Sex File: Where has his libido gone?

"The trouble is that worrying about not being able to perform increases stress levels, which increases the likelihood of failure — a self-fulfilling prophecy"

Worrying about not being able to perform increases stress levels, which increases the likelihood of failure — a self-fulfilling prophecy

I have been having good regular sex in my marriage for 25 years and always felt quite smug about it. But my 60-year-old husband seems to have lost his libido - or interest in our sex life — almost overnight. Should I be worried he is suddenly getting sex elsewhere? Nothing has changed, so I'm really confused.

Nothing has changed? We've just emerged from a global pandemic into a cost of living crisis. The world is not a sexy place at the moment. Researchers have been talking about a sexual recession since Covid, but the economic climate may be putting more pressure on people than lockdown did. Whatever the cause, stress and anxiety decimate sexual desire. It is an evolutionary response to threat — the fight or flight response kicks in. Heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate increase to prepare the body for escape, while -non-essential functions, such as arousal, are diminished.