Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsManage AnxietyTreat DepressionImprove Sleep QualityTry Natural RemediesExerciseEat Libido-Enhancing FoodsLimit Libido-Lowering FoodsWork on Your RelationshipPractice Body NeutralityLimit Alcohol and Other Substances

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

Manage Anxiety

Treat Depression

Improve Sleep Quality

Try Natural Remedies

Exercise

Eat Libido-Enhancing Foods

Limit Libido-Lowering Foods

Work on Your Relationship

Practice Body Neutrality

Limit Alcohol and Other Substances

Close

Your libido—your sex drive—normally fluctuates over time. Everything fromdaily stresstohormone fluctuationscan affect it. Age can be a factor, too, but people can maintain healthy sex drives well into their elderly years. If you’d like to increase your libido, try any (or all!) of these 10 simple methods.

An Important NoteAlthough sex drives naturally change and fluctuate over time, it can be helpful to rule out any medical causes of low libido. If you are experiencing any health issues, including a sudden or drastic change in your sex drive, please seek the help of a medical professional.

An Important Note

Although sex drives naturally change and fluctuate over time, it can be helpful to rule out any medical causes of low libido. If you are experiencing any health issues, including a sudden or drastic change in your sex drive, please seek the help of a medical professional.

It’s hard to feel sexual when you’re feeling anxious, and that translates clinically. In fact, anxiety has been proven to worsen sexual dysfunction.There are manydifferent types of anxiety disorders, and they impact the people who deal with them in a variety of ways. Ways to manage anxiety include different forms of therapy, taking anti-anxiety medications, or natural modalities likemeditation,deep breathing, and stress management.

18 Effective Stress Relief Strategies

If you deal with anxiety and also are feeling anxious about sexuality, that can feel like a double-edged sword that impacts your libido even further. In this instance, managing your anxiety in general should help regardless.

Depressioncan have a negative effect on libido like anxiety can. When people are depressed, sexual dysfunction is common.Equally so, when clinical depression is treated and the emotional and physical symptoms improve, sexual function and desire tend to return. Like anxiety, you can treat depression with therapy, medications, and/or natural healing methods.

How to Fight Depression Without Medication

A good night’s sleep is key to a good day.Sleep disordersare associated with many different health problems, including low libido and sexual dysfunction.If you have a serious sleep condition, speak with your doctor about potential treatments for it. If you have a milder problem, such as occasionally dealing withinsomnia, or you experience racing thoughts when you try to sleep, you can trymethodsto improve yoursleep habits.

Try Effective Natural Remedies

Studies have shown that some natural remedies promising to increase libido have risks that outweigh their benefits, while others are effective and don’t tend to come with side effects.

There are several different natural herbs and adaptogens (i.e., substances that have been shown to alleviate depression and tiredness) that have been shown to improve everything from libido to virility and fertility.Some of the most popular include maca, ginseng, and ginkgo biloba.

What Is an Aphrodisiac?

Maca

The Peruvian root known as maca is one of the most well-studied aphrodisiac herbs. Still, research is more preliminary since the supplement industry is not as funded as the pharmaceutical industry.

You can find maca in powdered form to add to smoothies, or you can take it in pill form. You can also make maca-infused drinks to boost your arousal.

Ginseng

Another herbal root, ginseng, has been shown to positively impact libido and sexual function.

One type of ginseng, known as Korean Red Ginseng, has been shown to be specifically effective at improving the sex drives of menopausal women.Ginseng is available dried as a powder or pill and is commonly used fresh in Korean foods.

Gingko Biloba

Ginkgo biloba is an herb that is used as an extract. Ginkgo Biloba Extract (GBE) is used for the physical side of low libido; it can increase sex drive because of its effect on blood flow. Specifically, GBE increases blood flow to the genital area. It has been shown to increase sexual desire and satisfaction.

As an extract, GBE is available as a tincture or in an encapsulated liquid format.

Exercise has been proven to increase libido.There are numerous ways that physical activity serves to improve sex drive, and they includepositive body self-image, improved cardiovascular health and mood, increased sympathetic nervous system activity, and improvement of one’sendocrine system.

How Does Physical Activity Improve Your Mood? And Which Exercises Are Best?

Just like how any form of exercise is better than none, there are no rules about what fitness-increasing activities one should try if they are exercising for the sake of improving their sex drive.

Do what you enjoy most, as that’s what you’ll do the best job of sticking with, and enhanced libido will be just one of the many health-promoting benefits.

While there is no magic bullet food that will instantaneously increase your sex drive, there is plenty of truth behind the idea of aphrodisiac foods. These foods are more centered around getting you key nutrients on a regular basis than magically “pushing your buttons” to want to be sexual.

Some types of foods that are good for libidos include:

Foods that reduce sex drive are calledanaphrodisiacs. Similar to how aphrodisiac foods can’t magically put you in themood for sex, anaphrodisiac foods are equally unlikely to take you right out of that mood. It is more about regular intake of these foods.

But, in the opposite vein, as aphrodisiac foods offer nutrients that improve sexual function, anaphrodisiac foods have nutrients or attributes that can decrease your sexual health. Those foods include:

The longer you’re in a relationship, the more common it is to feel that thesexual chemistrybetween you and your partner or partners has dissipated. Not feeling as sexual or excited about your partner may prove difficult to get into the mood to be intimate with them.

Help! I’m in a Sexless Marriage

Sometimes people experience low sex drive because they aren’t feeling comfortable in their bodies. One way to deal with this difficulty effectively is to practicebody neutrality. It’s the idea of accepting your body as it is, without trying to love it when that doesn’t feel possible, and for being grateful for the functions that it can perform.

Body neutrality can be practiced in many different ways, ranging from how you select the clothes you wear to how you choose the foods you eat. In addition, it has manymental health benefits, some of which, like lowering stress, naturally improve sex drive.

It should come as no surprise that alcohol and recreational drugs can have a negative impact on your sex drive. While alcohol may feel like a libido enhancer in the moment, it’s actually a depressant so the initial boost in your desire for sex is just temporary.

Alcohol can have a negative impact on parts of your body that are important for sexual function and drive, fromblood flow to organ function. If you experience an increase in libido from drinking, do your best to keep your intake to a single glass of wine or cocktail. More isnotbetter when it comes to alcohol and sexual function.

Alcohol and Hormones: What’s the Connection?

Recreational drugs, such ascocaine, may make you feel very good in the moment. They may also give you the sense of having a higher sex drive in the moment, as well. However, these drugs can zap your feel-good chemicals in the longrun, flooding your body with them and then leaving you depleted afterward. So, they do far more harm than good in this realm.

Recreational drug usage should be limited in general for people, but if you are experiencing a low sex drive, that is all the more reason to avoid them.

Sex drives fluctuate naturally, but there are many ways to put yours on the path to improvement when needed. Try one or more of these recommendations so that you can feel, and function, more like you want to.

What Is Sex Therapy?

12 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Basson R, Gilks T.Women’s sexual dysfunction associated with psychiatric disorders and their treatment.Womens Health (Lond Engl). 2018;14. doi:10.1177/1745506518762664Thakurdesai A, Sawant N.A prospective study on sexual dysfunctions in depressed males and the response to treatment.Indian J Psychiatry. 2018;60(4):472-477. doi:10.4103%2Fpsychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_386_17Cho JW, Duffy JF.Sleep, sleep disorders, and sexual dysfunction.World J Mens Health. 2019;37(3):261-275. doi:10.5534/wjmh.180045West E, Krychman M.Natural aphrodisiacs - A review of selected sexual enhancers.Sex Med Rev. 2015;3(4):279-288. doi:10.1002/smrj.62Chauhan NS, Sharma V, Dixit VK, Thakur M.A review on plants used for improvement of sexual performance and virility.BioMed Research International. 2014;2014:1-19. doi:10.1155/2014/868062Beharry S, Heinrich M.Is the hype around the reproductive health claims of maca (Lepidium meyenii Walp.) justified? JEthnopharmacol. 2018;211:126-170. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2017.08.003Leung KW, Wong AS.Ginseng and male reproductive function.Spermatogenesis. 2013;3(3):e26391. doi:10.4161/spmg.26391Koliji T, Keshavarz Z, Zare E, Mojab F, Nasiri M.A systematic review of herbal medicines to improve the sexual function of menopausal women.J Herbmed Pharmacol. 2020;10(1):51-60. doi:10.34172/jhp.2021.04Pebdani MA, Taavoni S, Seyedfatemi N, Haghani H.Triple-blind, placebo-controlled trial of Ginkgo biloba extract on sexual desire in postmenopausal women in Tehran.Iran J Nurs Midwifery Res. 2014;19(3):262-265.Stanton AM, Handy AB, Meston CM.The effects of exercise on sexual function in women.Sex Med Rev. 2018;6(4):548-557. doi:10.1016/j.sxmr.2018.02.004Silva T, Jesus M, Cagigal C, Silva C.Food with influence in the sexual and reproductive health.Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2019;20(2):114-122. doi:10.2174/1389201019666180925140400Rao PM, Kelly DM, Jones TH.Testosterone and insulin resistance in the metabolic syndrome and T2DM in men.Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2013;9(8):479-493. doi:10.1038/nrendo.2013.122

12 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Basson R, Gilks T.Women’s sexual dysfunction associated with psychiatric disorders and their treatment.Womens Health (Lond Engl). 2018;14. doi:10.1177/1745506518762664Thakurdesai A, Sawant N.A prospective study on sexual dysfunctions in depressed males and the response to treatment.Indian J Psychiatry. 2018;60(4):472-477. doi:10.4103%2Fpsychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_386_17Cho JW, Duffy JF.Sleep, sleep disorders, and sexual dysfunction.World J Mens Health. 2019;37(3):261-275. doi:10.5534/wjmh.180045West E, Krychman M.Natural aphrodisiacs - A review of selected sexual enhancers.Sex Med Rev. 2015;3(4):279-288. doi:10.1002/smrj.62Chauhan NS, Sharma V, Dixit VK, Thakur M.A review on plants used for improvement of sexual performance and virility.BioMed Research International. 2014;2014:1-19. doi:10.1155/2014/868062Beharry S, Heinrich M.Is the hype around the reproductive health claims of maca (Lepidium meyenii Walp.) justified? JEthnopharmacol. 2018;211:126-170. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2017.08.003Leung KW, Wong AS.Ginseng and male reproductive function.Spermatogenesis. 2013;3(3):e26391. doi:10.4161/spmg.26391Koliji T, Keshavarz Z, Zare E, Mojab F, Nasiri M.A systematic review of herbal medicines to improve the sexual function of menopausal women.J Herbmed Pharmacol. 2020;10(1):51-60. doi:10.34172/jhp.2021.04Pebdani MA, Taavoni S, Seyedfatemi N, Haghani H.Triple-blind, placebo-controlled trial of Ginkgo biloba extract on sexual desire in postmenopausal women in Tehran.Iran J Nurs Midwifery Res. 2014;19(3):262-265.Stanton AM, Handy AB, Meston CM.The effects of exercise on sexual function in women.Sex Med Rev. 2018;6(4):548-557. doi:10.1016/j.sxmr.2018.02.004Silva T, Jesus M, Cagigal C, Silva C.Food with influence in the sexual and reproductive health.Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2019;20(2):114-122. doi:10.2174/1389201019666180925140400Rao PM, Kelly DM, Jones TH.Testosterone and insulin resistance in the metabolic syndrome and T2DM in men.Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2013;9(8):479-493. doi:10.1038/nrendo.2013.122

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Basson R, Gilks T.Women’s sexual dysfunction associated with psychiatric disorders and their treatment.Womens Health (Lond Engl). 2018;14. doi:10.1177/1745506518762664Thakurdesai A, Sawant N.A prospective study on sexual dysfunctions in depressed males and the response to treatment.Indian J Psychiatry. 2018;60(4):472-477. doi:10.4103%2Fpsychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_386_17Cho JW, Duffy JF.Sleep, sleep disorders, and sexual dysfunction.World J Mens Health. 2019;37(3):261-275. doi:10.5534/wjmh.180045West E, Krychman M.Natural aphrodisiacs - A review of selected sexual enhancers.Sex Med Rev. 2015;3(4):279-288. doi:10.1002/smrj.62Chauhan NS, Sharma V, Dixit VK, Thakur M.A review on plants used for improvement of sexual performance and virility.BioMed Research International. 2014;2014:1-19. doi:10.1155/2014/868062Beharry S, Heinrich M.Is the hype around the reproductive health claims of maca (Lepidium meyenii Walp.) justified? JEthnopharmacol. 2018;211:126-170. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2017.08.003Leung KW, Wong AS.Ginseng and male reproductive function.Spermatogenesis. 2013;3(3):e26391. doi:10.4161/spmg.26391Koliji T, Keshavarz Z, Zare E, Mojab F, Nasiri M.A systematic review of herbal medicines to improve the sexual function of menopausal women.J Herbmed Pharmacol. 2020;10(1):51-60. doi:10.34172/jhp.2021.04Pebdani MA, Taavoni S, Seyedfatemi N, Haghani H.Triple-blind, placebo-controlled trial of Ginkgo biloba extract on sexual desire in postmenopausal women in Tehran.Iran J Nurs Midwifery Res. 2014;19(3):262-265.Stanton AM, Handy AB, Meston CM.The effects of exercise on sexual function in women.Sex Med Rev. 2018;6(4):548-557. doi:10.1016/j.sxmr.2018.02.004Silva T, Jesus M, Cagigal C, Silva C.Food with influence in the sexual and reproductive health.Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2019;20(2):114-122. doi:10.2174/1389201019666180925140400Rao PM, Kelly DM, Jones TH.Testosterone and insulin resistance in the metabolic syndrome and T2DM in men.Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2013;9(8):479-493. doi:10.1038/nrendo.2013.122

Basson R, Gilks T.Women’s sexual dysfunction associated with psychiatric disorders and their treatment.Womens Health (Lond Engl). 2018;14. doi:10.1177/1745506518762664

Thakurdesai A, Sawant N.A prospective study on sexual dysfunctions in depressed males and the response to treatment.Indian J Psychiatry. 2018;60(4):472-477. doi:10.4103%2Fpsychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_386_17

Cho JW, Duffy JF.Sleep, sleep disorders, and sexual dysfunction.World J Mens Health. 2019;37(3):261-275. doi:10.5534/wjmh.180045

West E, Krychman M.Natural aphrodisiacs - A review of selected sexual enhancers.Sex Med Rev. 2015;3(4):279-288. doi:10.1002/smrj.62

Chauhan NS, Sharma V, Dixit VK, Thakur M.A review on plants used for improvement of sexual performance and virility.BioMed Research International. 2014;2014:1-19. doi:10.1155/2014/868062

Beharry S, Heinrich M.Is the hype around the reproductive health claims of maca (Lepidium meyenii Walp.) justified? JEthnopharmacol. 2018;211:126-170. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2017.08.003

Leung KW, Wong AS.Ginseng and male reproductive function.Spermatogenesis. 2013;3(3):e26391. doi:10.4161/spmg.26391

Koliji T, Keshavarz Z, Zare E, Mojab F, Nasiri M.A systematic review of herbal medicines to improve the sexual function of menopausal women.J Herbmed Pharmacol. 2020;10(1):51-60. doi:10.34172/jhp.2021.04

Pebdani MA, Taavoni S, Seyedfatemi N, Haghani H.Triple-blind, placebo-controlled trial of Ginkgo biloba extract on sexual desire in postmenopausal women in Tehran.Iran J Nurs Midwifery Res. 2014;19(3):262-265.

Stanton AM, Handy AB, Meston CM.The effects of exercise on sexual function in women.Sex Med Rev. 2018;6(4):548-557. doi:10.1016/j.sxmr.2018.02.004

Silva T, Jesus M, Cagigal C, Silva C.Food with influence in the sexual and reproductive health.Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2019;20(2):114-122. doi:10.2174/1389201019666180925140400

Rao PM, Kelly DM, Jones TH.Testosterone and insulin resistance in the metabolic syndrome and T2DM in men.Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2013;9(8):479-493. doi:10.1038/nrendo.2013.122

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