute to many sexual issues.
In this article, you will explore the impacts of lack of sleep on your body. Also, now it may impact your sex life and what sexual problems it may lead to.
What does lack of sleep do to your body?
Sleep is an essential part of your daily sleep-wake cycle. It allows your body to recuperate and recharge. If you do not take enough sleep that it may result in dysregulation of the body's sleep-wake cycle. Or it may impact the natural pattern of sleep and staying awake actions in your day-to-day life. The dysregulation of the sleep-wake process can lead to significant health problems such as-
- Not being able to stay asleep
- Difficulty concentrating
- Fatigue
- Insomnia
- Poor judgment
- Anxiety and depression
- Excessive sleepiness during the day
- Headaches and pain felt in other body parts
- Memory problems
- Mood changes, mostly irritability or anger
It is not that missing a few hours of sleep may impact your health or sleep-wake cycle in these ways. But when sleep loss happens frequently, it may trigger several health issues. Below there are two examples of systems in our body that may not properly function if we do not get enough sleep. The imbalance in these functions may negatively impact the body and make it more likely to acquire health problems.
Cardiovascular system
Over time lack of sleep may raise your risk of developing Cardiovascular problems like high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes. All these conditions may result in serious health issues like heart disease and stroke.
Immune system
According to the researchers, lack of sleep can affect the immune system. It may reduce the production of antibodies after vaccines and other sluggish immune defenses. Even some researchers claim that poor sleep quality can make you more likely to catch an illness like the common cold.
How not getting enough sleep can affect your sex life
It is a little awkward to confess that sleep issues affect your sex life, but it's true. A lack of sleep can impact your sexual well-being in several ways and affect your sex life.
Low libido (Low sex drive)
Sexual arousal and how much you're sleeping may be linked to them. For instance, A study published in 2015 found that women's desire to have sex increased by 14% for every extra hour of sleep they got.
And in another small study, researchers found that lack of sleep may decrease a man's testosterone. Low testosterone levels can result in low libido(low sex drive) in men. Another study also suggests that a drop in testosterone may cause difficulty while sleeping.
Infertility
The male body uses testosterone to produce sperm, a key factor for reproduction and fertility. If a man does not get adequate hours of sleep, it may impact the production of enough sperm. In addition, the decrease in levels of testosterone levels will also harm the quality of sperm being produced. Not only all these, it may also lead to low libido, impacting the male's ability to conceive children.
Researchers found that long-term lack of sleep in females may lead to problems like irregular mensuration cycles. And further, it may trigger an issue with ovulation and lead to infertility problems. Ovulation is the period in which females over-release eggs from their ovaries. It is also the period in which females who have sex are most likely to get pregnant.
Erectile dysfunction or impotence
Erectile dysfunction, or impotence, is a sexual inability when a man has difficulty getting or keeping an erection during sex. Ed has acquired its effects on over 30 million men in the united states only, and the number will be more in millions if collected globally. Often, Ed appears as a side effect of any other underlying health condition. Such conditions include diabetes, heart disease, and also lack of sleep.
Men facing sleeping disorders are more likely to have symptoms of ED. It is also claimed by a study published in 2016 in which researchers found that 63% of men living with obstructive sleep apnea also had Ed.
Does Sex Help You Sleep?
Sleep may help for a better sex life; in the same way, sex may help improve sleep quality too. When having sex, the body releases hormones such as prolactin and oxytocin. The research shows these hormones may help reduce anxiety and induce sleepiness and relaxation.
How many hours of sleep is good for sex?
Seven to nine hours of sleep each night supports your sexual health. So better, you take good sleeping hours to improve your sexual health and sex life.
