Improved Sexual Performance through Yoga: Insights on Yoga's Impact on Sexual Health
Yo, it's all about that yoga flow! Got a question about how this ancient practice might spice up your love life? Well buckle up, partner, because we're diving into the research behind the claim that yoga can improve your sexy time.
From wellness blogs to personal experiences, stories of yoga enhancing sexual experiences are rampant. But does science back it up? Let's find out.
Yoga, my dear friend, is known for its myriad health benefits. It's been shown to help with conditions like depression, stress, anxiety, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and thyroid problems, to name a few. Recent studies have even begun to unravel the intricate mechanisms involved, such as reducing inflammation, counteracting stress-induced genetic expression, lowering cortisol, and boosting a protein that helps the brain stay young and healthy.
So, can yoga's yummy poses steam things up in the bedroom? Let's take a look at the research.
Yoga's power move for the sex drive
A study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine found that yoga can indeed improve sexual function, particularly in women over the age of 45. The women were trained on 22 poses (yogasanas) that are believed to improve core abdominal muscles, improve digestion, strengthen the pelvic floor, and boost mood. After a 12-week period, a whopping 75 percent of the women reported an improvement in their sex life.
Take a gander at the asanas yourself here.
For the fellas, a study led by Dr. Vikas Dhikav, a neurologist at the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi, India, found that a 12-week yoga program significantly improved male sexual satisfaction, as evaluated by the Male Sexual Quotient. Improvements were found across all aspects of male sexual satisfaction: desire, intercourse satisfaction, performance, confidence, partner synchronization, erection, ejaculatory control, and orgasm.
How does yoga do the trick?
Yoga regulates attention and breathing, lowers anxiety and stress, and activates the part of the nervous system that tells your body to relax and trigger those post-coital vibes. It also increases body awareness, potentially giving you a better understanding of your own sexual responses and desires.
Some yogic concepts are more... eccentric. Like the idea of releasing blocked energy in root chakras and moving "kundalini energy" up and down the spine. But let's not get carried away, people.
One concept that seems to make more sense is Moola bandha. This contraction of the perineal muscles stimulates the pelvic region and enforces parasympathetic activity, impacting the gonads and perineal body/cervix. It's been suggested that practicing Moola bandha relieves period pain, childbirth pain, and sexual difficulties in women, as well as treating premature ejaculation and controlling testosterone secretion in men.
In fact, many sex therapy centers recommend this yoga practice to help women increase awareness of their sensations of arousal in the genital area, potentially boosting desire and sexual experience. Another yoga pose that strengthens the pelvic floor is bhekasana, or the "frog pose." This pose may help ease symptoms of vestibulodynia and vaginismus in women.
Don't believe the vibes just yet
While the potential sexual benefits of yoga are tantalizing, it's important to remember the large discrepancy between the amount of empirical, or experimental, evidence and that of anecdotal evidence. Most studies have small sample sizes and lack a control group.
But there are some promising findings. For example, a study focused on women with metabolic syndrome, a population with a higher risk of sexual dysfunction, found that a 12-week yoga program led to significant improvement in arousal and lubrication.
Another study looked at the sexual benefits of yoga for women living with multiple sclerosis. Participants who underwent 3 months of yoga training showed improvement in both physical ability and sexual function, while a control group experienced worsened symptoms.
So, while we need more scientific evidence to definitively prove yoga's sexy side, it seems there's enough reason to incorporate it into our daily routines. Just remember, it's not a quick fix and results may vary based on individual factors.
Until we can confidently say that yoga leads to "yogasms" (sounds cool, though), we think it's worth giving a shot. Who knows, your pelvic muscles—and your partner—may thank you for it.
- Yoga, with its myriad health benefits, has been linked to sexual health improvements, according to research published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.
- Among women over 45, a study found that a 12-week yoga program involving specific poses led to an improvement in their sex lives for 75 percent of the participants.
- For men, a study led by Dr. Vikas Dhikav found that a similar 12-week yoga program significantly improved male sexual satisfaction across all aspects.
- Yoga's benefits may stem from its regulation of attention and breathing, reduction of anxiety and stress, and activation of the nervous system to promote relaxation and post-coital feelings.
- One yogic concept, Moola bandha, is believed to stimulate the pelvic region and impact gonads and the cervix, possibly aiding in treating sexual difficulties and period pain for women, and premature ejaculation and testosterone control for men.
- Although empirical evidence supporting the sexual benefits of yoga is limited, findings from studies on women with metabolic syndrome and those living with multiple sclerosis suggest that yoga can lead to significant improvements in sexual function.
