Couples whose sex life is in the doldrums might hope for a solution.
A hormone thought to help women feel less confident about sex alters their brain response to eroticism.
The “Viagra of the mind” can even help women find their husbands more attractive.
In men, the same hormone, aptly named kisspeptin, is now believed to reduce overthinking and stage fright in the bedroom.
The researchers saw a significant increase in erectile function in men with low libido who were given the drug.
The researchers conducted the study for people with a low sex drive and who are unhappy with their low libido. Doctors call this hypoactive sexual desire disorder, and it affects up to 10 percent of women and eight percent of men
British researchers led the trials of Kisspeptin for people with a low sex drive that cannot be explained by physical or mental health problems and who are dissatisfied with their low libido.
This problem, which doctors call hypoactive sexual desire disorder, affects up to 10 percent of women and eight percent of men.
dr Alexander Comninos, senior author of the study from Imperial College London, said: “The pattern of brain activity we saw suggests that kisspeptin may discourage people from overthinking when it comes to sex, and so the sexual one curb excitement.
“Ultimately, the brain plays a central role in coordinating sexual desire.
“We hope that kisspeptin-based treatments will be available in the UK within five to ten years as research advances.”
Kisspeptin was discovered by scientists in Hershey, Philadelphia in 1996 and named after Hershey’s Kisses, the milk chocolate treats made by a city-based company.
The researchers gave 32 women an infusion of Kisspeptin via a drip in their arm and, at another time, an infusion of pure salt water for comparison, which had no effect on their sexual desire.
On Kisspeptin, women reported feeling “sexy,” having less activity in a front brain region associated with distracting negative thoughts, and more activity in a brain region associated with sexual arousal when watching the videos
The women’s brain activity was tracked through an MRI scan while watching short erotic videos compared to non-sexual exercise videos.
On Kisspeptin, women reported feeling “sexy,” having less activity in a front brain region associated with distracting negative thoughts, and more activity in a brain region associated with sexual arousal when watching the videos .
When asked to look at images of men’s faces, they showed greater activity in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) — a part of the brain previously associated with romantic emotions — and separate brain activity associated with more positive judgments from other people was.
This raises hopes that women taking Kisspeptin may begin to find their husbands more attractive and want to have sex with them more.
In fact, women with more activity in the PCC showed less aversion to sex when asked how much they felt repelled, cold, disinterested, and anxious about sex, among other things.
Women taking Kisspeptin showed less activity in a brain region, which could make them feel insecure about their bodies when looking at the photos.
In the separate study of 32 men who were given Kisspeptin, the men’s brain activity after taking the hormone suggested they paid more visual attention to pornography and were less self-conscious, which could mean that stage fright is less of a problem.
Women with more activity in the PCC showed less aversion to sex when asked how much they felt repelled, cold, disinterested, and anxious about sex, among other things. In the separate study of 32 men who were given Kisspeptin, the men’s brain activity after taking the hormone suggested they paid more visual attention to pornography and were less self-conscious
The male study had direct evidence that Kisspeptin can increase men’s sex drive, as their penises were up to 56 percent harder while watching an erotic video after receiving the hormone.
The drug is a solution to the psychological causes of men’s bedroom problems, rather than just increasing blood flow to their genitals like Viagra.
There is currently no approved treatment in the UK for premenopausal women with bedroom problems.
Both studies have been published in the journal JAMA Network Open.
Professor Waljit Dhillo, co-senior author of the Imperial College London study, said: ‘It is very encouraging to see the same boosting effect in women and men, although as expected the exact brain pathways were slightly different.’