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Sexual wellness is a state of mind and body that helps you enjoy and explore sex safely. Here’s how to improve your sexual health, with or without a partner.
It’s very important that you’re happy and comfortable with your body and sexuality, your partner, and the decisions you make. Taking charge of your sexual well-being can boost sexual health. You get to be more confident, learn where to draw your boundaries, and experience an increased sex drive.
To help achieve sexual wellness, here are a few tips you should try.
Eat a healthy and balanced diet
Believe it or not, eating well can help improve your sexual wellness. To help boost your sexual performance, choose food items that are rich in vitamins, minerals, essential fats, and antioxidants.
If you get tired easily in bed, eating foods that are rich in zinc, such as oysters, pumpkin seeds, and watermelon can help you stay active. Looking to improve your libido? Gobble up some cashews, chickpeas, or green veggies to help increase blood circulation, thus, boosting your sex drive.
Avoid stress
Stressful situations will always be part of our lives, but there’s no reason why we can’t avoid them. In sex and relationships, stress can be a dangerous factor, affecting your hormones and changing your mood. When you’re stressed or in a bad mood, your sex drive could decrease.
The following are other reasons why you should avoid stress.
- Stress can make people turn to smoking and drinking, which can affect a person’s sexual health.
- When you’re stressed, your body releases cortisol, which is a hormone that can increase the risk of infertility.
- People who are stressed gain weight easier, causing body image issues that could affect relationships.
There are many ways to help stay away from stress, such as having a relaxing bubble bath, getting yoga class, and listening to calming music.
Stay active and healthy
Exercise is an important part of maintaining good health. Not only does it improve your physical health but it also makes your mental and sexual health better. It also helps boost your mood and sex drive.
If you’ve got no time for exercise or for a regular trip to the gym, you can just start making smarter choices. If you’re on your way to your office or workplace, skip the elevator and use the stairs.
But if you’ve got time to spare, you may even want to perform exercise or gym workouts with your partner. Not only will you both get fit and healthy, but you also get to spend quality time with each other.
Go to a yearly wellness visit
Routine wellness checkups are important, regardless of how healthy you feel. Going to a yearly doctor visit can help detect problems early, especially if they’re related to sexual health. It’s also a good opportunity to ask about personal concerns, sexual wellness products, and intimate activities.
Choose a prevention option that suits you
Taking care of your sexual well-being includes finding ways to prevent unplanned situations, such as pregnancies and illnesses. If you aren’t ready for pregnancy, use birth control. If you’re unsure what methods are available for you, talk to your doctor to understand their pros and cons and what suits you best.
Prevention also includes keeping yourself safe and protected from sexually transmitted infections. Condoms can help prevent most STIs.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis and post-exposure prophylaxis both help prevent HIV or AIDS. PrEP provides daily protection against HIV while PEP is an emergency preventive medication taken after a potential HIV exposure.
Communicate with your partner
Having honest and transparent conversations with your partner is essential to keep the relationship healthy. It’s important that you can openly discuss safe sex practices to make sure that you’re both comfortable, safe, and satisfied.
Verbal connection is as important as physical intimacy. Make sure that you’re on the same page when it comes to sexual activities, fantasies, and needs. Not only will it make your time together more valuable and satisfying, but it’ll also help strengthen your relationship.
Discussions about your relationship aren’t just a one-time thing. You and your partner’s sexual needs may change so it’s important to talk whenever it’s possible and needed, check and recheck, and renegotiate.
Soak in loads of Vitamin D
Basking in the sun can help improve sexual wellness. Why? Sunlight helps you get the vitamin D you need to improve sexual function, especially in males. It can also help prevent the body from producing melatonin, which suppresses sexual urges. So, make sure you spend a good amount of time under the sun.
Get tested for STIs
Regular STI or STD testing is the best way to make sure that you and your partner are sexually healthy. When STIs are detected earlier, you can get treatment immediately before they get worse.
Find an STD testing center that you can trust and make sure that their testing methods are explained well to you so you can feel comfortable. If you’re concerned or curious about something, ask your doctor any questions you may have so you can put your mind at ease.
Learn more about sexual wellness
If anything about your sexual well-being, sexuality, or sexual health bothers you, don’t hesitate to talk to your healthcare provider. You can also go online but make sure your resources are trustworthy and are providing fact-checked information. Some websites you may want to check are:
Lack of information is one of the things that hinder people from achieving sexual wellness. Sexual education in school may not be enough to get comfortable with topics like masturbation, LGBTQ+ communities, self-care, sexual wellness trends, and more. If you can’t get the information you need from your doctor or from a sex educator, do the research on your own.
Final thoughts
Your sexual wellness is important, whether you’re with a partner or not. It may be awkward and uncomfortable to talk about your sexuality, sex, and sexual health but it helps to know the facts. In order to be in a healthy relationship, you need to feel good about yourself first.
If you need to know more, go to the nearest sexual wellness clinic or urgent care center in NYC to speak with a healthcare provider willing to work with you on your journey to improve your sexual wellness.
