By Bell Lifestyle

We live in a culture immersed in a sea of sexual images from television, movies and the often loose standards of Hollywood. We are expected to perform sexually at any age and equate happiness and virility with our sexual prowess. This intense psychological pressure itself can be a cause of sexual dysfunction. All the while we are bombarded by magazines, movies, and pictures showing the hot young female whose libido is inexhaustible or the stud athlete that gets any girl he desires.

So what are the six reasons for a bad sex life?

1. Excessive expectations and the mental stress to perform.

Perhaps at seventy we are not designed to have sex three times a day or spend endless hours dreaming about sex. This may be logical but unacceptable to us. In conjunction with unreasonable expectations, much of sex is in our heads, so please don’t psyche yourself out and think you should not enjoy sex just because you are sixty, seventy and eighty. Remember, Charlie Chaplin had two kids in his seventies.

2. A constant barrage of artificial hormones found in meat, eggs and dairy products.

In effect, young girls are starting their menstrual cycles at a younger age due to the influence of estrogen and artificial hormones. Early sexual development at nine and ten year’s old means women may be in menopause much earlier. Consequently, young women are putting themselves more at risk of estrogen dominance or a failure of the ovaries to make enough estrogen and progesterone. Men, on the other hand, are designed for low estrogen and high testosterone not the other way around. However, men are increasingly being more exposed to artificial hormones in foods and chemicals.

3. The increase of electrical frequencies being expelled from computers, cell phones, and many other electronic gadgets have reduced sperm counts and testosterone levels dramatically in the last thirty years.

We have traded exercise and physical exercise for hand held computer devices that may be causing a degree of both brain stress and suppression of hormones. After all, sex function begins in the brain by the release of the pituitary hormones LH and FSH. LH and FSH are luteinizing hormones that signal the testicles to make testosterone and follicle stimulating hormones necessary for the production of sperm. For women, these hormones control ovulation, as well as the menstrual cycle. In short, poor pituitary hormones cause a deficiency in testosterone and sperm production for men, as well as potentially interrupt the menstrual cycle of women. So brain function is very important for a healthy sex life.

4. Synthetic hormones also elevate prolactin and depress oxytocin which can dramatically affect sexual desire.

Oxytocin, a posterior pituitary hormone, elevates sexual desire and is often called the love hormone. Prolactin, an anterior pituitary hormone can suppress sexual desire. Foods containing monosodium glutamate and Aspartame elevate Prolactin, consequently constraining our brain functions necessary for our libido or sexual desires. Both the penis and clitoris need to be engorged with blood to achieve erectile ability and nourishment necessary for the maintenance of nerves for maximum sensitivity. Maximum sensitivity, in turn, stimulates pleasure leading to the release of more hormones. So circulation is very important for a healthy sex life. Lack of exercise, smoking, and too much starch and sugar intake can all decrease blood flow and contribute to a bad sex life.

5. Back injuries, particularly affecting the nerves of the lower back can affect sexual function.

I recommend you have a qualified orthopedic surgeon look at the area and repair it by stretching to open up the vertebrae. Minimal invasive orthoscopic surgery is also another alternative to relieve any pressure on these important nerves.

6. Last, but not least, is your hormone levels. For men it is total and free testosterone and serum estrogen.

We don’t want testosterone turning into estrogen. If they are low I recommend safe bio-identical hormones. Also, it is good to check the PSA in men and in women all the forms of estrogen including estrone, estradiol and estriol.

So here it is folks in one paragraph. Always believe you are vital and alive and can have a healthy sex life. Avoid smoking, excessive starch and sugar, and exercise moderately. Stay away from too many electronic toys and computers. Don’t carry your cell phone in your pocket. Eat mostly vegetables, organic fruits, and grass fed meats. Stay away from synthetic hormones and hormone like products. Measure your hormone levels including oxytocin and prolactin, estrogen, total and FREE testosterone and PSA. Some supplements are good for sexual function. Eroxil, Eroysin, horny goat weed, grape seed extract, L- carnitine, fish oils, mixed tocopherol vitamin E, and L-arginine. Lastly, do not forget to stretch daily to relieve lower back tensions.

Dr. Daniel Amin and John Grey, the author of Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus both said that sex two to three times a week increases your life by ten years. Wow – not a bad way to increase your life don’t you think?