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Why some women feel sad after sex – study


Love making is an expression of love. It is supposed to be joyous. But it isn’t always. Findings of a new scientific study say that nearly half or all women feel sad or tearful after having sex.

The phenomenon which has been labelled post-sex-blues is characterized by feelings of depression, tearfulness, agitation, anxiety or melancholy feelings which last up to four hours after lovemaking.

For the study, researchers from Queensland University of Technology in Australia polled sexually active women aged between 18 and 55. They were asked questions in regard to feelings surrounding sexual activity.

Up to 46 percent of the respondents reported feeling sad following sex at least once in their lifetime. Five percent of the 230 study respondents reported experiencing these feelings a few times in the past four weeks.

QUALITY OF SEX

Interestingly, the researchers did not find any relationship between the feelings of sadness and the state of the woman’s relationship or the quality of sex. Women reported feeling tearful even after satisfactory sex.

To explain these findings which have been published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, the researchers theorized that the feelings of sadness could be as a result of the hormonal shift which takes place in a woman’s body after an orgasm.

This hormonal shift can also trigger headaches. The researchers also argue that women who experience deep feelings of sadness after sex may have history of sexual abuse. These past experiences maybe what clouds their feelings in regard to relationships.

This means that they are prone to enter relationships in which they do not feel in control of the happenings thus the sad feelings after sex.

NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

 

Also, women who are more emotionally active maybe the ones that suffer from post sex blues. These woman are more vulnerable to negative emotions and can experience these emotions after sex.

Being emotional may make them easily fused to others. They may experience sadness at the imagined separation from their partners after sex.

Speaking about the findings, the study author Dr Robert Schweitzer, of Queensland University of Technology said, “The findings build upon our previous research investigating the correlates of sexual functioning in women. The results of our original research in this area have now been confirmed in a multi-national study on negative post-coital emotions, which appear to have evolutionary functions.”

“I think there is something about sense of self. We give up our sense of self during sex – that’s part of the experience, but some women find it terrifying,” he says.

Previous research by Dr. Robert Schweitzer shows that post-coital blues may have a genetic component.

Evolutionary speaking, the sad feelings maybe a motivation for a woman to pursue a deeper commitment with this man so as to secure a stable future for her offspring.