![]() ![]() It probably comes as no surprise that for many women, It’s not just your Follicular and Luteal Phases where patterns in sex drive can be seen. If we look at the blue line on the hormone graph above, because progesterone (aka the passion killer) levels are high during your Luteal phase, it stands to reason that sex drive may decrease at this time, too. “In fact, looking at the menstrual cycle as a whole, progesterone has the strongest hormonal effect of all on libido, showing a powerful curbing effect and really driving down desire after ovulation.” “When it comes to desire, we have seen that when progesterone is high after ovulation, there’s a clear drop in desire,” says James. “Unfortunately, we don’t yet know for sure and more studies are needed.”īecause progesterone (aka the passion killer) levels are high during your Luteal phase, it stands to reason that sex drive is down at this time, too When sex drive is lower This is also surging at the same time, so the rise in libido could be of a combination of all three hormones,” explains James. “Finally, there’s luteinising hormone, which is the hormone that triggers ovulation. In many human behaviours including sexual arousal, trust and romantic attachment. Oxytocin (sometimes referred to as the ‘love hormone’ or ‘cuddle chemical’) acts as a chemical messenger and has an “The hormone oxytocin is also peaking mid-cycle, so one theory is that oestrogen and oxytocin work together to trigger desire.” “It’s not just oestrogen making its presence felt at this point in your cycle,” says James. The magic 3?īut oestrogen shouldn’t necessarily take all the credit for that additional va va voom. It can rise by more than 800% up to ovulation, so it’s no wonder you feel the impact. If you’re wondering how much oestrogen is running through your system, according to It’s also the point in your cycle when oestrogen – the sex-driving hormone we mentioned above – is rising, up to a peak at ovulation. “This makes evolutionary sense because it’s also the time you’re most fertile, so most likely to conceive,” says Professor James. , we usually feel our highest levels of sexual desire right at the end of our Follicular Phase, in the five days leading up to ovulation – so slap bang in the middle of our cycles. When sex drive is highĪccording to Professor James and numerous other Both of those hormones fluctuate over the course of a menstrual cycle (see graph below). In a nutshell, it turns out that estradiol, which is a type of oestrogen, seemed to positively correlate with sexual appetite, while progesterone seemed to powerfully suppress sexual desire. They then looked at each woman’s levels of the two main menstrual cycle hormones, oestrogen and progesterone. , as well as tracking participants’ menstrual cycles, James and his team collected saliva samples to understand hormone levels and gave women a daily questionnaire on sexual interaction, desire and activity. , who studied the effects of hormones, sex drive and the menstrual cycle with his team at the University of California, there are definite trends in sex drive, dictated by two key hormones – oestrogen and progesterone. Here’s a round-up of when and why… Our survey says But there are certain points in our menstrual cycles where we’re statistically more likely to be up for it. When it comes to our sex drives, it’s no surprise that ‘it’s complicated’, with social factors, sleep, stress and hormone levels all having an impact. Your hormones play a major role in how frisky you feel across your menstrual cycle, but they’re not the only thing driving your desire, as we discover… ![]()
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