It happens to everyone: You're just not feeling up to some bedroom frolicking, but your partner sure is. Sex drive can wane for many reasons, including fatigue, stress and side effects from medications. But herbs have been used to boost sex drive for centuries, and in recent decades several have been shown in clinical trials to have a beneficial effect.
Step 1
Try using an extract of the leaves of ginkgo biloba (also spelled gingko biloba), which is available over the counter in many drugstores. According to a study published in the journal Hormone Behavior in 2008 by K.Y. Yeh and colleagues, ginkgo enhances the copulatory behavior of male rats. Ginkgo is thought to boost blood flow to the sexual organs.
Step 2
Take pills made from the extract of horny goat weed, also known as Epimedium, which has been used for centuries in Chinese and Korean medicine as a treatment for erectile dysfunction. A study published in Ethnopharmacology in 2007 by M.N. Makarova and colleagues found that horny goat weed helped male rats copulate. However, no trials have studied the effects of horny goat weed on women.
Step 3
Ask your doctor for a prescription for yohimbine, an herb that is used in Chinese Traditional Medicine. According to the Mayo Clinic, yohimbine improves erectile dysfunction perhaps because it increases the body's production of certain chemicals that help produce erections. It does not work in all men who are impotent, however. And it usually takes two to three weeks of use before there is a beneficial effect.
A 1992 study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry by F. M. Jacobsen found that yohimbine improved sexual function in eight out of nine men who were suffering from low libido due to antidepressant medication.
Things You'll Need
- Gingko biloba
- Epimedium
- Yohimbine
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