Improved Sexual Well-being through Yoga Practice: Insights into Its Advantages
Laidback Guide to Yoga's Influence on Your Love Life
The web is brimming with health blogs championing yoga for a better bonk life, and vibrant testimonials about the ancient practice enhancing bedroom experiences – often to eye-popping extents. But does the science back up these claims? Let's dive in.
Embracing the Power of Yoga
Recent research is shedding light on yoga's myriad health benefits, which range from easing conditions like depression, stress, and anxiety to managing metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and thyroid issues.
More complex mechanisms behind these perks have surfaced, revealing that yoga:
- Attenuates the body's inflammatory response
- Alters the genetic expression linked to stress
- Reduces cortisol levels
- Boosts a protein maintaining brain health and growth
And because it simply feels fantastic, to say the least about the phenomenon known as the "coregasm" during yoga, let's not forget.
But what about its impact on our intimate lives? Let's investigate.
Yoga and Women's Intimacy
A study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine found that yoga could indeed boost sexual function, and particularly for women aged 45 or above. The research focused on 40 women who self-reported on their sexual function before and after a 12-week exercise regimen involving 22 poses (yogasanas), including trikonasana, bhujangasana, and ardha matsyendra mudra.
By the study's conclusion, the women's sexual function had markedly improved in desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain, with 75 percent of the women reporting an enhancement in their bedroom escapades.
Yoga and Men's Intimacy
This sexual rejuvenation doesn't exclusively cater to the fairer sex. A similar study led by Dr. Vikas Dhikav, a neurologist at the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi, India, examined the effects of a 12-week yoga program on sexual satisfaction for men.
At the study's end, the participants reported a significant improvement in sexual function across aspects such as desire, satisfaction, performance, and orgasm. The research also found that yoga served as a viable and nonpharmacological alternative to fluoxetine (branded as Prozac) for treating premature ejaculation, using a comparison trial.
How Yoga Stimulates Your Love Life
Researchers at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, UBC in Vancouver, Canada, offer insight into the underlying mechanisms propelling yoga's intimate benefits.
Renowned professor Lori Brotto and her colleagues explain that yoga regulates attention and breathing, reduces anxiety and stress, and manages the nervous system to induce relaxation, all factors intertwined with sexual response.
The reviewers assert that these effects create a fertile ground for improvements in sexual health. Additionally, yoga fosters psychological growth, with female practitioners less likely to objectify their bodies and more inclined to be physically self-aware, attributes potentially associated with increased sexual responsibility, assertiveness, and desire.
Unlock Your Pelvic Potential – Practical Poses
While talk of releasing blocked energy in the root chakra and kundalini energy may not offer extensive scientific evidence, other yogic concepts might tickle the skeptics' curiosity. Moola bandha is a case in point.
In her review, Dr. Brotto explains that moola bandha stimulates the sensory-motor and autonomic nervous system in the pelvic area, promoting parasympathetic activity. The practice innervates the gonads and perineal body/cervix and has been associated with relieving period pain, childbirth pain, and sexual difficulties in women as well as addressing premature ejaculation and controlling testosterone secretion in men.
Many sex therapy centers recommend moola bandha to help women become more in tune with their genital pleasure sensations, thereby enhancing desire and overall sexual satisfaction. Another yogic pose facilitating pelvic floor muscle strengthening is bhekasana, or the "frog pose."
This position may alleviate symptoms of vaginismus, a condition marked by the involuntary contraction of vaginal muscles preventing women from enjoying penetrative sex, or vestibulodynia, pain in the vestibule of the vagina.
Quantifying the Evidence: A Closer Look
While getting carried away by yoga's potential intimate perks is tempting, it's important to bear in mind the vast gap between the prevalence of anecdotal evidence versus empirical research.
The Internet brims with tales of "quite honestly, life-changing" sexual encounters, but studies exploring yoga's benefits for sexual function remain limited in quantity. Many studies focus on small sample sizes without a control group, but more recent research has witnessed stronger evidence, particularly for women with concurrent medical conditions like metabolic syndrome.
For instance, a randomized controlled trial assessing the impact of yoga in women with metabolic syndrome revealed "significant improvement" in arousal and lubrication for participants practicing yoga, compared to no such improvement in the non-yoga group. Studies examining yoga's benefits for women with multiple sclerosis have also proven fruitful.
Final Verdict
Though more concrete evidence is needed to establish yoga's reputation as the miraculous cure-all for our intimate lives, the research suggests promising potential. Incorporating yoga into our daily routines may just be the key to a more sensual, fulfilling life. And who can argue against that? So, roll out your mat, light a scented candle, and prepare for an evening of unparalleled bliss. Now, who's ready for some downward-facing doggy style? Wink, wink.
Yoga's influence on sexual health is gaining attention, as scientific research uncovers its links to improved sexual function. For instance, a study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine found that yoga enhanced sexual function in older women, and another study led by Dr. Vikas Dhikav showed similar benefits for men. The mechanisms behind these effects include yoga's ability to regulate attention, breathing, and stress levels, which can promote relaxation and optimize sexual response. Moreover, certain yoga poses, such as moola bandha and bhekasana, are recommended to alleviate sexual difficulties and pelvic floor issues in both men and women. However, while anecdotal reports of yoga's intimate benefits are abundant, more comprehensive, empirical research is needed to decisively attribute these effects to yoga practice.
