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Being in a relationship for too long may kill the desire for sex in women

Updated on: Nov 21, 2016, 10:51:32 IST
By , London
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Women who stay in the same monogamous relationship for a long time experience the highest decrease in sexual drive, claim researchers. (Shutterstock)
Women who stay in the same monogamous relationship for a long time experience the highest decrease in sexual drive, claim researchers. (Shutterstock)

Staying in a monogamous relationship for long may reduce a woman’s sexual desire, claim researchers.

Ever wondered why long-term relationships are often not as passionate as they were in the beginning? Researchers now have an answer to the long-standing dilemma. Staying in a monogamous relationship for long may reduce a woman’s sexual desire, they say.

Following over 2,000 premenopausal Finnish women for seven years, the researchers found that those who had stayed in the same monogamous relationship during the study period experienced the highest decrease in sexual drive.

The decrease in sexual desire was lower for women who had found a new partner over the study duration, said the study published in the journal Psychological Medicine.

“Our results advocate tailored psychobehavioural treatment interventions for female sexual dysfunctions that take partner-specific factors into account,” said the study led by Annika Gunst from University of Turku in Finland.

The scientists used the Female Sexual Function Index — a short questionnaire that measures specific areas of sexual functioning in women, such as sexual arousal, orgasm, sexual satisfaction, and the presence of pain during intercourse — to look at the evolution of female sexual desire over a period of seven years, Medicalnewstoday.com reported.

Women with a new partner experience higher improvement in orgasmic ability as compared to those who have been in the same relationship for a long time. (Shutterstock)
Women with a new partner experience higher improvement in orgasmic ability as compared to those who have been in the same relationship for a long time. (Shutterstock)

Analyses were conducted separately for women in different relationship constellations.

Of the functions examined, the researchers found that women’s ability to orgasm remained the most stable over the seven-year period, while sexual satisfaction varied widely.

During the seven-year follow-up, the ability to have an orgasm improved across all groups, with single women experiencing the greatest improvement.

Women with a new partner experienced higher improvement in orgasmic ability when compared to women who had been in the same relationship over the entire period of observation.

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