Valentine’s Day has got us thinking about getting in the mood. Like a lot of moods, the one to get frisky comes and goes but when it feels like it’s packed up its pants and gone for good, it might be time to look at our hormones.
Before we get into it, let’s start by saying that an individual’s sex drive is unique to them and what is ‘normal’ for you is not going to be the same as the next person. So, when we talk about getting back to ‘normal’ we mean what’s normal, and comfortable, for you.
So, without further ado, here are five reasons your libido may have gone walkabout.
1. If your primary emotion is stress
Life can be stressful at the best of times but the last couple years have taken the cake. Generally, for men, sex is a great stress-reliever but for women, it falls to the bottom of the to-do list. It’s also not a great aphrodisiac.
Our main stress hormone is cortisol and when we’re in stressful situations (both physical and emotional) those levels rise in response. This goes way back to our neanderthal days when fight or flight meant running from danger and cortisol + adrenaline would get us ready to run, putting baby-making on the back-burner.
Because our brains can’t separate the stress of a big meeting from the stress of being chased by a bear, the response today is the same. So, we need to take charge of calming ourselves down. Practising box breathing, lying with our legs up the wall for ten minutes, and getting enough sleep are all great ways to lower stress and bring some calm back to the mind.
Sometimes we feel so stressed and overwhelmed that even the idea of slowing down our breath seems impossible. When that happens, a little external help can be our go-to. That’s why we made Chill Pills. Made from 100% Vanuatu Kava, taking one Chill Pill in times of stress can bring instant calm and, for times when sleep evades us, we can take up to three to encourage a dreamy night’s sleep that can bring us back to balance.
2. If you’re running on empty
Fatigue, burnout, or feeling flat? Running on empty is quite the fun sponge. If you’re someone for whom coffee is as important as air, chances are you can relate.
There are plenty of reasons for why we feel fatigued and in need of a day in the sheets (not like that, yet..) but there’s an excellent, and free, solution - sleep! Put on a Harry Styles bedtime story, some fresh sheets, and drift off for a solid eight.
For days it feels like all the sleep in the world won’t fix a tiredness that goes to the bones, we need to take action, starting with upping your nutrient and water intake, practising gentle exercise, and addressing your hormones. Unfortunately, coffee doesn’t do that. Morning Person is Eve’s natural answer to caffeine. Loaded with B vitamins which turn your food into fuel, and Panax Ginseng which provides an immediate boost for energy and focus. Adaptogenic Rhodiola Rosea works behind the scenes to rebuild better energy levels long term. Win-win and win again.
3. If your hormones need some love
Oestrogen and testosterone are two hormones that affect our libido. Oestrogen rises during the follicular phase which is day one of your cycle - the day you first bleed. Oestrogen triggers ovulation which then triggers a surge of testosterone which is designed to get us in the mood at the time we’re most fertile. Pretty clever, right.
If your hormones aren’t doing this then you’re not going to be feeling all geared up. The more familiar we are with our cycle, the better prepared we are for each stage of it and knowing what ‘should’ be happening when. That way, if something isn’t happening when we expect it to, we can use that information to give ourselves some extra support.
Our period-loving product - Period Pal - can help you achieve a balanced, regular cycle that you’ve only dreamed of till now. The herbs and nutrients that make up Period Pal are designed to ease signs of PMS and encourage healthy ovulation and progesterone production to make your cycle gentle and more reliable.
Another idea we love is to use a period tracking app like Flo. This way we can easily see when we are due, how long our periods are, when we’re ovulating and then log the symptoms we feel around that time with a few easy taps on the screen.
4. If you’ve teamed up with hormonal contraception
The pill works by disrupting the communication between your brain and your ovaries to prevent monthly ovulation. Because we need oestrogen to trigger ovulation, the pill (and other hormonal contraception) prevents the production of oestrogen and progesterone.
Not only do these hormones support ovulation but also libido, mood, energy, metabolism, and the health of our skin, brains, and bones - not a short list. Hormonal contraception also interferes with our body’s ability to process key nutrients like: vitamins B2, B6, B12, and B9, and vitamin E plus the minerals magnesium, selenium and zinc.
We need these nutrients and minerals to rev up our sex drive. Therefore, if we’re on the pill, topping up nutrient stores with a supplement like Take Me With The Pill is a great way to make sure we’re still getting the nutrients that might otherwise be interfered with by hormonal contraceptives. Plus, if you want to come off the pill, it makes that otherwise niggly transition a little smoother.
5. If you’ve forgotten about your microbiomes
We don’t know about you but we are never in the mood if things don’t feel copacetic down there. Feeling itchy? Maybe there’s a little burning? We wouldn’t wanna be getting down with all of that going on. Thrush and yeast infections are super common and come from an imbalanced vaginal microbiome.
We all know about the gut microbiome but the vaginal one gets a little less air time. Queen V is a probiotic designed to feed both the good bacteria they need to beat the bloat, ease digestion, and prevent an overgrowth of bad bacteria that can lead to those pesky itches and pains. In addition to all of those golden pros, it also helps keep you regular. All health starts in the gut so when we take care of that, feeling good is never far behind.
If your sex drive is something you think needs some love, addressing your hormones is a great place to start. If we know that we need our oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone to be coming and going at the right time and in the right amounts- then the next step is to support them to ensure they’re fully equipped to get us going.
The whole Eve range is designed to support period, sexual, and overall health so, in addition to supporting your body through its monthly cycles, you just mind find your libido picks up speed too.
