Put the sizzle back in your love life

Too busy or too tired? That seems to be the story of most of our lives. But there are natural ways to boost your energy, relieve the stress and put the sizzle back in your love life.

A healthy sex life is part of a healthy lifestyle. Well, according to the 2012 Kinsey report, less than one-third of over 50s with partners or spouses haven’t had sex in a year or more!

And we know that orgasms for both sexes has significant health benefits, including relieving depression, chronic pain, insomnia and enhanced immune function.  Heck, orgasms can even lengthen your life, according Welsh research on middle-aged men, showing their death rates from heart disease were cut in half if they experience an orgasm twice a week. There is less research on women, but Howard Friedman, Ph.D., author of The Longevity Project, found in a 20-year study that women who reported the most orgasms during intercourse lived longer than those who were sexually frustrated.

Fortunately, there are natural helpers to banish the bedroom blues.

So if your libido has taken a nosedive, don’t take it lying down. Invigorate your intimate relationship instead by:

Step up desire with maca

Maca reverses a low sex drive for almost every women who tries it, say Peruvian researchers, and they should know: In Peru, this plant is so well-known for heightening desire, lovers share it in juices and smoothies at street-side cafes! “Its active ingredients, macaenes and macamides, regulate the pituitary and adrenal glands and normalize ovarian function.

According to my friend, Medicine Hunter Chris Kilham, author of Hot Plants, “No other plant that I’m aware of does such a fantastic job of improving women’s sex drive, pleasure and energy.

Ready to try maca? Begin with 400 milligrams (mg) a day in capsule or powder form. You should notice its effects in 24 to 48 hours.

Enhance responsiveness with gingko  

Are you one of the millions of Americans taking an antidepressant? If so, it may be what’s torpedoing your love life! Up to 50% of all patients using SSRIs like Paxil or Prozac experience loss of sexual desire and pleasure. Fortunately, University of California at San Francisco researchers found that just 120 mg. of ginkgo leaf extract a day restored sexual health in a 84% of women on antidepressants who took it! Scientists suspect that it ginkgo the negative sexual side effects of antidepressants and increases women’s ability to enjoy and respond to sexual stimulation by boosting circulation throughout the body, including the genitals.

Ready to try ginkgo? The dose typically used for sexual dysfunction due to antidepressants is 60 to 120 mg twice daily.

Important: Gingko is a natural blood-thinner, so avoid taking it with blood-thinning drugs such as warfarin, heparin, aspirin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen.

Reviving passion with rhodiola

Not taking meds for clinical depression, but feeling worn out and blue? Chances are, sex is still about the last thing on your mind. An easy fix: rhodiola rosea! “The herb’s antidepressant properties border on miraculous,” says Kilham. “Rhodiola works on the dopamine receptors in the brain, reducing excessively high levels of the stress hormone cortisol that dampens sexual desire,” he explains. In fact, laboratory research suggests rhodiola can completely stop the body’s negative responses to stress.
Ready to try rhodiola? In one study, rhodiola relieved all-too-common obstacles to a happy sex life fatigue–including lethargy, headaches, as well as memory and concentration problems–in 64% of the people who took 50 mg. three times a day for as little as ten days.