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Class OverviewMore than 40% of women over the age of 30 report sexual problems at one time or another. That number is higher among postmenopausal women. Get your passion back! Top ten tips to kickstart your Libido! (Check out the Top 10 Big Ideas from the class below!)Your ProfessorDr. Jennifer Landa specializes in helping women and men balance their hormones, restore their energy, and replenish their sex lives. Her practice focuses on hard work and lifestyle changes for increasing health.How to Bring Your Sexy BackI know. You’re not in the mood tonight. Or, well, any night lately. You think it’s: work, stress, the kids, that one project, the weather. Your dip in sex drive may be due to some of those things. But excuses are excuses. And once upon a time, you didn’t need any to get it on.If you’re feeling a serious lag in your libido, you’re not alone.  More than 40% of women over the age of 30 report sexual problems at one time or another. That number is even higher among postmenopausal women. Getting your passion back is important because sexual gratification is tied to life satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, and self esteem.Look, things can and do change—with circumstances, with age, even with your cycle. From week to week and year to year, it’s normal for your libido to ebb and flow. You’re not supposed to act like a tiger in heat all the time. But when you’ve been ebbing for longer than you’ve been doing anything else, it’s time to take a closer look at the issue.Every day in my hormone practice, I encounter women who have lost their sexual desire. It’s especially prevalent among women with fast-paced careers where stress is the norm. Many women would love to restore their libido, but are too embarrassed to seek help. Others have been told by their obgyn that this is just the way it is. I don’t think that answer is good enough for you.As an obgyn who helps women tap their energy and replenish their sex drives, I’m not telling you this because I think you “should” be having sex, but because sex is vital part of life, and if you aren’t addressing the issues that have shut that drive down, those same issues will plague you in other areas, too. And not just that, but why shouldn’t you have a full, juicy, sexy life?Yup. It Happened to Me, TooI lost my own sex drive at the unusually young age of only 28 years old, married 3 years! I had zero energy, and any free moment I spent in bed—sleeping! Sex was the very last thing on my mind, and I just couldn’t bring myself to engage with my husband intimately. And it became an issue.I was an obgyn, but I had no idea how to fix my own problem because, ironic as it may seem, doctors like myself are trained to solve problems and save lives—but not tend to and nurture sexual health. My lack of interest in the bedroom led me on this journey to find the answers—which I found in regenerative medicine. It became clear that my excessive and unmanaged stress, out-of-whack hormone levels, and even my birth control pills (which I’ve found in many patients can contribute to low libido) and had all but killed off any interest in sex.After years of helping women with low libido, I have seen time and again that women experiencing low sex drive can restore it. Here’s my top ten tips for kickstarting your libido.TOP 10 WAYS TO RESTORE YOUR LIBIDOThe Top 10 Big Ideas1Eat First ThingSkipping breakfast isn’t sexy. Be sure to eat within an hour of waking, and make it protein (best consumed in a protein shake). This will help sustain your blood sugar and get your energy back, rather than try to compensate for it on the back end of your day (p.s., this never works). 2Do Your Exercise in BurstsIf you’re chasing your libido for endless miles on a treadmill, well, you’re running to stand still in more ways than one. Cut out the long-form cardio (which can actually trigger cortisol release, lowering much-needed progesterone and testosterone which calm your nerves and stoke your desire. Focus on bursts of exercise: Doing one minute really hard, two minutes easy, and repeating five times. This is a great way to boost testosterone. 3Come to Your SensesNo, really. Tune in to all five. Get out of the gerbil wheel of to-dos and pay attention to what’s around you, what you hear, what the air smells like, what your salad really tastes like, how your sweater feels against your skin. Sex is undeniably a physical act, so unless you can tune in to the physical, it’ll be hard to feel sexy. Think about which sensory stimuli turns you on the most–how your partner smells, looks, and let that feed your own sensual fantasies, images, ideas. And allow it to stoke your sexual flame. 4Be Here NowA wandering mind is not your friend when it comes to sex. At the end of your workday or after dinner, write down all the things floating around your head competing for your attention, such as things you have to do, people to call, and so on. Clear it out of your brain for now. Then when you’re with your partner in an intimate setting (regardless of whether you’re going to have sex or not), practice tuning in to your partner and being mindful of him or her.Give that person your full attention; let yourself be absorbed by their presence. You’re building a connection with that person, which is vital to feeling sexually connected. 5SleepNothing in the world can replace sleep, and you need it to do anything—work, drive, read, think, talk, and yes, have sex. Being tired is one of the biggest reasons couples decline to get down and dirty.  Lack of sleep is another physical stress that triggers cortisol, stress hormone release which reduces happy hormones like progesterone and testosterone—so be sure to get your 7 to 8 hours a night. 6Stifle The Self-CriticismYour negative self talk does you no favors in the sex department (or any other area, as a matter of fact!). When you look in the mirror, do you only see what you don’t like and wish were different? Do you catch yourself throughout the day saying things like “I’m such an idiot!”—because after a while, you’re going to believe it. I’m not saying you have to magically love everything about your body or yourself or pretend you do. But what you can do is notice the beautiful parts, the things that you do love. You can practice a little more self compassion, and be at least as forgiving as you would be with a friend. That’s a start. No one ever bullied themselves into a better sex life. 7Get SelfishIt’s ok, really! I frequently find women harboring resentment toward their partners, and one of the biggest reasons is because they do so much for other people and put themselves last. Take some time for yourself regularly, away from work and kids and other obligations. If you are able to spend just a little time (30 minutes a day? A few hours a week?) doing something you love; i.e., not working on or waiting on anyone else, you can feel calmer, less resentful.Remember, you don’t win any awards for suffering the most. So take some time for you, starting now. 8Schedule Some QT with Your PartnerIt’s critical that you find time for you and your partner alone–without the kids, even out of the house if you can. I know you’re both busy. But crashing into bed at 11p.m. with less than 15 minutes of consciousness does not count. Hire a sitter, do a kid swap for the night or even on Saturday afternoon to be alone together, like you used to be. 9Change it UpDoing the same thing over and over is boring, period. There’s good reason to switch things up: Novelty increases levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, associated with pleasure and reward, and helps energize and focus you. That playfulness can only come when you try things in a new way, whether that’s doing something different together, taking a class, going somewhere new, anything that you haven’t done together before. It’s also worth switching things up in the bedroom too, which may mean having sex somewhere else altogether! Switch location, even shift the timing so that it feels new. Bottom line: Have fun. 10Supplement your Sexual Health.There are many supplements that I work with in my practice and that I recommend in my programs that help with hormone balancing and firing up your sexy hormones, and one of the best is maca. Maca is an Andean root that we refer to as an herb that has been shown in several studies to balance hormones and increase women’s sexual feelings. The recommended dose is around 3g but typical Andean people may eat much more maca per day since it is a food source for them that contains carbohydrates, protein, fat, fiber and several nutrients like iron, magnesium and selenium. I frequently add it to my morning protein shake. Experiment with it and see if just a little bit doesn’t help you recapture your old flame.