How to Lower a High Sex Drive and When to Consider It

Posted by AweSamo February 24, 2026
How to Lower a High Sex Drive and When to Consider It

Key Takeaways

  • Mindfulness and meditation can help control sexual urges. 
  • Certain medications, like antidepressants and blood pressure meds, may reduce your sex drive. 
  • Therapists can help address hypersexuality concerns and other co-occurring conditions, like behavioral addictions.

While a high sex drive can be healthy, it can also overwhelm daily life, relationships, or personal goals. Strategies like mindfulness, diet adjustments, and certain medications can help you rein in sexual urges safely and effectively.

A Note on Gender and Sex Terminology

Verywell Health acknowledges that sex and gender are related concepts, but they are not the same. To reflect our sources accurately, this article uses terms like “female,” “male,” “woman,” and “man” as the sources use them.

Photographer, Basak Gurbuz Derman / Getty Images


Natural Ways to Manage Your Libido

There are several methods to try to lower your sex drive without medication. Here are a few options to explore.

A Word From Verywell

Someone may want to lower their sex drive to manage personal stress, maintain focus on career or personal goals, or navigate complex relationship dynamics. Sexual desire is deeply personal and can be influenced by emotional, psychological, and physical factors. By adjusting one’s libido, people can create balance and harmony in their lives, aligning their sexual health with their overall well-being.

Soma Mandal, MD

Mindfulness-Based Techniques

Mindfulness techniques like meditation can help treat sexual disorders. They may assist you in managing sex addiction or hypersexuality by giving you control over sexual urges.

Research suggests mindfulness might help with low arousal, boost desire, or reduce sexual anxiety. However, more research is needed to confirm these findings.

Research on alternative treatments for hypersexuality is limited, making it hard to generalize findings.

Masturbation

Masturbation can address sexual issues and relieve tension. It carries no risk of pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections.

Can Eating Certain Foods Lower Sex Drive?

Anti-aphrodisiacs are foods that lower testosterone, potentially reducing sex drive. Examples include spearmint and licorice, but more studies are needed to confirm these effects.

Therapy

A sex therapist or psychotherapist provides a safe space to discuss sexual concerns. Hypersexuality, also known as sex addiction, can be treated by working with an addiction specialist, especially for co-occurring substance issues or behavioral addictions.

Are There Medications to Lower Your Sex Drive? 

Certain medications can lower your libido as a side effect. Medications that may be used to treat hypersexuality include:

  • Antidepressants
  • Antipsychotics
  • Antiseizure medications

Many other medications may lower your libido as a side effect, though they’re prescribed for another reason. These drugs can include antiseizure medications, statins used to treat high cholesterol, blood pressure medications, and chemotherapy treatments for cancer.

Consult a healthcare provider to find out which medication, if any, may be suitable for hypersexuality.

Hypersexuality and Links to Other Health Issues

Addressing hypersexuality’s co-morbidities is crucial for appropriate treatment. Common co-occurring issues include:

What Are the Reasons for Controlling Libido?

There is no right or wrong level of libido to have. Some people may want to have sex more often than others, and this can change over time.

People may want to control their libido to commit to celibacy or try to match a partner’s sex drive. If high libido is impacting other areas of your life negatively, it may be beneficial to learn to control it.

Sex and Gender and Hypersexuality

Past studies suggest cisgender men, on average, have a higher sex drive than cisgender women. Studies like this don’t take into account fluctuating sex drive during menstruation or associated reasons for wanting to control the increased sex drive during ovulation (i.e., when estrogen peaks alongside chances of getting pregnant).

Mental Health and Other Reasons

Mental health, physical health, and sleep health are other reasons someone may try to control their sex drive. 

Hypersexuality can contribute to:

  • Chronic stress
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Social isolation and impaired self-esteem
  • Cognition distortions (e.g., rationalizing acting on sexual urges despite consequences)
  • Risky sexual behaviors
  • Exhaustion and poor sleep habits
  • Injuries from impulsive or risky sexual behaviors
  • Relationship breakdowns that can have mental and physical effects

What Happens to Sex Drive After Coming Off Medication

Coming off certain medications can impact your sex drive. If you’re tapering off SSRI antidepressants, for example, sexual effects, including loss of libido, may still endure or worsen post-treatment. Since 2006, this type of enduring impact on sex drive after coming off medication has been reported as post-SSRI sexual dysfunction syndrome. 

Timelines for how your sex drive is affected coming off other medications will depend on numerous factors. If you have specific questions, consult with your prescribing provider. Do not attempt to stop medication without consultation, as withdrawal and relapse can occur.

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

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  2. Larraz AMC, Moya AV, Actis CC. Mindfulness-based intervention and sexuality: a systematic review. Trends Psychiatry Psychother. doi:10.47626/2237-6089-2021-0459 

  3. Planned Parenthood. Is masturbation healthy?

  4. Armanini  D, Mattarello MJ, Fiore C, et al. Licorice reduces serum testosterone in healthy women. Steroids. 2004;69(11-12):763–766. doi:10.1016/j.steroids.2004.09.005

  5. Grant P. Spearmint herbal tea has significant anti-androgen effects in polycystic ovarian syndrome. A randomized controlled trial. Phytother Res. 2010;24(2):186-188. doi:10.1002/ptr.2900

  6. International Society for Sexual Medicine. What happens during sex therapy?

  7. Nassif J, Joshi P, Wagoner R, Newman W. Sexual addiction as a legal defense. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2022;50(4):552-565. doi:10.29158/JAAPL.210151-21

  8. Downing L, Kim DD, Procyshyn RM`, Tibbo P. Management of sexual adverse effects induced by atypical antipsychotic medication. J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2019;44(4):287-288. doi:10.1503/jpn.190053

  9. AARP. Prescription medications that can ruin your sex life.

  10. University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Sexuality and cancer.

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  12. Montejo AL, Prieto N, de Alarcón R, Casado-Espada N, de la Iglesia J, Montejo L. Management strategies for antidepressant-related sexual dysfunction: a clinical approach. J Clin Med. 2019;8(10):1640. doi:10.3390/jcm8101640

  13. Tiwari, S. Hypersexual disorder: a comprehensive review of conceptualization, etiology, assessment and treatment. Archives of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. 2023;007(001):054–063. doi:10.29328/journal.apps.1001044

  14. BetterHealth. Libido.

  15. Frankenbach J, Weber M, Loschelder DD, Kilger H, Friese M. Sex drive: theoretical conceptualization and meta-analytic review of gender differences. Psychol Bull. 2022. doi:10.1037/bul0000366

  16. University of Rochester. Ask the sexpert: sex drive and the menstrual cycle. 

Woman in green blouse smiling with glasses.

By Michelle Pugle

Michelle Pugle writes health articles for award-winning websites, as seen in Healthline, Verywell, Everyday Health, and Psych Central. She has a Master’s degree, undergraduate degrees in English and Sociology, a diploma in Holistic Herbal Therapy, and is trained in mental health first aid, anti-violence work, and peer support work.

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