How Menopause Can Affect Your Sexual Health

Menopause affects every woman at some point and leads to various uncomfortable side effects and symptoms. Most people know about hot flashes, night sweats, and mood swings, but not everyone understands the impact it has on your sex life.

Sexual health is an essential aspect of many women's lives that menopause negatively impacts. If you’re struggling with sexual side effects, Dr. Darin L. Weyhrich in Boise, Idaho, offers lifestyle strategies and medications to improve sexual health.

Menopause and sexual health

Menopause is the phase of life women enter when their bodies prepare for the end of childbearing years. Hormonal changes, specifically decreased estrogen production, cause various symptoms.

Many women experience hot flashes and night sweats, but menopause also takes a toll on sexual health. The decrease in estrogen production affects your sex life in various ways, including:

Decreased libido

Low estrogen levels decrease a woman’s sexual desire during menopause. Libido changes also make it difficult to become aroused. The National Library of Medicine reports that 40-55% of women experience low sexual desire.

Vaginal dryness

Hormonal changes cause vaginal dryness, which makes sex painful and uncomfortable. The vaginal wall also thins, leading to vaginal atrophy.

Emotional changes

Mood swings and stress during menopause also impact sexual health. They decrease the desire for sex and affect how much you enjoy it.

Sleep problems

Night sweats and other symptoms keep you awake at night, causing daytime tiredness — the stress of not getting adequate rest paired with decreased energy results in less sexual desire and pleasure.

Lifestyle strategies to improve sexual health

Living with menopause isn't an easy feat — mainly when it affects your sex life. However, you don't have to deal with it alone. Talking to your partner about your needs and how your body is changing helps take all the stress off you.

We also suggest lifestyle strategies that improve the symptoms of menopause and make sex more enjoyable. The US Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health offers the following lifestyle tips for sexual health:

• Increase foreplay for arousal
• Use water-based lubricants
• Try over-the-counter vaginal moisturizers
• Try pelvic floor exercises
• Have sex more often to increase blood flow

Being open about your needs throughout menopause improves sexual health and decreases discomfort from hormonal changes.

Do I need hormone replacement therapy?

Sometimes, lifestyle changes alone don’t improve symptoms enough for comfortable sex. In these cases, Dr. Weyhrich recommends hormone replacement therapy. It improves vaginal dryness and other symptoms that contribute to decreased sexual health after menopause.

If you’ve tried lifestyle strategies but are still having trouble with your sex life, Dr. Weyhrich offers hormone replacement therapy. He provides bioidentical hormones and traditional hormone therapy, depending on your needs.

Hormone replacement therapy boosts levels of estrogen, which often eliminates bothersome menopause symptoms. It's an option when other treatments haven't relieved sexual issues related to hormonal changes.

Call our office in Boise, Idaho, today, or book online to schedule an appointment for menopause treatments with Darin L. Wehyrich, MD.