What causes lack of sexual stimulation in females?

You may be surprised to hear that the frequency of sexual intercourse doesn’t actually have anything to do with sexual desire or satisfaction. Essentially, if it's working for you and your partner, then there's no problem. Issues occur when you experience a significant drop of interest in sex and it’s having a negative impact on your life or relationship, which is causing you distress. There are many different situations that can cause a lack of sexual stimulation in women such as:

Physical Causes

• Sexual problems - If you experience pain during sex or an inability to orgasm, it can hamper sexual stimulation in females.
• Medical diseases - Numerous nonsexual diseases can also affect desire for sex, including arthritis, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease and neurological diseases.
• Medications - Certain medications such as those for depression, high blood pressure or even the contraceptive pill can contribute to a dip in sexual stimulation. If this may be the case, it’s worth discussing with your doctor about your options and if there are any alternatives that would have less of an effect on you or your low sex drive.
• Lifestyle habits - excess alcohol intake can cause a decrease in sex drive.
• Any surgery, especially one related to your breasts or your genital tract, can affect your body image and affect sexual stimulation.
• Fatigue

Hormone Changes

Changes in your hormone levels may alter your desire for sex. This can occur due to:

• Menopause: As women near menopause, levels of oestrogen begin to fall, which will lead to irritation, itching, and severe pain during sex, that in turn cause decreased libido. It’s actually a completely natural process to happen, especially as you start to head around the menopausal age since this is your body’s way of telling you no longer need to reproduce.
• Oestrogen: It's the primary female hormone and controls the development of female sex organs, regulates the menstrual cycle and helps to thicken the uterus lining ready for pregnancy. As women approach menopause (perimenopause) your oestrogen levels start to drop and you may experience low sex drive as well as vaginal dryness and painful sex.
• Progesterone: This is another female hormone that helps support pregnancy and control the menstrual cycle. Changing levels of this can impact sexual stimulation, which may link to a decrease in your libido.
• Testosterone: It affects the sex drive in both men and women. It tends to peak in women around their mid-20’s and decline thereafter until the menopausal phase, where it drops dramatically. Testosterone is part of what drives sexual fantasy and sexual desire.
• Post-baby coolness:This refers to the loss of sexual stimulation that happens after childbirth and it’s caused by hormonal changes and general trauma that happened during that period.

(Read: Natural ways to increase female libido)

Apart from the hormonal and physical factors, there are many psychological causes of fall in female libido, which include:

Stress: Stressful situations, such as job stress, peer pressure or even bereavement can leave you feeling like having sex is the last thing you want to do which is understandable. However, having sex actually releases unique endorphins that work to relax you and can ultimately improve your mood. It's important for not only your sex life but also your overall health that you address any issues with your doctor that leave you stressed for prolonged periods of time to help sort them out. This can help get your life back and get you sexually stimulated.

Relationship issues: These can range from partner performance problems and the birth of a child to a lack of emotional satisfaction in the relationship. With partner performance problems, men also have their fair share of problems including erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation. However, these can also have an impact on females who may be led to think it's their fault or that they aren’t attractive enough for their partner. This isn't the case and, although these issues aren’t ideal, they can be very easy to overcome through communicating with your partner and finding a solution that works for both of you, thus helping you improve your low sex drive.

Pregnancy: After having a baby, not only are you exhausted with the new responsibility of a completely dependent new-born who needs feeding around the clock, but the changes your body has been through may leave you feeling less attractive. You'll be pleased to know that both experiences shouldn’t last forever and before you know it your sex drive should be restored back to normal, for some women it just happens quicker than others.

Other Psychological Causes:

• Mental health problems, such as anxiety or depression
• Poor body image
• Low self-esteem
• History of physical or sexual abuse
• Previous negative sexual experiences
• Lack of connection with your partner

Essentially, sexual stimulation is more than just a physical response, it’s more of a psychological and emotional feeling. Letting yourself go and feeling good from within may just help you reach that point of pleasure you desire. Communicating with your partner is also a great way to break down any barriers, leaving you more comfortable and ultimately allows you to experience sexual stimulation with them. You can also seek the help of herbal and natural supplements to improve sexual stimulation.