Enhanced Sexual Function Through Yoga: Unveiling Its Advantages
Taking a dive into the world of wellness blogs, it's common to find suggestions promoting yoga for a boosted bedroom experience. But is there any substance to these claims? Let's investigate.
Modern research is slowly uncovering the numerous health benefits of the ancient practice of yoga. These benefits cover a wide range of conditions, such as stress, anxiety, depression, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and thyroid problems.
Recent studies have delved deeper, revealing that yoga lowers the body's inflammatory response, counters stress-inducing genetic expression, reduces cortisol levels, and boosts proteins that promote brain growth and health. It's safe to say that some effects just feel good.
Now, the question remains: can the yummy poses of yoga improve our sex lives? We crack the case open.
Yoga for Women's Sexual Function
Studies have shown that exercise, including yoga, can indeed improve sexual function – specifically in women over the age of 45. A well-known study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine put this to the test.
Over the course of 12 weeks, the study examined the effect of yoga on 40 women who self-reported their sexual function before and after yoga sessions.
At the end of the period, the women's sexual function had significantly improved across all aspects of the Female Sexual Function Index, including desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, and satisfaction, to name a few.
As many as 75 percent of the women reported improvements in their sex life after completing the yoga training.
The women were trained on 22 poses, or yogasanas, which are believed to improve core abdominal muscles, improve digestion, strengthen the pelvic floor, and improve mood. Among these poses are trikonasana (triangle pose), bhujangasana (snake pose), and ardha matsyendra mudra (half spinal twist). You can find the full list of asanas here.
Yoga for Men's Sexual Function
Yoga's benefits aren't reserved for women alone. An analogous study led by Dr. Vikas Dhikav, a neurologist at the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi, India, explored the effects of a 12-week yoga program on the sexual satisfaction of men.
At the end of the program, the participants reported a significant improvement in their sexual function, as evaluated by the standard Male Sexual Quotient. Improvements were observed across all aspects of male sexual satisfaction, such as desire, intercourse satisfaction, performance, confidence, partner synchronization, erection, ejaculatory control, and orgasm.
Additionally, a comparative trial carried out by the same team of researchers found that yoga is a viable and non-pharmacological alternative to fluoxetine for treating premature ejaculation.
The yoga poses used in this trial ranged from easier ones, such as Kapalbhati (which involves sitting with a straight back, chest open, eyes closed, hands on knees, and contracted abdominal muscles), to more complex ones, like dhanurasana (the "bow pose").
Yoga Mechanisms for Better Sex
But why does yoga enhance our sex lives? A review of existing literature led by researchers at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, offers some insight.
Dr. Lori Brotto, a professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at UBC, is the first author of the review. Brotto and colleagues explain that yoga regulates attention, breathing, and lowers anxiety and stress. These effects are associated with improvements in sexual response.
Furthermore, there are psychological mechanisms at play. Brotto and her colleagues explain that female practitioners of yoga are less likely to objectify their bodies and are more aware of their physical selves. This self-awareness may, in turn, foster sexual responsibility, assertiveness, and potentially increased sexual desires.
Moola Bandha: The Secret to Better Sex?
While some stories of releasing blocked energy and kundalini energy lack rigorous scientific evidence, other yogic concepts may make more sense to skeptics like us. Moola bandha is one such concept.
Moola bandha is a perineal contraction that stimulates the nervous system, enforcing parasympathetic activity in the pelvic region. Specifically, it is thought to directly affect the gonads and perineal body/cervix.
Poses that incorporate moola bandha, such as yoga mudra, have been suggested to help relieve menstrual and childbirth pain, sexual difficulties in women, and to treat premature ejaculation in men. The video below includes the movement for the pelvic floor muscles:
Many sex therapy centers recommend moola bandha practice to help women become more aware of their genital area sensations, potentially improving desire and sexual experience.
Yoga mudra instructions
Another yoga pose that strengthens the pelvic floor muscles is bhekasana (frog pose). This pose may help ease the symptoms of vestibulodynia, or pain in the vestibule of the vagina, as well as vaginismus, which is the involuntary contraction of the vaginal muscles that prevents women from enjoying penetrative sex.
How Reliable is the Evidence?
It's easy to get carried away by the potential sexual benefits of yoga, but it's essential to keep in mind the significant discrepancy between empirical and anecdotal evidence.
While the Internet is filled with anecdotal stories, studies that have trialed the benefits of yoga for sexual function remain scarce. Most of the studies mentioned above have a small sample size and lack a control group. However, more recent studies, focusing on women with sexual dysfunction and accompanying conditions, have yielded stronger evidence.
In randomized controlled trials, yoga has been shown to significantly improve sexual arousal and lubrication for women with metabolic syndrome, while such improvements were not observed in the control group. Furthermore, a randomized controlled study found that yoga may improve the sexual function and physical ability of women living with multiple sclerosis, while the control group experienced exacerbated symptoms.
While we need more scientific evidence, the evidence we do have suggests that there might be some merit to incorporating yoga into our daily lives. Give it a try – your pelvic muscles (and maybe your partner) will thank you.
- The journal, The Journal of Sexual Medicine, has published a study that shows exercise, including yoga, can improve sexual function in women over the age of 45.
- In the study, 40 women who self-reported their sexual function before and after yoga sessions showed significant improvements across all aspects of the Female Sexual Function Index.
- Among the yoga poses used in this study, 75 percent of the women reported improvements in their sex life after completing the training.
- The benefits of yoga for male sexual function have also been explored, with a study led by Dr. Vikas Dhikav finding significant improvements in male sexual satisfaction across all aspects after a 12-week yoga program.
