by Bonniel Rostok

Created on: May 23, 2009   Last Updated: May 29, 2009

If you announce to a group of your peers that you are sick of sex, you might hear a collective gasp. However, in spite of your pals' reactions, you probably aren't alone. There is an enormous expectation placed on the sex lives of Americans. We are inundated with sex on television, in the movies, in the music we listen to; it's online, in chat rooms, and now there's Twitter. We're "doing it" all the time, right? Actually, in the U.S., we are not. The U.K. based condom manufacturer, Durex, did a global sex survey in 2007 that revealed the U.S. as low on the sexual frequency meter. American individuals have sex on average 85 times a year, falling behind the global average of 103 times a year. Many of us may be shocked at the U.S. statistic and wonder when the other 80 times happened. In spite of our highly sexualized culture and the various urgings, proddings, and medications encouraging us to "get it on," you may, in fact, be sick (gasp!) of sex. Here are ten good reasons why:

1) Stress. It does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, gender, ethnicity, or religion. If you are human, you are feeling it. Stress activates our fight or flight hormone, adrenaline, which puts our "love" hormones, testosterone and estrogen, on the back burner. When we're stressed, our bodies want to beat something up, not make love to it. We enter stress mode even when something good is happening, like getting married. There's no escape, but there is alleviation. Exercise is a two-pronged remedy for stress. It helps our bodies manage the adrenaline that is killing our mojo and it releases endorphins, which make us feel relaxed, and increases testosterone in both sexes, making us feel...romantic. Other methods of coping with stress that open the door for some lovin' include, limiting caffeine intake, taking time for yourself, and meditation.

2) Exhaustion. Like stress, fatigue does not discriminate. We work hard; we have families; we are sleep deprived. A Sleepdex survey shows that out of 1,000 Americans polled, all of them said they get less than 7 hours of sleep a night. Lack of sleep affects how we fight off infection, how we think and respond. It contributes to heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and obesity. If our bodies are already trying to manage these conditions, sexual response won't be a priority. The National Sleep Foundation established a connection between sleep deprivation and low libido due to the side effects of sleep debt. Three quarters of NSF

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