Discusses the decline in sexual health and the reasons and also the rise in the need for pharmaceutical solutions.
Anyone who lived during the 60s will remember it as a time of great sexual liberation. Free love was the catch-cry of a whole generation who participated greedily and lustily in a sexual revolution. Forty years on we're in the midst of another sexual revolution – but this time it's a revolution based around pharmaceuticals. It began with Viagra, but despite being the most prescribed drug ever, this product has now been joined by a solid phalanx of support troops, all designed to do one thing only – restore normal sexual function.
So what has occurred in those forty years to compromise our sexual health and make sexual function so in need of chemical or other support? Not surprisingly, the factors that have compromised all other aspects of our health and wellbeing must be called to account - modern diets and the resulting nutritional insufficiencies, unhealthy lifestyle habits such as smoking, drinking, consumption of caffeine and other drugs, environmental pollution from chemicals (particularly hormone disruptors), heavy metals and the ubiquitous electromagnetic radiation, lack of exercise and finally, mental and emotional stress.
While most individuals now understand the impact of all these factors on long-term health, what is less widely recognised and accepted is their effect on sexual health. Like mental health, many individuals put sexual health in a totally separate category, but like mental health problems, which are now reaching epidemic proportions (with depression cited to become the second biggest cause of disability after heart disease), the incidence of sexual problems is also alarmingly high.
Restoring normal sexual function and optimal sexual health involves a program that attends to all of the factors that adversely affect general health. Improve eating habits, stop smoking, reduce consumption of caffeine and alcohol, clean up your environment, undertake regular exercise and reduce stress levels – these are the steps towards true wellbeing. But just as nutritional supplements can support all of these steps, there are now specific products such as feminine pleasure gels that can support normal sexual function and the return to a full, satisfying sex life.
So while Viagra was the early emissary, it has now been joined by a sold phalanx of support troops. And while the various drug companies continue their trials to find a female counterpart for Viagra, a number of natural products for women are actually on the market right now. Containing the amino acid L-arginine, with or without a blend of herbal extracts, these topical gels, which are applied to the clitoris before and /or during sexual activity, are reported to produce heightened arousal, increased pleasurable sensations and more intense orgasms for the thousands of women who have tested them.
With these 'pleasure gels' considered by some as no more than nutritional / herbal support to enhance normal sexual function, we may be about to witness a return to those sexually heady days of the 60s.
About the Author
Janette Roberts is a pharmacist and clinical nutritionist with a specific interest in preconception health care. She is co-author of the internationally acclaimed "Healthy Parents, Better Babies" and its three sequels.