Stress levels play an important role in hormone production. When stress is high, cortisol is produced. We know that high levels of cortisol can cause stress heating and weight to pack on around the mid-section of the body. Someone who carries excess weight in the stomach area likely has high levels of cortisol in their system. It is no wonder then, that sex is also impacted by stress, as well as weight and cortisol levels.

Stress

One of the things about living right now compared to fifty years ago, or a hundred years ago, is that stress plays a much more key role in our lives. Most people are in a constant struggle with time, traffic, work deadlines, personal schedules, children’s schedules and more. We are always in a hurry now. We have calendars and reminders programmed into our cell phones, which we take everywhere with us. Our boss can reach us at any time, so can that mother-in-law that drives you crazy.

Stress takes its toll on your physical health and well-being. We overeat when we are feeling pushed to our limits. We reward ourselves with ice cream because we made it through another day. It is an achievement, but food isn’t necessarily helping with the stress. In fact, eating an over-abundance of sugary, carb-loaded foods are horrible for your body.

Carbs turn into sugar in the body and push your pancreas to produce insulin in mass quantity to keep up with the need to burn off the sugars in your blood stream. Many people end-up with type 2 diabetes, most people have excess cortisol released in the body as a result of the stress. Cortisol will cause you to develop a ring around your middle that makes you especially susceptible to heart disease.

Another side effect of stress is that our sex lives take a nose dive because we just don’t have the time, energy, and frankly aren’t in the mood, due to stress. Stress hormones in excess in the body cause the you to lack the motivation for sex. They can be a natural switch into the ‘off position’ for most people when it comes to even thinking about sex. Sadly, sex is a great way to reduce stress. If you can’t get yourself in the mood though, sex isn’t going to happen for most people. How many of us get home from a long day at work, chase kids around the house to get their homework done, while making dinner, talking to someone on the phone, cleaning house, finally getting kids bathed and ready for bed, and finally drop into bed ourselves? It is no wonder that sex isn’t happening today, like it used to.

Sexual Dysfunction

For some people, sickness and health problems can lead to a lack of libido. If you have high blood pressure or clogged arteries, you may suffer from erectile dysfunction. Men be clear on this! Erectile dysfunction is always a symptom of an underlying issue that is far more important. Many men do not stop and get checked thoroughly so that underlying issues get treated. Erectile dysfunction is often a sign that your body is trying to tell you there is a blood flow issue somewhere, and it could be putting you at risk of heart-attack or stroke. Taking a pill to have an erection, while doing nothing about the underlying issue is a serious, and often fatal, mistake.

Women who are suffering from a lack of libido is usually stress, or hormonal (which can also be a result of stress). For women who are entering menopausal years, there are hormonal changes that can be addressed between you and your doctor. If, however, the issue is more likely stress-related, then you are like millions of other Americans.

Cortisol is released as a result of stress, and this affects both men and women. We gain belly fat as a result of this issue. As we gain weight, we feel more stress and emotional upset because we are getting fat and it takes a huge emotional toll on people. Sadly, the more we are emotional, the more stress we feel. The more stress we feel, the more cortisol is released and the more we eat. Then we feel guilty and the cycle repeats itself over and over. It’s sad but true. This chain of events will sound familiar to most people. The worse you feel about your body image, the less likely you will feel like having sex either. It’s a very vicious cycle.

The way out of a cycle is to break it somewhere and start forming new habits. This is possible. First, you must admit that there is an issue or problem. Until you admit that there is something going on with you that is not right, you cannot change it. When you do make the choice to acknowledge what’s going on, then you must choose to do something about it. When you make that decision, you’ll need to be prepared with how to change. It isn’t as simple as willing yourself to be better.

Breaking any cycle is tough because, as in this situation, there is a lot going on. The bottom line is that stress has pushed you into habits that aren’t healthy physically or emotionally. Tackling the stress should be the thing that is addressed first if you are going to be able to effectively change what is happening to your life and your physical fitness. Remember, you have but one body and when it is worn-out you don’t have another one you can swap for. You are taking years off your life by not dealing with stress, so let’s talk about ways that you can address your stress and help your sex life in the process.

Relieving Stress

First things first, you need something that helps take the edge off. Many Americans turn to addictive self-medication, such as alcohol or prescription drugs that are very addictive. Not only are these addictive, but they are not good for your body either. When we are talking about making you a healthier person, who has an improved body image and sex life, being addicted to something is probably not the best way to go. It absolutely is not the best answer.

Everyone needs a few minutes of alone time. I don’t care who you are, you can find a few minutes alone each day. A parent may find five minutes in their car, on their lunch break, listening to the radio to be the best quality time they can have each day. That five minutes is a great start. Find your five minutes somewhere in the day and it may not be scheduled. You might grab those few minutes as they present themselves. Close your eyes and meditate. Enjoy, really enjoy, the food you are eating. Breathe. Practicing inhaling deeply and exhaling with a purpose during those five minutes. While it seems silly, you are oxygenating your body when you do this, and it makes a huge difference on your mood and how your body functions at the cellular level.

This practice can help lower stress. Now let’s talk about natural alternatives that will help get you on a path to a calmer life.

Eat better

Do your best to start incorporating fresh fruits and vegetables into your diet. A salad at lunch instead of a fast food sandwich is a big step in the right direction. Avoid drinks that are loaded with sugar and drink plenty of water. Your body is more able to ward-off the things that get you down and cause stress symptoms when it has proper fuel to function with. If you are craving something, there is a strong likelihood that this is the one thing you should avoid at all costs, because you are likely addicted to it. Yes, carbs are addictive. Sugar is addictive. Drink water in place of a soda. Add some fruit to your water bottle and enjoy the natural taste and sweetness. Make sure that you are getting enough calories, because most people who are getting a belly tend to cut their caloric intake which sends the body into a hoarding mode. Fats will be stored, not released. Strange as it may seem, you must eat in order to lose weight and you need to eat good foods. As your body gets vitamins and nutrients, your moods will improve, you’ll lose brain fog and your body will begin to feel better. Stress will start to lessen.

Supplement yourself

Most people do not get the nutrition that they need from food anymore. Even when you are eating better than you were before, your body will have an exceedingly difficult time getting the proper and necessary nutrition. Foods today are more processed, and soil is more tainted. Vegetables are picked long before they are ripe so that travel time to warehouses and stores is not going to cause spoilage. The problem with this is that those fruits and veggies aren’t nutrient dense like they were fifty years ago. We are eating foods that are far less nutritious than our forefathers did. Your grandparents’ vegetables were healthier because they likely grew them themselves or bought them from a local producer who picked tomatoes that morning and brought them to market. Taking supplements helps us to make-up for this lack of nutrition in our foods. Many supplements are important to improve your nervous system, brain function, and have been shown to help a great deal with ability to handle stress.

• Vitamins – The B vitamin family is especially important to healthy nerve function, neural activity and in creating red blood cells that keep your body functioning and your blood supply rich. Taking a multi-vitamin is essential. If you are someone with a chronic condition, they are especially important, and you might consider taking a formulation especially for you. Diabetic vitamin supplements, for example, have a special blend to help the diabetic person replace the necessary nutrients to help them, in larger doses than the average person needs.

• Supplements – There are many special supplements that are on the market that claim to help reduce stress. Probably one of the best on the market right now, that is natural, safe and non-addictive, is CBD oil. CBD can block messages the body sends from getting to the brain. This will help you stop a cycle of poor eating habits, smoking, and other things that can have a negative impact on your libido. CBD stops cravings, tackles pain and has an ability to stop constant signals from reaching the brain, which can cause the thoughts that give us stress. CBD can help you lessen the impact of your thoughts and the world around you and effectively reduce your stress levels. CBD products, such as Full Spectrum CBD, has also been shown to interact with the same systems and receptors in your body that work to supply the body with serotonin. Serotonin is largely responsible for keeping you in a great mood. When serotonin is high and annoying signals from the outside world are reduced, your libido can return to normal. This has been incredibly successful for many people. CBD and sex need more research but for now, it seems to play an incredibly positive role in helping people be able to enjoy healthier sex lives by removing the factors that have negative impact. With CBD oil libido responds positively, there is no doubt.
• Reduce pain – If you are in constant pain, due to a chronic condition, your libido is impacted directly from your pain, or the medications that you take for pain. Those who are suffering depression (emotional pain) and take prescription medication for this condition often report that they have a decreased libido. Again, CBD oil is a good substitute for physical pain and works to stop the signals to the brain that cause mood disorders. Many people suffering from chronic pain find that they can lead a life that is pain-free on CBD products. Also, CBD has been used to alleviate symptoms of common mood disorders such as depression and bipolar. With more research, it is possible that this will lead to better help for those who currently suffer from their conditions and the side-effects of their medications. CBD is not addictive, has no severe side-effects, and is legal.
• CBD products - are not addictive because they do not contain THC (tetrahydrocannabidiol). You cannot get high from using CBD products because of the lack of THC, which is the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. CBD is a natural product derived from the hemp plant and is both vegan and vegetarian friendly. It is legal in all fifty states, but there are some local jurisdictions that have disallowed its use in their municipalities. Check your local laws.

No matter who you are, or how bad your stress levels are, or how chaotic your life is, there is hope. If you can use supplements, vitamins and healthy eating to give yourself a fighting chance, while you start to slowly get better, you will absolutely see positive results in reducing your stress.

Move Slow

Don’t try to incorporate everything into your life at once. You can’t do something so chaotic and expect to have positive results. Incorporate things slowing and move purposefully. Buddhists talk a lot about moving with intention in your life. Walk with a purpose. Speak with a purpose. Practice being calm in the moment. Add some water to your diet. When you’ve been able to successfully add half a gallon of water to your diet per day, add something else.

Try cooking one healthier meal per week. Join one of the mail order food plans that will send you a box that has all the ingredients. This won’t add a trip to the grocery store or excessive planning. Maybe you spend fifteen minutes of your lunch break shopping their website and you order one or two meal plans. Then you relax until they show-up on your doorstep?

Add a supplement, such as CBD oil, to your daily routine and see just how it can enhance your mood and make life more enjoyable. So many people spend their lives surviving from one event to the next. When you are constantly putting out fires, so to speak, you aren’t really enjoying your life at all and that means you are truly living, you are surviving. Surviving a shipwreck means you are flailing and exhausted as you attempt to keep your head above water. This is the type of exhaustion that takes all your energy and reduces your libido. Take back your life by breaking the cycle with a great supplement, find it increasingly easier to take better care of yourself, and start being present in every moment of your life. Before you know it, you’ll find your libido back to normal, you’ll probably lose a little (or maybe even a lot) of weight, and you’ll have your spouse wondering what has gotten into you – in a good way.