Up to a quarter of men have a low sex drive or lack of interest in sex. Now, a new study carried out by the University of Siena (Italy) and presented to the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, exposes that a new therapy based on bright artificial light can be used to treat not only seasonal affective disorder but also to increase sexual desire in men. A solution to the lack of desire.
The researchers recruited a group of 38 participants previously diagnosed with hypoactive sexual desire disorder or sexual arousal disorder. They exposed half the volunteers to bright light in the early morning for two weeks. The second group represented the control group. The experiment showed that exposing them to bright light for 30 minutes a day increased their testosterone levels (from 2.3 nanograms per milliliter to 3.6) and improved their sexual desire, compared to the initial data at the beginning of the study.
“ The results are no surprise. We already knew that sexual function increases during spring and summer and the hypothesis that this could well have to do with exposure to light is what we wanted to confirm ”, explains Andrea Fagiolini, leader of the study.
“ Before treatment, both groups had an average sexual satisfaction score of around 2 out of 10, but after treatment the group exposed to bright light increased their sexual satisfaction scores by about 6.3 , which is an increase three times more than the scale we use ”, explains Fagiolini.
Could this treatment also work for women? Taking into account that this is a small study, it is clear that we will have to wait for more experiments to be carried out with a larger sample, but scientists believe that it could also help to treat women with low sexual desire and even trigger ovulation.
