Losing your sense of smell can keep you from having sex, the study says

by

Losing your sense of smell – one of the symptoms of Covid-19 – can put you off sex, a new study reveals.

American researchers found a link between a loss of smell, known as anosmia, and decreased sexual motivation and emotional satisfaction in older American adults.

The experts say that the sense of smell plays “a uniquely strong role” in sexual motivation – and that both are “closely linked.”

Researchers only looked at adults aged 65 and over, which means the link could only get stronger as we age and possibly less pronounced in young adults.

Despite this, researchers say that potentially treatable causes of sensory loss should be addressed by clinicians to “ improve quality of life ” – in other words, their sex life.

Loss of smell from Covid-19 doesn't appear to be permanent, scientists say, but may be an early symptom of the disease. Researchers say the loss of fragrance as a whole is linked to decreased sexual motivation

Loss of smell from Covid-19 doesn’t appear to be permanent, scientists say, but may be an early symptom of the disease. Researchers say the loss of scent as a whole is linked to decreased sexual motivation

What is Anosmia?

Anosmia is the medical name for a condition in which a person has a complete or partial loss of their sense of smell.

The most common cause of the condition – temporary or permanent – are diseases that affect the nose or sinuses, such as polyps growing in the airways, fractures or cartilage, hay fever or tumors.

It’s different from hyposmia, which is a decreased sensitivity to some or all of the smells.

About 3.5 million people in the UK are affected by the condition, and nearly 10 million in the US. It is surprisingly common and affects between three and five percent of people.

Head injuries and nervous system diseases such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s can also contribute to the condition by damaging nerves in the nose that are responsible for detecting odors.

As we age, our sensory functions steadily decline, with different consequences for older adults.

Previous research has suggested that patients with olfactory disorders complain about limitations in their sex life.

To find out more, researchers examined the effect of a loss of olfactory function or sense of smell on the sexual desire and satisfaction of the elderly.

The team, which also included an expert from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, worked with a sample of 2,084 older adults in the US, all 65 or older.

The adults, described as a “nationally representative sample,” were recruited from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, an ongoing longitudinal population-based study of health and social factors.

The experts measured their olfactory sensitivity with scent sticks and their frequency of sexual thoughts and activity through a questionnaire, as well as their satisfaction with their most recent sexual relationship.

“A decreased sense of smell in older American adults was associated with decreased sexual motivation and less emotional satisfaction with sex, but not with a decreased frequency of sexual activity or physical pleasure,” say the researchers.

However, a decrease in odor sensitivity did not indicate a reduced frequency of sexual activity or a decrease in physical pleasure.

Analyzes were adjusted for age, gender, race, education, cognition, comorbidity, and depression – but the team was unable to determine causality, meaning it is not known whether loss of smell causes decreased sex drive or vice versa.

Researchers only looked at adults aged 65 and over - meaning the link between odor loss and low sex drive could only get stronger as we get older and possibly less pronounced in young adults

Researchers only looked at adults aged 65 and over – meaning the link between odor loss and low sex drive could only get stronger as we get older and possibly less pronounced in young adults

“Our research shows that a decrease in olfactory function can affect sexual pleasure in older adults,” said study author Jesse K. Siegel at the University of Chicago.

“Therefore, treatable causes of sensory loss must be addressed by clinicians to improve sexual health.”

The experts say this may be due to “evolutionarily conserved” neurological links between sense of smell and sexuality.

“Olfaction has a strong, evolutionarily conserved connection to the limbic system, which plays a critical role in emotional processing and sexual motivation,” Siegel and her team say in their paper published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

“Neurons in the olfactory bulb also project directly to the hypothalamus, another important mediator of sexual motivation.”

Study author Dr. Jayant Pinto, also at the University of Chicago, told MailOnline that the olfactory system is connected to centers in the brain that facilitate the experience of pleasure.

These compounds are ancient because lower organisms have to detect chemicals in the environment [such as] nutrients to feed, toxins to avoid, ”he said.

Since sexuality is essential for reproduction, it also depends on sensory input.

So the associations we find may be signs that these two old parts of the physiology of our nervous system are linked.

“The benefit would be more efficient mating and more offspring, in an evolutionary sense.”

The study was conducted before Covid, which means it is also not known how loss of smell in people with Covid is specifically related to sexual desire.

The three most common symptoms of Covid-19 are a high temperature, a new and persistent cough, and a loss or change in the sense of smell or taste.

Public Health England also lists fewer different less common symptoms, including pain, headaches and rashes.

In general, the loss of sensation can “ return to normal in a few weeks or months, ” according to the NHS, and treatment with steroid nasal sprays or drops can help those with sinusitis or nasal polyps.

However, people who have lost their sense of smell, specifically because of Covid, may not get it back two months later, a January study suggested.

A survey from last July also found that one in 10 people who lose their sense of taste and smell due to the coronavirus may not get it back within a month.

WE CAN LOSE SMELL AND TASTE ‘WITHIN HOURS OF INFECTION’

Data collected by the ENT UK organization, which specializes in ear, nose and throat specialists, suggests that the inability to smell – and often taste – may be the very first symptom of COVID-19, starting within hours of infection.

Many people don’t seem to develop further symptoms and make a full recovery without even realizing they had the coronavirus. They are thought to be mainly healthy young adults whose immune systems respond enough to the virus to keep it in the nose, preventing it from spreading to the lungs, where it can cause potentially fatal pneumonia.

As a result, ENT UK warns, some COVID-19 patients are not identified as infected or advised to isolate themselves – and they could potentially spread the virus to others.

“I’ve seen a massive increase in the number of patients visiting my clinic with a sudden loss of odor,” said Professor Nirmal Kumar, president of ENT UK and an ear, nose and throat specialist at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust.

‘It concerns up to four patients per week, usually under 40 and without other COVID-19 symptoms. Usually I don’t see more than one per month. ‘

Professor Kumar advises patients with no clear explanation for their odor loss to isolate themselves for at least seven days in case they have COVID-19, even though this is not the current government recommendation.

ENT UK has called on officials in the UK to recognize the symptoms as signs of a coronavirus infection.

Former President of ENT UK, Dr Tony Narula, added: ‘Normally when you get a cold or flu virus you get a stuffy nose and lose some odor because you don’t have air (which carries smells) in the nostrils can get it, ”he says.

‘It’s different with COVID-19. The virus appears to hit the olfactory nerve in the roof of the nose directly, just between the eyes.

One of the reasons so many people suffer is that this nerve is not covered with protective tissue, so the virus attacks it and causes inflammation that prevents olfactory signals from reaching the brain.

.Source