It can be tough to find a balance if you and your partner have different sex drives. Nobody wants to feel pressured into having sex when you're not in the mood, and nobody wants their partner to feel neglected.
Understanding Your Libido
While having sex once every two weeks could completely satisfy one couple, for another it might be an indication that something is amiss. Your libido can be affected by biological, psychological, and social variables brought by hormone fluctuations, work stress, or anything else life decides to throw at you. Even those most sexually active are likely to discover that it varies for them from day to day too.
What Impacts Your Libido?
There could come a time in your life where you experience periods of “lower-than-normal” sex drive. It could be related to pregnancy and delivery, other hormonal changes, or health issues. For those who suffer from illnesses like Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, Endometriosis, or Erectile Dysfunction may find difficulty in having a regularly active sex life (and that’s totally okay!).
Individual characteristics like low self-confidence and self-esteem can have an impact on your sex drive, while interpersonal ones such as losing attraction to your partner or having miscommunication, can add different effects onto our libido.
How Can Mismatched Libidos Affect Your Relationship?
Your relationship won't necessarily suffer as a result of having different sexual desires. Many couples are flexible enough to develop solutions to satisfy and meet each other's (changing and varying) sexual wants and desires.
It's not always that simple. Resentment and communication breakdown may result from a sex drive mismatch. When one of you desires sex more than the other, it may cause uncertainty, hesitation, and tension between you both.
Not having sex in a long time can make you feel uneasy about starting an intimate relationship and then performing. If this is the case, your relationship could require some work and care, especially in terms of intimacy.
Check out our blog post: “Mismatched Libidos: how to deal with them.” and try out our different tips!