A Good Night's Sleep for Good Sex

It's still a taboo topic: sex. Sleep deprivation may be a hot topic lately, but few people consider the toll sleeplessness has on a sex life. An article I read on WebMD summarizes the relationship between sex and sleep very well. The highlights:

• Sleep disorders and chronic sleep loss put a serious ding into a sex life. No surprise there. When some partners resort to separate bedrooms due to snoring, sleep apnea, or restless sleep, that pretty much rules out any opportunity for spontaneous action.
• The effects of sleep deprivation -- low energy, fatigue, and sleepiness -- won't inspire sex. No surprise there either.
• Men with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), an inability to breathe properly during sleep, commonly report low libidos and sexual activity.
• OSA may be associated with lower testosterone levels. A 2002 study of men at the Technion Sleep Laboratory in Israel found that nearly half of those who suffered from severe sleep apnea also secreted abnormally low levels of testosterone during the night.
• Sleep loss can make you quarrelsome: you'll be "feisty" in an irritable kind of way -- not a sexy kind of way.
• Sleep loss makes you less able to cope with life's ups and downs. Sex can be a great stress reducer, but if you don't have energy for it, then that reduces your opportunities to unwind.
• People with insomnia are also less likely to engage in social activities. This doesn't bode well for the single person looking to make an intimate connection.

Okay, so I'll stop there because I could go on and on about the link between a healthy sex life and a healthy sleep life. I could argue that you can't have one without the other.

Given the fact our relationships constitute the heart and soul of so much of our existence, you'd think we'd all preserve those relationships as best we can to in turn enhance the quality of our lives.

And I'm not just talking about the intimate relationships we keep for which sex is part of the equation. I'm also referring to the fabric of our social lives in general that makes us human and interactive with other people in platonic ways. When we're sleep deprived, we're not much fun to be around and we cannot work on the relationships that add to our well being.

So it's a forgone conclusion: focus on healthy sleep. Watch everything in your life go up a notch or two -- from your bedroom to your boardroom. 

Sweet Dreams,

Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor
www.thesleepdoctor.com

Follow me on Twitter:   http://twitter.com/thesleepdoctor

This article on sex and sleep is also available at Dr. Breus's official blog, The Insomnia Blog: by Sleep Doctor Michael Breus, PhD.

 

 

 

Follow Dr. Michael J. Breus on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thesleepdoctor

Comments

[Velvet Staccato]

12:40 PM on 05/02/2010

"Sleep loss can make you quarrelsome: you'll be "feisty" in an irritable kind of way -- not a sexy kind of way." - I can attest to this and trust me, my husband is NOT a fan of quarrelsome "feisty" nearly as much as he's a fan of "animal sex" feisty!

[whitemerlot]

11:39 PM on 04/30/2010

One of the great Catch-22's of modern life. You have to get a lot of sleep to have really good sex. But if you're having really good sex, there's no way that you're getting a lot of sleep (unless you're unemployed- although chances are that if you have no money you're not having much sex either, especially if you're a single guy and live in LA, but that's a whole different story). So... what was all this about again?

[audadvnc]

11:06 PM on 04/30/2010

Go to bed early. Have lots of sex every night. Wake up in the morning and do it all again. You'll feel and sleep much better.

[Velvet Staccato]

01:01 PM on 05/02/2010

...but have even MORE in the A.M. It's a great preemptive strike for a potentially bad case of "the Mundays"!

[DrMiaRose]

07:01 PM on 04/29/2010

I find it interesting that men with sleep apnea report low libido and sexual activity. Another good reason to get treatment. Thanks for the article.

Mia Rose
http://www.better-sex-4-women.com

[Please-Play-Fair]

03:57 PM on 04/28/2010

Boring. Everything is blamed on lack of sleep when it comes to our health. Kind of like AGW is the cause of everything that happens in our environment (hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, snow, no snow, rain, no rain)