- When you're not adequately hydrated, your body might react in plenty of surprising ways that you might not think are related to how much water you're drinking.
- Being dehydrated can impact your sex life — from headaches and fatigue preventing you from getting in the mood, to erectile issues and vaginal dryness.
- Here are the signs you should look out for when it comes to your sex drive and water intake.
When you're not drinking enough water, your body can react in some seriously weird ways, including sleep disruption, headaches, and dry skin. But one of the most surprising signs of dehydration involves your sex life, because being dehydrated can have both physical and emotional effects on your bedroom routine.
From fatigue and irritability, which could secretly be killing your sex drive, to erectile issues and vaginal dryness, here are the ways that dehydration can affect your sex life, and how you can remedy the situation.
Not drinking enough water can cause a host of unpleasant physical and emotional symptoms that you might not immediately link to your fluid intake, such as fatigue and irritability to headaches. But how exactly does this impact your activity between the sheets?
A 2011 study in the British Journal of Nutrition found that even mild dehydration impairs cognitive performance and mood in young men, showing a marked increase in anxiety and tension even when at rest.
This link exists with all genders, though, which makes sense. After all, how easy is it to get in the mood when you're feeling tense and anxious?
It turns out that drinking enough water and stress levels are actually closely linked. Our bodies need enough water to run efficiently, and when we don't have enough, that can impact just about everything from the inside out.
Registered dietitian Amanda Carlson told WebMD that "studies have shown that being just half a liter dehydrated can increase your cortisol levels," adding, "Cortisol is one of those stress hormones. Staying in a good hydrated status can keep your stress levels down. When you don't give your body the fluids it needs, you're putting stress on it, and it's going to respond to that."
Of course, drinking more water won't magically lower your stress levels, but it will help your body respond to outside stressors more seamlessly. And the less stressed you are, the more likely it is that you'll want to get it on.
If you've ever experienced a throbbing headache on a hot day or after a rigorous workout, or even just when you've failed to get in those six cups of water that day, you know firsthand how important it is to remain hydrated. And when your temples are pounding, you're probably not excited about the prospect of having sex.
"Often a headache is our body's signal that we're becoming dehydrated," explains Patricia Johnson, co-author of "Partners in Passion: A Guide to Great Sex, Emotional Intimacy and Long-term Love," who recommends drinking a tall glass of H2O and taking an over-the-counter pain reliever of your choice, and waiting it out a bit. As Johnson told SheKnows, "Chances are, your headache has vanished and you'll be able to focus on the pleasurable activities you're planning."
Dehydration can also cause dry skin, which can be the culprit for more than just chapped lips and itchiness. It turns out that if you're dehydrated, your vagina might be too.
Vaginal dryness can cause pain during sex, which probably won't make you excited about the thought of getting busy. But can not drinking enough water seriously dry out the skin down below?
Yes, says Sherry A. Ross, M.D., a women's health expert and author of "She-ology: The Definitive Guide to Women's Intimate Health. Period". Dr. Ross told Glamour magazine that "A healthy vagina needs the same hygienic attention as any other part of the body, similar to the way we care for our face," adding, "The skin of the vagina is susceptible to dryness if not taken care of properly."
That dryness can occur on the skin outside the vagina (the labia majora and labia minora) as well as the skin on the inside, and failing to drink enough water can lead to itchiness, burning, and pain down there … all of which can cause or exacerbate a yeast infection, says Dr. Ross.
The vagina has a delicate pH balance and a healthy vagina is normally acidic, but dehydration can send that balance out of whack, upping your risk for a yeast infection. "Yeast and bacterial infections occur when there is a disruption of the normal pH balance caused by dehydrated skin in and around the inside of the vagina," explains Dr. Ross.
Of course, it's worth mentioning that "more than drinking water will need to be done to keep the vagina healthy," explained Jessica Shepherd, M.D., an assistant professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology and director of minimally invasive gynecology at The University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago. Dr. Shepherd told Glamour, though, that remaining adequately hydrated "does definitely improve the healthy state of the vagina."
Dehydration can also impact your ability to orgasm, as Johnson told SheKnows. She said, "Being sufficiently hydrated is important for female sexual response, in part because it may facilitate natural lubrication, and also because it can make it easier to experience orgasms."
The better hydrated we are, the more oxygen we have traveling through our bloodstream, helping things run smoothly all over the body. That also includes our sex organs, which need all that oxygen to help us climax more easily.
According to Healthline, there's a solid link between dehydration and erectile dysfunction as well, and it might surprise you. Just as our bodies need sufficient oxygen to run properly overall, they also need that oxygen to help get and maintain an erection, due to the need for adequate blood flow to those sex organs.
In 2009, French researcher Simon N. Thornton looked at the link between erectile dysfunction and hydration levels, finding that blood volume impacts erectile function. When fluid levels fall, the body responds by releasing angiotensin, a hormone that can cause blood vessels to constrict or tighten, according to Healthline. This prevents blood flow throughout the body, which includes the penis.
There are tons of reasons why it's important to drink plenty of fluids even when you don't feel thirsty, but how much water is actually necessary to stay hydrated?
Of course, we've all heard the classic "eight glasses of water a day" rule, but there are so many variables, based on a person's overall health, climate, and activity level, to getting enough H2O. A good rule of thumb to follow is that if you're feeling thirsty, you might already be already experiencing dehydration, so drinking enough water throughout the day is never a bad idea, even if you're not particularly thirsty.
Plus, alcohol, caffeine, and salty foods are all dehydrating, so you'll want to increase water intake alongside these foods and drinks. And if you're exercising heavily, feeling ill, or in hot and humid weather, you'll definitely want to guzzle enough water accordingly.
Paying attention to your body's hydration can benefit you in more ways than you'd think, so drink up as often as you can.
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Sexual activity itself doesn't actually cause a yeast infection, but it can increase your risk since it can alter your pH balance and allow yeast to take over, said Dr. 
