FAQ: sex drive

Sex lets partners feel closer together, releases powerful feel-good chemicals and may even reduce the risk of chronic diseases like high blood pressure and heart disease. As the following guidelines will show, when our hormones flag, so do our libidos.

Yes, testosterone can boost sexual desire in women, but it doesn't enhance libido for women who were never interested in sex, and the therapy is not without risks. Testosterone is primarily a male hormone, but women produce smaller amounts in their ovaries. When women's testosterone levels start to decline, usually in conjunction with menopause, they often struggle with waning desire, lack of sensation and decreased ability to climax.

Intrinsa, the testosterone patch, has been used in Europe for decades to boost sex drive after menopause. Studies have shown that using the patch along with estrogen therapy increases desire, responsiveness and sexual activity among post-menopausal women. But the US Food and Drug Administration denied approval due to concerns about its long-term safety; experts agree that testosterone is potentially dangerous when given inappropriately. It can also cause acne, increased growth of facial and body hair, and thinning scalp hair.

Despite drawbacks, women are clamouring for the hormone, and they're getting it. Since doctors use testosterone for other medical reasons, they can and do legally prescribe it to boost sex drive.

Some foods earned reputations as aphrodisiacs because of their suggestive shape (think asparagus), sweet fragrance (vanilla, cinnamon) or opiate-like effects (chocolate). Others, like oysters and nuts, are praised for their zinc. While zinc won't affect your libido, it does contribute to overall health and may have appeared to work during times when people's diets were deficient in the mineral.

Chocolate, once perceived as exotic, largely lost its libido-enhancing status when it became widely available. While there is no scientific proof they work, if you believe that they will enhance your experience, they just might!

You may have heard that exercise is good for your sex drive, but we have something more specific in mind. They're called Kegel exercises, and studies show that regularly performing them enhances arousal, delays ejaculation and intensifies orgasms for both partners. Kegels target the pubococcygeus (PC) muscle, which stretches from the pubic bone to the tailbone in both sexes. It's this muscle that allows a man to move his penis up and down while it's erect and allows a woman to grip her partner's penis during intercourse. The muscle weakens with age and with pregnancy and childbirth.

To learn to perform Kegels, first stop your urine flow in midstream; you've just used your PC muscle. To exercise the muscle, practice clenching and unclenching it, gradually increasing the length of time you hold the contraction.

Viagra can make blood flow to your clitoris, but it doesn't work on arousal or desire, at least for the vast majority of women. Pfizer, the drug company that makes Viagra, conducted its own studies on 3,000 women and found the drug was no more effective than a water pill for improving symptoms of sexual dysfunction.

The reason, claim the drug makers, is women's complex biology. For most women, sex is inextricably linked with emotion, and desire stems from their brains, not just their genitals.

You may be sabotaging your sex drive by taking certain meds. Research shows that a variety of commonly used drugs can interfere with sexual function in both men and women, causing low sex drive, inability to get or maintain an erection, and decreased lubrication in women.