Men's health

Tuesday 14th February is Valentines so I thought to write about a topic which may concern many at this time of the year. Libido – it’s such a euphemistic term and sounds a lot better than saying sexual performance or sex drive. Years ago when I was conducting my first clinics I asked a client how their sexual performance was in amongst other questions. Their silence and a red face answered me. And as I was to discover using the words “sex” in questions never quite got the answer I needed. I soon changed to the word libido and it seemed to sit better with people.

By Shane Mason

Libido is a term that Sigmund Freud, one of the fathers of modern psychoanalysis, came up with to describe something more than just sexual lust. While its definition means “sexual drive,” as opposed to sexual function or the performance of sex, it can be seen to encompass the whole act of sex.

Freud developed his notion of libido during the Victorian and Edwardian times (late 1800’s and early 1900’s), and they were hardly the years of sexual freedom and the phrase purported to be uttered by Queen Victoria in reference to sex, “lie back and think of Mother England,” sums up the spirit of the age.

But we have progressed in leaps and bounds – haven’t we? It’s been nearly fifty years since Johnson and Masters published their seminal work on sexual response, and Germaine Greer wrote her controversial book the Female Eunuch espousing that females take back their sexual power, and, of course, the contraceptive pill-induced sexual freedom of the sixties set us on a course for sexual liberation.

We are now freer with sex. Just look at the images adorning our billboards, magazines, films, TV, DVDs and so on. But you see Libido is something more than that. Despite all this freedom, all this access to sex – I have worked with clients whose Libido has been low to non-existent, and a study conducted by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in February 1999 stated that about 43 percent of women and 31 percent of men suffer sexual inadequacy.

Libido is more than the actual act of procreation, and while a person can have a libido or a high sex drive yet be unable to perform due to mechanical problems such as erectile dysfunction or vagina dryness, lacking in libido strikes closer to the heart of human existence and can be a symptom of deep emotional and spiritual malaise.

Below are some of the possible reasons for low libido:

* Effects the adrenal glands

The list is by no means exhaustive and there is not room too discuss all the above in full detail. I think it goes without saying that a trip to the doctor to get your hormones levels and various body functions checked is always advisable. Hormones can be low for many reasons.

16 of the 25 items on the list affect the adrenal gland. And guess what? Adrenal function and libido go hand in hand. Stress, exhaustion, emotional drainage, mental and psychological fatigue all pull on the adrenal gland to secrete more energy hormones. However the adrenal gland is one of the chief sites of sex hormone production, and seems the body puts energy creation before sex hormone production.

So it’s energy creation first then hormones. Look at the list again and consider the impact they have on creating energy in the body. For each of them if there is no peaceful resolution and effective renewal of energy, the adrenal gland goes into hyper-drive to try and provide a higher than normal need for energy. Not much room left for making sex hormones. For a person to have a libido they need adrenal energy and adrenal sex hormone production.

Luckily Mother Nature provides a solution in the way of herbs. Herbs such as Withania, Rhemania, Siberian Ginseng and herbal Liquorice have a proven effect on the adrenal gland function to do two things. First they stop the gland exhausting its ability to make energy and sex hormones, and secondly, if a person is suffering from adrenal fatigue, the herbs can help restore the gland back to its normal function.

B vitamins and vitamin C are needed also for the adrenal gland to function at is optimum.

Libido is so important and vital to life. Those who have a reduced libido appear to know and feel they are missing out on something - a deep vital connection to that special person they love. And consider this - being in love with someone and not being able to be intimate with them places a far greater strain on a person than it does being single and wishing for a partner. 

Massage, relaxation techniques, counselling, meditation, tantra, romance, resolving unresolved issues and conflicts, can all help rejuvenate a person’s libido.

I have had clients respond well to these solutions and especially do well on the herbs and nutrients I mentioned above. If you have libido issues please try one of the above or if you need some confidential advice pertinent to your libido issues, email me at shane@nhlab.co.nz and I can respond with my natural therapy thoughts.

Clinicians also have some products which specifically support Libido function - email apple@nhlab.co.nz to find out more.