Current research is only beginning to unravel the many health benefits of the ancient practice of yoga. Recent studies show that yoga reduces the body’s inflammatory response, counteracts gene expression that predisposes people to stress, reduces cortisol, and boosts a protein that helps the brain grow and stay young and healthy.
In addition to all these benefits, practicing yoga makes us feel good. Getting in touch with our bodies can be comforting, restorative, and physically pleasurable. However, can yoga poses improve our sex life? Let’s take a look at what the science says.
Yoga improves sexual function in women
A study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine found that yoga could improve sexual function, especially in women over the age of 45. The study examined the effects of 12 weeks of yoga in 40 women who reported on their sexual function before and after yoga sessions.
After the 12-week period, the women’s sexual function had improved significantly in all sections of the Female Sexual Function Index: “desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain.”
Up to 75% of women reported an improvement in their sex life after yoga training.
As part of the study, all of the women were trained in 22 poses, or yogasanas , which are believed to improve core abdominal muscles, improve digestion, strengthen the pelvic floor and improve mood. Some of these poses were: trikonasana (also known as the triangle pose), bhujangasana (the snake) and ardha matsyendra mudra (lord of the fish).
Yoga improves sexual function in men
Yoga doesn’t just benefit women. A similar study led Dr. Vikas Dhikav, a neurologist at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi, India, to examine the effects of a 12-week yoga program on men’s sexual satisfaction.
At the end of the study period, the participants reported feeling a significant improvement in their sexual function, as assessed by the standard male sexual quotient.
The researchers found improvements in all aspects of male sexual satisfaction: “desire, sexual satisfaction, performance, confidence, partner synchronization, erection, ejaculatory control, and orgasm.”
Additionally, a comparative trial conducted by the same team of researchers found that yoga is a viable, non-pharmacological alternative to fluoxetine (Prozac) for treating premature ejaculation.
It included 15 yoga poses, from the easiest (such as Kapalbhati, which involves sitting with your back straight in a cross-legged position, with your chest open, eyes closed, hands on your knees, and abdominal muscles contracted) to more complex (such as dhanurasana, or the “bow pose”).
Mechanisms of yoga for better sex
Exactly how does yoga improve our sex lives? A review of the existing literature led by researchers from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada, helps us elucidate some of its mechanisms.
Experts explain that yoga regulates attention and breathing, reduces anxiety and stress and regulates parasympathetic nervous activity , that is, it activates the part of the nervous system that tells the body to stop, relax, rest, digest, lower your heart rate and trigger any other metabolic processes that induce relaxation.
“All of these effects are associated with improvements in sexual response,” the authors write, so it is “reasonable that yoga is also associated with improvements in sexual health.”
There are also psychological mechanisms at play. “It has been found that women who practice yoga are less likely to criticize their bodies and to be more aware of their physical selves.” “This trend, in turn, may be associated with increased sexual responsibility and assertiveness, and perhaps sexual desires.”
Can we trust these evidences?
Studies that have actually proven the benefits of yoga for sexual function remain scarce . Furthermore, most of the studies mentioned above – which found improvements in sexual function and satisfaction for both men and women – have a fairly small sample size and did not have a control group.
However, more recent studies, focused on women who have sexual dysfunction in addition to other conditions , have produced stronger evidence.
For example, a randomized controlled trial examined the effects of yoga in women with metabolic syndrome, a population at increased risk for sexual dysfunction in general. For these women, a 12-week yoga program led to a “significant improvement” in arousal and lubrication, while such improvements were not seen in the non-yoga women.
Improvements in blood pressure were also found, leading 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.”
So while we need more scientific evidence to support the benefits of yoga for sex life, the seed is there. Until future research can give us more data, trying it out for ourselves could prove tremendously enriching, and our pelvic muscles will definitely thank us for it.
Reference: Yoga in Female Sexual Functions. Article (PDF Available) in Journal of Sexual Medicine 7 (2 Pt 2): 964-70. 2009 DOI: 10.1111 / j.1743-6109.2009.01580.x · Source: PubMed
