SWM013: Morning Sex

This episode is about morning sex, meaning sex when you first wake up. I get asked why does my husband want sex in the morning often enough that it earned its own episode, and there is more going on than most people realise. Check out the show notes here for more details and links. Most of it is chemistry. Testosterone, the hormone that drives desire, peaks in the morning. Cortisol, the stress hormone, is at its lowest, and since cortisol works against the dopamine that sex depends on, the morning is when the deck is most stacked in your favour. Sex then produces more testosterone, plus oxytocin, dopamine, and the body’s own antidepressants and anti-stress agents. Testosterone leaves you feeling confident and assertive, oxytocin leaves you feeling connected, and dopamine leaves you feeling like you accomplished something, all before the day has started. The obstacles are real too, and worth naming rather than pretending away: switching gears from asleep to interested, having sex with the lights on when you carry body image concerns, children who are already awake, and morning breath.