Diabetes is more of a health concern than ever, as new research suggests that the condition could take its toll on your sexual wellbeing. According to the study, which was funded by the US government, middle-aged and older women with diabetes are less satisfied with their sex lives than are women without the blood sugar disease. The same is said of diabetic men, as it has long been established that diabetes makes blokes more prone to sexual wellness problems such as erectile dysfunction. However, it was less well-known how the disease affected the sex lives of women – until now.
Lead researcher Dr. Alison Huang of the University of California, San Francisco, commented, ‘It’s an area that is very understudied, particularly in older women.’ Therefore, Huang led a team of researchers to analyse a survey of nearly 2,300 California women aged 40 to 80 years. The findings, which are published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynaecology, revealed that more than a third of women who are on insulin treatment answered “moderately” or “very” when asked how dissatisfied they were with their sex lives. The same was answered by a quarter of diabetic women who weren’t on insulin, but less than one in five non-diabetic women answered likewise.
Huang explained, ‘It’s not that diabetic women are not interested in sexual activity. The diabetic women in the study had more sexual problems, but they were just as interested in sexual activities and had a similar level of sexual activity as women without diabetes.’ Sexually active women who took insulin were more likely to complain of problems with lubrication and orgasm compared to non-diabetic women, while those with complications related to the condition – such as heart and kidney disease – were the least likely to have sex at least once a month.
According to Huang, following a diabetic diet and getting regular exercise will help you to reduce your problems between the sheets. ‘I think these results do suggest that if you are a diabetic woman, preventing complications may help prevent development of sexual problems,’ she said. However, the team did find one perplexing result; women with elevated blood sugar levels were less likely to report low sexual satisfaction. Nonetheless, Huang noted, ‘I don’t think it’s likely that very poorly controlled blood sugar leads to better sexual function in women.’