Could Your Pelvic Floor Be Affecting Your Sex Life?

Discover how strengthening your pelvic floor can improve arousal, orgasm and overall sexual sensation.

Key takeaways

• Strengthen your pelvic floor with Kegels to support arousal and orgasm intensity.
• Gauge pelvic floor health by testing control during regular bathroom trips.
• Try core-friendly movements like diaphragmatic breathing to support pelvic muscles.

Summary

Pelvic floor health plays a key role in your sex life, supporting arousal, lubrication, orgasm intensity and overall sensation for both men and women. This hammock of muscles sits beneath the urethra, vagina or prostate, and rectum.When it is too tight or too loose, it can affect urination, penetration and orgasm. A simple way to gauge pelvic floor health is to check your control during a regular, nonurgent trip to the bathroom.

Fortunately, there are practical steps you can take. Kegels are a great starting point when done correctly: Tighten, hold for three seconds, and relax for three seconds. Aim for 10 repetitions morning and night. Beyond Kegels, core-friendly movements like diaphragmatic breathing and pelvic tilts help strengthen the muscles that support your pelvic floor. For more personalized care, pelvic floor physical therapists use targeted exercises, hands-on techniques and sometimes biofeedback to retrain the muscles and restore function.

The key takeaways and summary were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.

Full transcript

[0:00:00] Pelvic floor health might not be the first thing you think about when it comes to your sex life, but maybe you should.

[0:00:05] Here’s why.

[0:00:06] The pelvic floor for men and women supports arousal, lubrication, orgasm intensity and overall sexual sensation.

[0:00:15] So what is your pelvic floor?

[0:00:17] Well, it’s actually a hammock of muscles, and what it does is it supports these structures like your urethra, the vagina, or in the case of men, a prostate, and your rectum.

[0:00:29] And so if these muscles are too tight or if these muscles are too loose, that can affect how all of those things function, like urination, but more importantly, like penetration or orgasm.

[0:00:40] Here’s a simple way to gauge your pelvic floor health.

[0:00:43] Pay attention to the control you have when you release urine, stool or gas.

[0:00:48] I’m not talking when you really have to go, just a regular nonemergency trip to the bathroom.

[0:00:54] When things are working well, you should be able to start, stop and hold these functions without leakage or urgency.

[0:01:02] If your control isn’t so great, don’t worry.

[0:01:04] There are things you can do to help.

[0:01:07] When it comes to pelvic floor exercises, Kegels are a great place to start, as long as you’re doing them correctly.

[0:01:13] Here’s how I teach my patients.

[0:01:15] Tighten your pelvic floor muscles, hold for three seconds, and then relax for three seconds.

[0:01:22] You can do this standing, sitting or lying down.

[0:01:25] Aim for 10 repetitions in the morning and 10 in the evening.

[0:01:28] Beyond Kegels, try staying active with core-friendly movements and exercises like diaphragmatic breathing or pelvic tilts.

[0:01:36] When you strengthen your core, improve your posture and support healthy breathing, you’re also helping your pelvic floor.

[0:01:43] And if you need more personalized help, there are pelvic floor physical therapists who specialize in strengthening this area.

[0:01:50] They use targeted exercises, hands-on techniques, and sometimes biofeedback to help retrain the muscles and get everything working the way it should.

[0:02:01] So if you’re noticing changes in sensation, orgasm or how the body responds in the bedroom, maybe turn your attention to your pelvic floor muscles.

[0:02:10] They may be small muscles, but they play a big role in sex.

[0:02:14] For more content like this, visit aarp.org/InTheMood