High Stress

The most common reason for declining interest in sex among women at any age?

Stress. 

And midlife women are getting stress from so many directions. If you have children, they are often in a state of transition now. If your parents are living, they often need care now. We grieve the loss of friends and parents at this age. Expectations for our performance at work can be very demanding. The changes that come with peri-menopause and menopause may be hard to manage. Tack on the possibilities of relationship or financial problems, and you have a perfect stress storm raging at midlife.

Distraction—a symptom of high stress—is another downer in bed. Mentally running through the day's to-do list and your backed-up email inbox while your lover is working to seduce you is—aside from being a tad rude—a sure passion quencher.

But there are a number of ways to retrain your brain, quiet that storm, still the vigilant task master, and make room for the more relaxed, responsive, sensual you to live again.

Learn about the actions you could take, listed at right, to address this condition or see other conditions that could affect you.