Khloé Kardashian has opened up about a long period of celibacy – and a doctor is weighing in to explain how it might affect the body.
Kardashian reveals in a teaser for the upcoming season of The Kardashians that she had gone four years without sex when the footage was filmed.
“I’m single, I might be ready to mingle,” she says in the teaser.
Four years without sex may sound like a long time, especially in a culture where sexual activity is often treated as an important part of adult life. But medically speaking, there is no set amount of sex anyone is supposed to have.
Dr. Shirin Lakhani, an expert in intimate and women’s health, explained that “the body should not undergo any particular changes simply because someone hasn’t had sex for a certain amount of time,” according to Tyla.
That said, sex can have physical and psychological effects, meaning someone who abruptly stops having it may notice certain differences.
Your mood could be affected
First of all, sex can trigger the release of several chemicals in the brain and body, including dopamine, oxytocin and endorphins – sometimes called the “happy hormones.”
According to Dr. Lakhani, going without sex may mean “a reduction in oxytocin and endorphins as well as a dip in dopamine levels.”
However, abstaining from sex does not mean a person will develop hormonal problems.
You may miss one of your usual ways to relax
For some people, sex is also a way of unwinding after a stressful day and can be linked to the feeling of relaxation.
So if sex was previously one of your go-to ways of decompressing, you might notice its absence.
That doesn’t mean being celibate automatically makes someone more stressed or anxious. Plenty of other ways to manage stress exist.
Your pelvic floor gets less of a workout
Orgasms involve contractions and relaxation of the pelvic-floor muscles, essentially giving them a small workout.
Those muscles matter because they help support organs such as the bladder, bowel, and uterus.
But sex is far from the only way to keep your pelvic floor strong. Pelvic-floor exercises can work those same muscles.
The effects can be more noticeable after menopause
Celibacy can have some different implications after menopause, particularly because estrogen levels are lower.
Dr. Lakhani explained that in post-menopausal women, less sexual stimulation may contribute to vaginal tissue becoming thinner, drier and less elastic more quickly.
Debunking a common myth
One myth surrounding sex is that abstinence makes the vagina “tighter” – while having a lot of sex “stretches it out.”
Neither is true.
“Sex, or a lack of sex, does not cause permanent changes to the size or shape of the vagina or labia,” Dr. Lakhani said, explaining that the vagina is highly elastic, according to Tyla.
So while four years without sex may make for an attention-grabbing Kardashian headline, there’s nothing particularly dramatic about what it does to the body.
As Dr. Lakhani put it: “There is no medically ‘normal’ amount.”
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