Why do women often feel more excited during menstruation?

Apart from the appearance of routine bleeding, many other things change while a woman is menstruating. Maybe once in a while or even every time you menstruate, you feel that your sex drive is more increased than usual days. Actually, what causes women to be more excited when heading towards menstruation?

Why do women feel more excited when heading towards menstruation?

There are many hormones involved during menstruation, such as estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. All of these hormones have an important role in increasing your sex drive.

This is proven by a study published in Hormones and Behavior, which looked at changes in hormone levels in the body during menstruation, then compared them with the participants' sexual activity.

Interestingly, the results of the study found that changes in levels of the hormones estrogen and progesterone during the menstrual cycle were directly related to changes in women's sexual arousal. That is why, you often feel more excited during your period.

Further explained by Dr. Adeeti Gupta, MD, a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology in the United States, that the hormones estrogen and progesterone have their own roles in determining a woman's libido.

The hormone estrogen is alleged to increase libido and the desire to have sex, while the progesterone hormone is responsible for stabilizing sex drive.

What are the phases of changes in sex hormones in the body?

Normally, a few days before the first day menstruation begins or the ovulation phase, all the hormones involved in menstruation, such as luteinizing (LH), estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, tend to be higher than the previous days.

The increase in the LH hormone will encourage the body to release an egg to wait for fertilization. Indirectly, the LH hormone plays a role in making you more excited when you go to menstruation later.

Furthermore, just before menstrual bleeding occurs, all these hormones seem to separate to carry out their respective duties. Estrogen levels tend to increase, while progesterone levels are much lower during and after menstrual periods.

The combination of hormonal changes is what makes you feel more excited when heading towards your period than when you are not menstruating, says Dr. Adeeti Gupta. In short, just before menstruation, during menstruation, as well as several days after menstruation, are indeed the most common times for an increase in a woman's sexual desire.

So, is it okay to have sex when you have your period?

Even though it sounds a little unusual, it's actually okay to have sex while you're menstruating. Launching from the Healthline page, there are even several benefits that can be obtained from having sex during menstruation.

Starting from being able to relieve stomach cramps that are often present during menstruation, to shorten the length of menstruation, as a natural lubricant or lubricant, to even help deal with headaches that sometimes occur during menstruation.

However, besides being able to provide these benefits, of course there are also side effects that accompany it. First, the blood that comes out during menstruation may make sex you and your partner uncomfortable. Especially if the blood that comes out is quite a lot and heavy, so that it even stains the sheets and bed.

Second, having sex during menstruation can increase the risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs), for example HIV, herpes, syphilis, HPV, gonorrhea (gonorrhea), and so on. This is because the microorganisms that cause the disease usually live in the blood, so they can easily move and spread through contact with menstrual blood.

So, it would be nice to put aside for a moment about the sexual arousal that you are feeling, then try to consider carefully some important things if you want to have sex during menstruation.