Low sex drive is one of the most common sexual health concerns for both men and women, and in most cases it responds to lifestyle changes, medical adjustments, or both. The causes range from hormonal shifts and sleep habits to medications and relationship dynamics, which means the fix depends on identifying what’s actually driving the problem for you.
Start With What Might Be Suppressing It
Before adding anything new, it’s worth looking at what might be actively lowering your libido. Antidepressants are one of the most common culprits. SSRIs can reduce interest in sex, make it harder to become aroused, and delay or prevent orgasm. Roughly 35% to 50% of people with untreated depression already experience some sexual dysfunction before starting medication, so the picture can get complicated. If you suspect your antidepressant is the issue, alternatives like bupropion and mirtazapine are less likely to cause sexual side effects. Switching or adjusting medication is a conversation worth having with your prescriber, not something to do on your own.
Other medications that can quietly dampen desire include hormonal birth control, blood pressure drugs, antihistamines, and some anti-seizure medications. Even over-the-counter allergy pills can play a role. If your sex drive dropped noticeably after starting a new medication, that timing is worth noting.
How Sleep Affects Hormones and Desire
Sleep has a direct line to the hormones that fuel sexual desire. A meta-analysis of 18 studies found that going without sleep entirely for 24 hours or longer significantly reduces testosterone levels in men. Partial sleep restriction, like getting five or six hours instead of eight, didn’t show the same dramatic drop in that analysis, but chronic short sleep still takes a toll on energy, mood, and stress hormones, all of which feed into libido.
The practical takeaway is straightforward: consistently poor sleep erodes the biological foundation of desire. Prioritizing seven to nine hours of quality sleep is one of the simplest interventions with the broadest benefits, not just for sex drive but for the mood and energy that make sex appealing in the first place.
Exercise Helps, but Intensity Matters
Regular physical activity is one of the most reliable ways to improve sexual desire, partly because it boosts circulation, improves body image, and regulates stress hormones. But the relationship between exercise and arousal isn’t a straight line. Research on women’s sexual response found a curvilinear pattern: moderate increases in nervous system activation from exercise enhanced physical arousal, while both very low and very high intensity exercise did not.
There also appears to be an optimal window. One study found that exercise temporarily inhibited genital arousal immediately afterward but facilitated it at 15 and 30 minutes post-exercise. So a brisk workout earlier in the evening could prime your body for better sexual response later. High-intensity exercise (60% to 80% of maximum effort) raises cortisol, the body’s stress hormone, while lower-intensity exercise actually brings cortisol down. If you’re already stressed and overtraining, scaling back to moderate workouts may do more for your libido than pushing harder.
What You Eat Can Make a Difference
Diet affects sexual function through its influence on blood vessel health, inflammation, and hormone balance. A clinical trial comparing a Mediterranean diet to a standard low-fat diet in people with type 2 diabetes found that the Mediterranean group experienced significantly less decline in sexual function over time, in both men and women. The effect wasn’t dramatic, but it was measurable and consistent.
A Mediterranean-style eating pattern emphasizes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, olive oil, nuts, and fish. These foods support the cardiovascular health that underlies arousal and blood flow. You don’t need a rigid diet plan. Shifting toward more whole foods, healthy fats, and fewer processed foods moves the needle on the biological systems that support desire.
Hormones and When They’re Worth Checking
Testosterone plays a role in sexual desire for both men and women, not just men. In women, research suggests testosterone levels need to reach the upper end of the normal range for reproductive-age women to meaningfully enhance libido. This matters especially during perimenopause and menopause, when testosterone and estrogen both decline.
For men, testosterone naturally decreases about 1% per year after age 30. Symptoms of low testosterone go beyond low libido and include fatigue, reduced muscle mass, and mood changes. A blood test can identify where your levels stand. If your levels are genuinely low, replacement therapy can help, though it comes with tradeoffs that vary by age and health status.
For women, testosterone therapy is used off-label in some cases, though the options are more limited. The FDA has approved two medications specifically for low sexual desire in premenopausal women: a daily pill (flibanserin) and an injectable (bremelanotide), given under the skin at least 45 minutes before sex. Both target brain chemistry rather than hormones directly. They’re options for women who have had persistently low desire for six months or more that causes genuine distress, not just a temporary dip.
Stress, Relationship Quality, and Mental Load
Chronic stress is one of the most underestimated libido killers. Elevated cortisol suppresses reproductive hormones and shifts your body into survival mode, where sex becomes a low priority. This is especially relevant for people juggling caregiving, demanding jobs, or financial strain. The mental load of daily life, constantly tracking tasks, managing schedules, anticipating needs, leaves little cognitive or emotional bandwidth for desire.
Relationship dynamics matter just as much as biology. Resentment, unresolved conflict, feeling unappreciated, or a lack of emotional intimacy all erode desire over time. For many people, especially women, feeling emotionally connected to a partner is a prerequisite for wanting sex, not a bonus. If your relationship is the source of the problem, individual lifestyle changes won’t fully address it. Couples therapy or honest conversations about needs, expectations, and the division of emotional labor often do more for a bedroom than any supplement.
What About Supplements?
Maca root is one of the most popular supplements marketed for libido, but the science doesn’t support the hype. A comprehensive review of the available human trials concluded that results are inconclusive, with key limitations in study design and sample size. There isn’t enough evidence to determine an effective dose, how often to take it, or how long treatment needs to last. The same review noted that the health claims of maca “cannot be fully supported from a scientific standpoint.”
Fenugreek, ashwagandha, and tribulus terrestris are also widely marketed. Some small studies show modest effects, but none have the kind of robust evidence that would make them a reliable recommendation. If you want to try a supplement, the risk is generally low, but manage your expectations. The most effective interventions for libido are the less glamorous ones: sleep, stress management, exercise, and addressing medications or relationship issues.
Building Desire Back Into Your Life
One of the most important things to understand about sex drive is that it isn’t always spontaneous. Many people, particularly women in long-term relationships, experience what’s called responsive desire. They don’t feel a random urge for sex out of nowhere, but once they begin engaging in intimacy, desire follows. This is normal, not a dysfunction. If you’re waiting to feel spontaneously turned on before initiating, you may be waiting for something that was never your pattern to begin with.
Practical strategies that help include scheduling intimacy (which sounds unromantic but creates space for it), reducing distractions before bed, incorporating more non-sexual physical affection throughout the day, and exploring what actually feels pleasurable without pressure toward a specific outcome. Novelty also plays a role. Long-term relationships naturally settle into routines, and the brain’s reward system responds to new experiences. That doesn’t require anything extreme. A change of setting, a different time of day, or openly discussing fantasies can reintroduce the novelty that fuels desire.
Libido fluctuates across a lifetime. Pregnancy, postpartum recovery, menopause, career stress, grief, and aging all shift it. The goal isn’t to return to some peak level from your twenties. It’s to find a baseline that feels satisfying to you and, if you’re partnered, to communicate openly about what that looks like for both of you.