It is a known fact that the increasing number of depression cases in women also increased the number of prescribed antidepressants. Because the medical history has proven that all antidepressants affect the female sexual drive, a recent study conducted by Cindy Weston , psychology professor at Texas University from Austin, researched how exercising can help fight the antidepressants’ side effects.
The Study
The study recently published in “Depression and Anxiety” magazine offered a realistic solution for treating depression with a combination of mild antidepressants and a moderate exercising plan.
Indiana University professor, Tierney Lorenz, who cooperated with Cindy Weston for this study, declared that this particular treatment plan will not only reduce the cost of caring for patients suffering from depression, but also increase the quality of life both for them and their life partners.
What Happened?
The study was conducted on a group of 52 women which reported libido related issues post the antidepressant treatment.
The women were divided in two groups. The first group was encouraged to have regular sexual relations without any other kind of physical exercise during three weeks. The second group of women was advised to have a 30 minutes exercising session, three times a week, before the intercourse or simply whenever they felt like doing it. All women kept an online diary of their sexual activity.
After the first three weeks the roles were inversed but the women who exercised regularly were added another three training sessions of strength or cardio exercising.
The Conclusions
After the trial periods were complete, all women reported significant improvement in the sexual drive and all of them also experienced a better psychological health. The scientists concluded based on the self-assessments of the women from the study group, that a regular exercising plan can successfully help with the libido decreasing properties of the antidepressant drugs.
The Medical Explanation
According to Lorenz , the sympathetic nervous system, stimulated by regular exercising, improves the blood flow to the genital area. All antidepressants have a dulling effect on this particular area of the female body so a better blood circulation can alleviate this side effect.
Considering the large number of women suffering from depression in US and the large number of antidepressant drugs prescribed for the various forms of depression, this important find can help women control their psychological health and improve the quality of life by treating in the natural way a very common, drug induced, sexual dysfunction.
