Improved Sexual Function through Yoga Practice: Insights and Advantages
Yoga and its Influence on Sexual Wellness: A Closer Look
In the expansive digital landscape, wellness blogs frequently suggest yoga as a means to enhance sexual experiences. Personal testimonies abound, often claiming significant improvements. However, is scientific research supporting these assertions? We delve into the subject.
Modern research is beginning to unveil the myriad health benefits of ancient yoga practices. Conditions such as stress, anxiety, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and thyroid issues have been linked to yoga's therapeutic effects.
Recent studies further investigate the underlying mechanisms behind these benefits. Collaborative efforts have revealed that yoga reduces the body's inflammatory response, alters genetic expression related to stress, lowers cortisol levels, and boosts brain-supporting proteins.
Yoga's physical allure imbues feelings of revitalization, rejuvenation, and pleasure. The hyped phrase "coregasm" during yoga practices strength intuitive knowledge that it can sometimes offer extraordinary physiological pleasure.
With its potential benefits established, one might wonder if yoga can also improve sexual performance. Let us examine the research.
Enhancing Sexual Function in Women
A study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine explored the impact of 12 weeks of yoga on 40 women, who self-reported on their sexual function before and after yoga sessions. Post-12 weeks, women reported significant improvements in all sections of the Female Sexual Function Index, including desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain. As many as 75% of these women experienced an improvement in their sex lives after yoga training.
The yoga regimen involved rigorous training in 22 poses, or yogasanas, believed to bolster core abdominal muscles, improve digestion, strengthen pelvic floor muscles, and elevate mood. Poses such as trikonasana, bhujangasana, and ardha matsyendra mudra were among those included in the regimen.
Enhancing Sexual Function in Men
Yoga benefits men, too. An analogous study led by neurologist Dr. Vikas Dhikav from the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi, India, examined the effects of a 12-week yoga program on the sexual satisfaction of men.
Post 12 weeks, the participants reported significant improvement in their sexual function as evaluated by the standard Male Sexual Quotient. Improvements were observed across all aspects of male sexual satisfaction, including desire, intercourse satisfaction, confidence, performance, partner synchronization, erection, ejaculatory control, and orgasm.
Similarly, a comparative trial led by the same research team found that yoga serves as a viable, non-pharmacological alternative to fluoxetine (Prozac) for treating premature ejaculation. A mix of 15 yoga poses, ranging from simpler ones like Kapalbhati to more complex ones like dhanurasana (the "bow pose"), were used in the study.
The Foundation of Yoga's Sexual Benefits
How does yoga influence one's sexual life, exactly? A review of existing literature led by researchers at the University of British Columbia's Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology offers insights into the sexual-enhancing mechanisms of yoga.
Dr. Lori Brotto, a professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at UBC, is the first author of the review.
Dr. Brotto and her colleagues explain that yoga regulates attention and breathing, lowers anxiety and stress, and moderates - stimulating the part of the nervous system that induces relaxation.
Such effects, they argue, are associated with improvements in sexual response. Furthermore, the review identifies psychological mechanisms at play. "Female practitioners of yoga have been found to be less likely to objectify their bodies," explain Dr. Brotto and her colleagues, "and to be more aware of their physical selves."
This self-awareness, in turn, may be linked to increased sexual responsibility, assertiveness, and desires.
Moola Bandha: A Key Concept
Stories involving energy blockages in root chakras and kundalini energy moving up and down the spine to produce ejaculation-free male orgasms lack rigorous scientific evidence. However, other yogic concepts might make more sense to skeptics. Moola Bandha is one such concept.
"Moola Bandha is a perineal contraction that stimulates the sensory-motor and autonomic nervous system in the pelvic region, thereby enforcing parasympathetic activity in the body," write Dr. Brotto and her colleagues in their review. "Specifically, moola bandha is thought to directly innervate the gonads and perineal body/cervix."
A video demonstrates the incorporation of this movement into a practice for pelvic floor muscles. Some studies cited by the researchers have suggested that practicing moola bandha relieves period pain, childbirth pain, and sexual difficulties in women, as well as treating premature ejaculation and controlling testosterone secretion in men.
Evidence Quality
While the tantalizing potential sexual benefits of yoga are enticing, it is essential to consider the vast disparity between empirical, or experimental, evidence and non-empirical, or anecdotal, evidence.
The Internet teems with anecdotal evidence, but the number of studies examining yoga's benefits for sexual function remains minimal. Additionally, most studies mentioned above, which found improvements in sexual satisfaction and function in both men and women, have a small sample size and lack a control group.
More recent studies, focusing on women with sexual dysfunction in addition to other conditions, have presented stronger evidence. For example, a randomized controlled trial examined the effects of yoga in women with metabolic syndrome, a group with a higher risk of sexual dysfunction.
For these women, a 12-week yoga program led to "significant improvement" in arousal and lubrication, whereas such improvements were not observed in the women who did not practice yoga.
Improvements were also seen in blood pressure, prompting the researchers to conclude that "yoga may be an effective treatment for sexual dysfunction in women with metabolic syndrome as well as for metabolic risk factors."
Another randomized trial focused on the sexual benefits of yoga for women living with multiple sclerosis. The participants underwent 3 months of yoga training, consisting of eight weekly sessions. Importantly, women in the yoga group "showed improvement in physical ability" and sexual function, "while women in the control group manifested exacerbated symptoms."
In conclusion, while the evidence is still evolving, the foundational building blocks for yoga's potential benefits for our bedroom lives appear promising. Until additional research sheds light on whether "yogasms" are a real possibility, incorporating yoga into our regular routines might be worth a try—and our pelvic muscles will surely appreciate it.
- The scientific community is delving into the potential benefits of yoga for sexual health, with research suggesting that regular yoga practice could improve sexual function in both men and women.
- Recent studies have uncovered that yoga positively impacts various sexual health aspects, including desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain in women, as well as improved sexual satisfaction, confidence, performance, and ejaculatory control in men.
- One proposed explanation for yoga's sexual benefits involves the activation of Moola Bandha, a contraction of the perineal muscles, which could stimulate the nervous system in the pelvic region, potentially leading to sexual dysfunction relief for both men and women.
