As a woman, your hormones will naturally fluctuate throughout your life but those imbalances become more pronounced as you age, particularly during and after the menopause. When your hormones are out of balance, it can affect more than simply your energy and your mood – it can also affect your sex life.
The onset of the menopause is known to diminish a woman’s desire for sex, evidenced by the lowering of libido, by the inability to achieve orgasm and through vaginal dryness.
Maintaining the right balance in your hormones can restore your desire and allow you to enjoy a healthy, happy sex life. So what are the symptoms of hormone imbalance?
Oestrogen is the hormone that is essential to a woman’s reproductive cycle but as we age, the levels of oestrogen drop, causing the menopause when periods finally stop. Oestrogen works in tandem with progesterone during menstruation and again, after the menopause, progesterone levels drop significantly. It’s important for these two hormones to remain in balance with each other – too much progesterone affects mood, sleep patterns and sexual desire, while irregular levels of oestrogen cause anxiety, irritability and a suppressed libido. Hormone replacement therapy can restore oestrogen and progesterone levels in post-menopausal women.
Testosterone is a hormone that is often thought of as only present in men but it is an important hormone for women, too, and is particularly important for good sexual health because it drives sexual desire, responsiveness and sensitivity. Levels of testosterone will naturally decline as women age and while some women may not notice any change in their mood or sexual desire, those women who have enjoyed high testosterone levels may experience a loss of libido. Testosterone replacement therapy may enhance mood and restore sexual desire and energy.
Oxytocin is the powerful hormone known as the “cuddle hormone” that increases when we have kiss or cuddle with someone we love with levels rising during skin to skin contact, for example during foreplay. If you’re deficient in oxytocin, you are more likely to be anxious, suffer from depression and be prone to stress-related illnesses.
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