Enhancing Sexual Well-being through Yoga Practice: Key Advantages Explored
Straight up, let's dive into the juicy details of whether yoga can really enhance your bedroom skills. The web's bursting at the seams with wellness bloggers swearing by yoga for a better sex life, but does the science actually back it up? Let's find out.
Nowadays, we're only just starting to understand the numerous benefits of this ancient practice called yoga. It's said to help with various issues like stress, anxiety, and metabolic syndrome, to name a few. Recent research has also dug deeper into how yoga works its magic.
It turns out yoga can lower your body's inflammatory response, counteract stress-inducing genetic expression, decrease cortisol levels, and boost a protein that keeps your brain young and healthy. And let's not forget, it just feels damn good. Some even claim it can lead to mind-blowing "coregasms" during practice.
So, now you're intrigued - can yoga actually improve your sex life? Let's explore the research.
Yoga for the ladies
One often-cited study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine found that yoga can indeed improve sexual function, especially in women over 45. The study analyzed the effects of 12 weeks of yoga on 40 women who self-reported on their sexual function before and after the yoga sessions.
After the 12-week period, these ladies' sexual function improved across the board in areas like desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain. A whopping 75% of the women reported an improvement in their sex life after yoga training.
The women were taught 22 poses, or yogasanas, believed to improve core abdominal muscles, boost digestion, strengthen the pelvic floor, and improve mood. Some example poses include the triangle pose, snake pose, and half spinal twist. You can find the full list here.
Yoga for the gentlemen
Guys, don't feel left out! Yoga benefits aren't just for the ladies. A study led by Dr. Vikas Dhikav, a neurologist in New Delhi, India, examined the effects of a 12-week yoga program on the sexual satisfaction of men.
By the end of the study period, the participants reported a significant improvement in their sexual function, as evaluated by the standard Male Sexual Quotient. Yoga improved desire, intercourse satisfaction, performance, confidence, partner synchronization, erection, ejaculatory control, and orgasm.
The same team of researchers also found that yoga is a viable and nonpharmacological alternative to Prozac for treating premature ejaculation. The study included 15 yoga poses, ranging from easier ones like Kapalbhati to more complex ones like the bow pose.
How does yoga boost your bedroom game?
So, exactly how does yoga improve your sex life? A review of existing literature led by researchers at the University of British Columbia helps shed some light on it.
The review explains that yoga regulates attention and breathing, lowers anxiety and stress, and manages the nervous system to control relaxation and metabolic processes. All of these effects are associated with improvements in sexual response, so it's "reasonable that yoga might also be associated with improvements in sexual health."
The review also points out psychological mechanisms at play. Female yoga practitioners are thought to be less likely to objectify their bodies and more aware of their physical selves. This awareness can lead to increased sexual responsibility and assertiveness, potentially even boosting sexual desires.
Focus on the moola bandha
While tales of releasing blocked energy in root chakras are still lacking in rigorous scientific evidence, other yogic concepts might have more credibility. Moola bandha is one such concept.
Moola bandha is a perineal contraction that stimulates the nervous system in the pelvic region, promoting relaxation. According to research, it directly innervates the gonads and perineal body/cervix. Practicing moola bandha has been linked to relieving pain during menstruation, childbirth, and sexual difficulties in women, as well as controlling testosterone secretion in men.
Moola bandha has similarities to Kegel exercises, which are commonly recommended by sex therapy centers to help women become more aware of their genital arousal sensations, leading to improved desire and sexual experience.
Another yoga pose known to strengthen pelvic floor muscles is bhekasana, or the frog pose. In addition to enhancing sexual experience, this pose may help alleviate symptoms of vaginismus and vestibulodynia.
The truth about the evidence
While the potential sexual benefits of yoga are exciting, it's essential to consider the amount of experimental evidence versus anecdotal evidence. The web is flooded with anecdotes, but the studies examining yoga's benefits for sexual function are still relatively scarce.
That said, more recently, studies focusing on women with sexual dysfunction and other conditions, like metabolic syndrome, have yielded stronger evidence for yoga's positive impact on sexual health.
So, while we might not have definitive proof of "yogasms," there's enough evidence to warrant incorporating yoga into our daily routines. Give it a shot, and your pelvic muscles (and maybe even more) will thank you for it!
- Recent research suggests that yoga can potentially improve sexual health, with one study in The Journal of Sexual Medicine revealing that twelve weeks of yoga improved sexual function in women over 45.
- For men, a study led by Dr. Vikas Dhikav found that a twelve-week yoga program significantly improved sexual satisfaction in participants, enhancing desire, intercourse satisfaction, performance, and orgasm.
- According to a review of existing literature by researchers at the University of British Columbia, yoga's regulation of attention, breathing, anxiety, and stress, along with its impact on the nervous system, could contribute to improved sexual response and sexual health.
