The desire for sex – the libido – often disappears quite inconspicuously. And not only in the elderly. More and more often, younger people are also wondering about the whereabouts of their libido. However, before you reach for pills with many side effects, you could help your libido with naturopathic measures. We introduce you to 9 libido enemies that can be responsible for a loss of libido. At the same time, you will learn how to increase your libido again naturally.

Loss of libido – even in men in their late twenties

Since the turn of the millennium, doctors and therapists have observed that the lust for love – the libido – seems to be decreasing more often than ever.

“More and more often, men in their late 20s complain that they have completely lost interest in their sexuality,”

Couples therapist Volker van den Boom confirms her observation: “Until five years ago it was still a rarity for a man to no longer feel like having sex, but since then I have noticed a clear change in the trend.”

The situation is similar in the women’s camp and there is no correction in sight. Experts disagree on the causes. In most cases, psychosocial factors are cited as an explanation. At the top of the list is stress, which is often mentioned for every problem. But is that really enough of an explanation?

Libido holds many secrets

The loss of libido, the decrease in sexual desire, is one of those sexual dysfunctions (disorders) that have so far been researched only marginally. The focus of science is usually on men’s potency disorders and women’s limited ability to orgasm. These two problems may – but don’t have to – be associated with a decline in libido.

Nobody really knows exactly how lust arises and works, because the interplay of psyche, hormones and other metabolic factors is extraordinarily complicated. The only thing that is certain is that it is the hormones that set the tone. An experiment at Uppsala University, which has since been considered a milestone in the study of sexuality, shows just how strong.

Libido: Just a dance of hormones?

Swedish biochemist B. J. Meyerson administered estrogen to a castrated male rat, while a female rat was treated with testosterone (2).

When the animals were then brought together, something spectacular happened: The two were not only extremely ready to mate. Their sexual behavior was – according to the hormonal doses – inverse, so to speak:

The male made a hollow back, while the female proceeded in a masculine manner to mount his mate. It then tried to lick the non-existent penis, as male rats usually do after copulation.

The experiment showed, among other things, that sexual behavior seems to be much less consciously controllable and can instead be biochemically influenced much more easily than previously believed – at least in rats. But what about humans?

The LSD Syndrome – When the Libido Goes

It is a well-known fact that libido often declines with age. Again, it is hormonal changes that lead to a reduced desire for sex. But medication and its side effects also often have a decreasing effect on libido.

However, if the libido dwindles at a young or middle age and the cause is unclear – at least from the point of view of conventional medicine – the phenomenon is simply declared a “syndrome”. In this case, to the “LSD syndrome”, whereby the capital letters do not stand for the notorious drug, but for “low sexual desire” – little lust for love.

In reality, however, most of the causative factors have been known for at least 20 years. However, since they collide massively with economic and thus also political interests, a lot is done to prevent them from becoming too much of a public awareness.

If your desire has said goodbye, then you should first start by exploring the possible causes.

Environmental toxins can lead to loss of libido

The number of environmental toxins today is literally unmanageable. For example, 6,000 different substances are listed on the Australian list of permitted chemicals alone.

The fatal thing about this is that only some of them have a halfway sound risk assessment. This is also almost impossible, as it would correctly have to take into account not only the risks of the individual substances, but also the possible synergy effects (reinforcing effects) of the chemicals with each other and their interactions.

With regard to the topic of libido, chemical or unnatural substances that act like hormones are particularly relevant and dangerous, which is why they are referred to as endocrine disruptors or environmental hormones in environmental medicine. Environmental hormones irritate the endocrine system and thus lead to considerable damage and disorders in the human organism, including loss of libido.

The previous belief that the hormonal system works according to the lock-and-key principle is therefore wrong – at least if one assumes only one key per lock. Unfortunately, it is true that hundreds of different keys fit into the same lock – which Prof. Tyron B. Hayes, who researches the phenomenon at Berkeley University, finds “very disturbing”, as he put it in a documentary. This means that not only actual hormones can have hormonal effects in the body, but also other substances, namely the aforementioned environmental hormones.

Loss of libido due to pesticides and plasticizers

Endocrine disruptors include, for example, the polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs for short, contained in coolants and insulating agents. Many insecticides and herbicides also have a similar effect to hormones, as do the plastic plasticizers, phthalates, which have already come to the attention of the public.

In very small doses, all of them not only influence sexual behavior, but can also lead to male animals feminizing and female masculinization – as some observations on amphibians and rodents, for example, show.

Phthalates can also have a hormonal effect in humans, namely with loss of libido or even with infertility (of men). Testicular, prostate and breast cancers are also suspected of being caused by endocrine disruptors.

Measures against endocrine disruptors

Three measures are therefore extremely worthwhile in order to keep the effects of endocrine disruptors to a minimum:

• Give preference to food from organic production.
• Drink only filtered water. Water purified in this way is free of pesticides and environmental toxins.
• Since endocrine disruptors unfortunately cannot be completely avoided due to their large number and ubiquity, measures for elimination and detoxification should be used regularly in order to strengthen the regulatory abilities of the organism and to take away the power of environmental hormones in the long term.

Loss of libido due to electro smog

We are surrounded by numerous sources and fields of radiation every day. Particularly effective in a negative sense is the mobile phone technology, which has been used for about 20 years. Here, higher and thus biologically relevant frequencies are used, as well as extra pulses that act like small blows to the cells.

Among other things, both lead to an increase in the electromagnetic voltage in the body beyond the healthy level. For example, people who spend a long time in metropolitan offices were measured to have a voltage that was up to 40 times higher than normal.

Once again, the endocrine glands are particularly sensitive to electro smog. For example, a study ( 3 ) by Colorado State University in 2002 showed that after 13 days of daily cell phone calls lasting more than 25 minutes, the melatonin secretion of the pineal gland decreased.

Melatonin, however, is a key hormone that also plays an important role in sexuality. At least in rats, melatonin has been shown in one study to increase libido and potency (4). If, on the other hand, melatonin is missing, a loss of libido can result.

The extent to which electromagnetic radiation restricts the reproductive capacity of biological systems was already shown in the experiments conducted by Heidelberg researcher Prof. Dr. András Varga in 1991.

With continuous irradiation of 180 fertilized chicken eggs, not a single chick hatched from an energy flux density of 2 mW/cm2. However, this value is still below the general limit!

At the same time, electromagnetic fields stimulate estrogen synthesis, with the result that excessive electromagnetic radiation is now considered by some experts to be the main factor in breast cancer in young women.

Estrogens are often associated with vitality and healthy sexuality in women. However, estrogen intake only promotes libido when there is an estrogen deficiency, while the other hormone levels are fine. However, estrogen dominance – i.e. an excess of estrogen, possibly in combination with a progesterone and/or testosterone deficiency – massively slows down the desire for love.

Measures against electro smog

As was already the case with environmental toxins, electrosmog can no longer be avoided one hundred percent in our modern world. Nevertheless, there are countermeasures:

Switch off Wifi/WLAN and DECT telephone at least at night and only make mobile calls with an external microphone and headphones. As a further protection, you can switch off the fuses for the sleeping area at night.

In large cities, where radio antennas now provide a dense electromagnetic field, the sleeping place can also be shielded by a Faraday cage in the form of a net of silver threads. The net is attached like a mosquito net and then of course shields not only the electrosmog, but also the mosquitoes in summer.

Dr. Klinghardt, an authority on environmental medicine in the United States, observed that many healing processes only really progress when electro smog pollution is significantly reduced.

Loss of libido due to thyroid disorders

A loss of libido can also be a side effect of thyroid disorders. Thyroid diseases are now widespread, such as hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Graves’ disease.

Electrosmog can damage the thyroid gland, but also the ubiquitous fluorides, because they preferentially bind to the thyroid hormone T4 (thyroxine) and thus render it inoperable. The result is hypothyroidism symptoms, although the thyroid gland actually still produces enough hormones.

However, the most aggressive hormone killer is mercury, which enters the body from amalgam dental fillings and other sources. It is not only stored in the thyroid gland, but also travels to the brain. There, it influences the release of melatonin and somatropin and, by inhibiting an enzyme (GTP), also the formation of the so-called tubulin sheath of nerve cells. If this process continues, a loss of libido is of course the least of your problems.

As soon as the thyroid gland is impaired in any way and slips into hypothyroidism, this causes the metabolism to be reduced. The energy available to the body decreases. As a result, the organism learns to use the little energy more sparingly.

First of all, therefore, it switches off those functions that are not absolutely necessary for its direct survival, which of course primarily includes the libido. In the event of a loss of libido, the thyroid gland should therefore always be considered.

Measures to protect the thyroid gland

In order to protect the thyroid gland from external influences, it is necessary to keep an eye on the iodine supply.

Due to today’s widespread compulsory iodization via iodized salt in all finished products as well as via iodine-containing cattle feed, which leads to iodine-rich dairy products, there is hardly any threat of iodine deficiency, rather an iodine surplus, which can often lead to chronic thyroid problems.

So when buying ready-made products, make sure that no iodized salt has been used and it is better to use a natural salt without artificial iodine additives in your own kitchen.

Nor does anyone have to participate in the widespread fluoridation of the population via fluoride-containing toothpastes, mouthwashes and table salts. Choose fluoride-free dental care products and non-fluoridated salt. You can also find tips on fluoride elimination from us.

Mercury removal should be carried out with caution and, in the case of heavier exposure, preferably with therapeutic accompaniment.

In addition, the thyroid gland is particularly happy about a dietary supplement with the vitamin B complex as well as with selenium, which is a real deficiency mineral.

Brazil nuts are extraordinarily rich in selenium. If you decide to take a selenium supplement, chelated selenium is particularly recommended. Bound to amino acids, its bioavailability is much better than that of conventional selenium supplements.

Magnesium and zinc should also be available in sufficient quantities for the thyroid gland. Just like selenium, magnesium and zinc in chelated form are also preferable. They are not only easier to absorb and utilize by the organism, but also much better tolerated.

Loss of libido due to too much serotonin

Many endocrinologists are now of the opinion that the neuronal reward system with serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine has a significantly greater influence on libido than sex hormones.

In fact, observations show that inhibition of the neurotransmitter serotonin can also directly and strongly increase libido. This is more or less contrary to the common doctrine about serotonin, because a deficiency is supposed to make you depressed, among other things, and depression and libido do do not go well together.

For this reason, so-called serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are often prescribed in the treatment of depression – often with unsatisfactory effect. That’s because a side effect of these medications is loss of libido (6).

This is not surprising, because serotonin is an antagonist of progesterone, which can be considered a key hormone for sexual desire. Many women with libido disorders therefore have the above-mentioned estrogen dominance, i.e. a progesterone level that is far too low in relation to the estrogen level.

Symptoms of estrogen dominance include, for example, premenstrual syndrome, menstrual cycle disorders, mood swings, difficulty concentrating, sleep problems, and much more.

Measures against excess serotonin

For all those who want to increase their libido, the following applies: Restraint with all medications and measures that can massively increase serotonin levels.

Therefore, no tryptophan-containing preparations should be taken, as the amino acid tryptophan is a building block for serotonin.

At the same time, women with clear symptoms of estrogen dominance should try to regulate their hormonal balance naturally. This often works very well with natural progesterone preparations or with wild yam root, which contains a precursor of progesterone.

Loss of libido due to hormonal contraceptives

The pill also leads to a mess in the hormonal balance and is one of the most common reasons for a loss of libido. It not only disturbs the balance of sex hormones, but also the thyroid hormone balance. Therefore, after taking pills for many years, it is not uncommon for hypothyroidism to appear. However, you already know how and why the thyroid gland can lead to impaired libido.

Another important “libido value” is that of SHGB – a protein that binds testosterone and therefore nullifies its libido-increasing effect. As a study by Boston University (7) of 102 current and former pill users showed, the SHGB value was significantly increased in all of them and did not decrease as expected even after stopping the pill.

In previous studies, the head of the study, Irwin Goldstein, had already shown that the pill lowers testosterone levels – and thus libido – to an average of one third.

Measures for the natural regulation of the endocrine system

Former pill users, for whom the contraceptive has torpedoed the hormonal balance and thus the libido, first need patience. It can take several months for the hormonal balance to regain its balance.

As explained in the previous point, natural hormone preparations (e.g. Mexican Wild Yam or natural progesterone as a cream) can help very well with this.

Loss of libido due to obesity

Closely linked to the hormonal system is also one’s own body weight. Various studies ( 8 ) ( 9 ) showed that men with a lot of abdominal fat in particular had up to 40 percent lower testosterone levels than normal-weight men and were also more likely to suffer from a loss of libido. Testosterone deficiency is therefore a real libido killer. The killing field begins below about 15 nmol/l in the blood ( 10 ). So get tested first! And above all: lose excess weight and belly fat!

In women, on the other hand, libido can often be increased again by a slight increase in testosterone levels. In this context, it is important for women not to drink alcohol, as it lowers testosterone levels. Red clover supplements, on the other hand (e.g. 80 mg red clover extract daily for at least 12 weeks) increase testosterone levels. A good supply of zinc, magnesium and vitamin D is also important for healthy testosterone levels.

Measures for more testosterone

If being overweight is the reason for low testosterone levels, then of course the first thing on the agenda is to regulate body weight.

At the same time, physical exercise is known to be a good idea. However, this not only helps to achieve a higher testosterone level via the detour of losing weight, but also increases it directly after training. In this context, muscle training is said to have a more beneficial effect than endurance training.

Pleasure-enhancing effects kick in after about 90 minutes of exercise per week. Three times half an hour is said to be better than a one-time ordeal. (In women, the higher testosterone level also increases with exercise (strength training and cardio), but it decreases again within 30 – 60 minutes after the end of the workout.)

If you have to fight with impotence as a man in addition to your libido, you have to sweat more: About five hours a week or 3,000 kilocalories burned reduce the risk of impotence by a whopping 83 percent – according to the result of a large study led by the University Hospital Vienna ( 11 ).

Here, too, the matter should be divided into several units: Exercising five times a week at 600 kilocalories each would be ideal. However, don’t overdo it either, because too much – as is almost always the case – has the opposite effect.

Loss of libido due to too much sugar

By the way, testosterone levels are throttled not only by convenience and obesity, but also by sugar – at least in men. A recent study from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston found a clear 25 percent drop in testosterone in men who drank a glucose solution two hours later (12).

So if you suffer from a loss of libido, you should significantly limit your sugar intake.

Loss of libido due to lack of light

The connection between light and libido is illustrated by the term “spring fever”. The main cause of the increased desire in spring is most likely the vitamin D3 (calcitriol), which is increasingly produced in our skin again with increasing sunshine duration ( 13 ) ( 14 ).

Vitamin D3 is a typical deficiency vitamin, as its synthesis in the body would require at least a quarter of an hour of sun on bare skin every day. For quite a few people, this is even true all year round, because they do not go out in the sun or use sunscreens that prevent vitamin D formation even in summer.

Supplementation with vitamin D is therefore an excellent measure, at least in the winter months, to prevent a loss of libido.

Loss of libido due to psychological conflicts

Of course, the psyche also plays an important role in terms of libido. Psycho tips are therefore usually part of every catalogue of measures that are supposed to lead to an increase in libido.

Psychological traumas and unresolved emotional conflicts can undoubtedly lead to a loss of libido and block libido, which is why a resolution of the conflicts should be sought in any case (of course not only to increase libido). But don’t forget that the psyche is significantly influenced by hormones.

If the hormonal balance and metabolism are disturbed – and this is probably the case with the vast majority of libido disorders – no matter how many sessions with the psychologist you have, it won’t help much.

Reaching into the psycho box can therefore only ever be a small contribution to the potpourri of all necessary libido-increasing measures; and once the “biochemical homework” listed above has been done, it is often no longer necessary at all.

Boost libido: quick and easy

You already know a lot of ways you can increase your libido naturally or how you can prevent your libido from crashing.

However, the measures mentioned are often associated with quite a bit of effort, so that one or the other might come up with the idea of taking some dubious, i.e. side-effect-rich medication to help the libido quickly and easily.

If you belong to the category of “I want it quick and easy”, you may be interested in our following summary of plants and supplements that are said to have libido-boosting effects.

Of course, these natural libido-enhancing preparations can also be taken in addition to the above measures and further enhance the desired effect:

Medicinal mushroom Cordyceps increases potency and libido

The Cordyceps medicinal mushroom comes from Traditional Chinese Medicine and is considered a very effective and natural remedy for impotence and lack of libido – in both men and women.

Chinese scientists have already conducted numerous double-blind, placebo-controlled studies with men who complained of “decreased libido and other sexual problems.”

The results were convincing. For the most part, those participants who took cordyceps experienced a significant increase in their sexual performance.

In studies with women, more than 90 percent of the test subjects were able to report an improvement in their previously deficient libido in the course of a cordyceps program.

Plants that increase your libido

Some plants contain so-called phytohormones, i.e. plant substances with hormone-like effects. They can therefore often have a balancing, corrective and regulating effect in the complicated endocrine system, thus reviving healthy libido.

Mexican Wild Yam Can Boost Your Libido

Mexican Wild Yam – the wild yam root from South America – contains a so-called progesterone precursor, diosgenin. Diosgenin can be used in the laboratory to produce natural, i.e. body-identical, progesterone. However, wild yam itself also has a gentle progesterone-like effect ( 15 ) ( 16 ). It is traditionally THE tool for women who suffer from estrogen dominance and its consequences.

However, Mexican Wild Yam is also said to give men back a portion of vitality in a natural way – without any feminizing effects.

Monk’s pepper to increase libido

Monk’s pepper (Agnus Castus) is a shrub up to four meters high, which is also popularly known as chaste mud. Chasteberry is a natural prolactin inhibitor (17).

Prolactin is a hormone that, among other things, leads to relaxation and satisfied feelings after orgasm and ensures that you are not immediately ready to go again. Only people with extreme prolactin deficiency after orgasm can move on to the next round without interruption.

A chronic excess of prolactin – not only after orgasm – can now lower libido in both men and women. If prolactin is inhibited, then this increases the libido – and this is exactly the mechanism of action of monk’s pepper.

However, it seems that the right dose of monk’s pepper is important here, because if you take too little, this is supposed to dampen the libido (as the prolactin level then rises) ( 18 ). A libido-enhancing effect is therefore more likely to be expected at doses above 480 mg and more per day ( 19 ).

Dong Quai boosts women’s libido

The herb Dong Quai (Angelica sinensis), which originated in China and has been known as “Chinese angelica” in Europe for centuries, is also known as “female ginseng”. It is a women’s medicinal herb with an estrogen-balancing effect.

Dong Quai is often recommended in traditional Chinese medicine for menopausal symptoms, a time when hormone levels drop and libido often dwindles.

Women’s ginseng gently relieves menopausal problems such as dry vaginal mucosa, which of course also contributes to decreased libido. Dong Quai therefore helps especially women between 45 and 60 to bring their libido back to life.

Compared to synthetic estrogens, which often lead to intermenstrual bleeding, headaches, water retention, and other unwanted side effects, this is less the case with Dong Quai. The plant is even thought to offer some protection against breast cancer, as a 2019 study showed (22). However, dong quai is said to have a blood-thinning effect, which is why people who take anticoagulants/blood thinners should be careful (23). The medicinal plant should not be taken during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Capsaicin boosts your libido

Capsaicin is the pungent substance of the chili pepper. Capsaicin literally causes hot feelings to rise and promotes blood circulation – of course also in the sexual organs.

Caapsaicin is also helpful for the liver!

Yohimbe increases libido in men and women

The bark of the African yohimbe tree contains the aphrodisiac active ingredient yohimbine. Especially for the male genital organs, yohimbine is said to have relevant, namely circulation-promoting consequences. At the same time, yohimbine is said to narrow the veins in the penis so that the erection lasts longer.

The brain is also affected, namely in that sexual readiness increases significantly.

To enjoy these effects, it would be recommended to take pure yohimbine. However, medicines containing yohimbine require a prescription, and yohimbe extracts have not been available on the Australian market for several years. In the US, however, these are still available over the counter.

Yohimbe bark, which can be prepared as a tea, is still readily available in our latitudes. However, their effect leaves a little to be desired.

Yohimbe is not a harmless dietary supplement, but rather a drug that can have unfavorable side effects, such as palpitations, hallucinations, anxiety, convulsions, etc., so we would rather recommend the other options mentioned here.

Wild oats increase libido

Wild oats are said to increase testosterone levels, increase desire in both men and women, and also improve sexual performance. However, the effect is not achieved by eating muesli. Wild oats are made from the grass and not from the grain.

AIM Herbal Fiberblend contains amongst many other things Oat Grass – to clean your colon and remove stagnant energy in this area is also said to be helpful.

Similar to yohimbe, however, an extract of wild oats is more effective than a tea, for example, although women are said to need an even higher dose to increase libido than men.

Pomegranate for your libido

The seeds of the pomegranate are not only considered an extremely healthy food because they are rich in antioxidants, but also traditionally as a testosterone booster. But pomegranate juice is also said to have an extremely positive effect on libido.

In any case, one study showed that after drinking pomegranate juice for two weeks, testosterone levels in saliva increased by 24 percent in both women and men (20).

So it’s always worth snacking on the fruit of paradise every day during the pomegranate season – preferably together with your partner.

Maca boosts libido

Maca is a potato-like tuber from South America, whose libido-promoting and aphrodisiac effects have long been widely known and scientifically proven.

DIM to increase libido

DIM is a substance found in broccoli or broccoli sprouts or in other vegetables of the cruciferous family. DIM is also available as a dietary supplement. The substance binds to the SHBG mentioned above. SHBG is now already occupied with DIM and can no longer bind as much testosterone. Consequently, more active and libido-boosting testosterone circulates in the body.

Yes, the level of free testosterone is even said to increase proportionally with the intake of DIM.

Arginine boosts your libido

Arginine is an amino acid. It is considered a direct promoter of pleasure and potency – at least in men. From arginine, the body’s cells can produce nitric oxide. Nitric oxide relaxes the muscles of the blood vessel walls. The blood circulation is thus promoted everywhere and of course also that in the penis.

However, in order to increase pleasure and potency, at least 3, preferably 5 grams of arginine per day are necessary when taken over several weeks ( 21 ).

Conclusion: Many solutions for loss of libido

In the case of loss of libido, there are many solutions from a naturopathic point of view. You can implement most of the measures presented on your own. But don’t forget to have your hormone levels checked regularly so that you can see if you need to become more active or if you are on the right track. Since love is also an essential aspect of being human in its physical expression, it is in any case more than worth the effort that may be necessary.