Great Sex, Naturally (28 page)

One of the most widely used Chinese herbal formulas containing rehmannia is known as “Six Flavor Rehmannia Pills.” The typical dose is eight pellets three times daily, but recommendations vary depending on the product.

4.
Epimedium.
Even though epimedium is one of the most powerful sex-enhancing herbs in Chinese medicine, it’s unfamiliar to many in the West. Epimedium is known in Chinese medicine as
Yin Yang Huo
, which translates as “Horny Goat Weed.” (Yes, that really is the name. Legend has it that epimedium’s potent properties were discovered when Chinese goat herders observed their flock fornicating prodigiously after grazing on a patch of the herb.)

According to Chinese medicine, epimedium strongly influences your kidney and liver meridians—important for your sexual chi—and fortifies your yang energy. The herb is said to “tonify life’s gate,” which means that it strengthens the chi that allows new life to be created. It’s traditionally used to treat infertility in women and impotence in men, as well as promote overall health and longevity.

From a Western perspective, epimedium’s active constituent,
icariin
, can augment sexual desire by stimulating your sensory nerves; it’s believed to especially affect nerves in your genitals. Epimedium also increases nitric oxide, thereby improving blood flow to your sexual organs and promoting their sensitivity. It may additionally boost your libido by supporting your adrenal glands, and enhance your moods by increasing your serotonin and dopamine levels. Other benefits include improving and regulating immunity, and helping lower high blood pressure.

Since epimedium is a strongly yang herb, women shouldn’t take it by itself (although men can in some cases, as you’ll see in a subsequent chapter). It’s best for women if used in herbal formulas, combined with yin-supportive herbs like rehmannia, to create a balanced effect. Avoid using epimedium regularly if you have an already overactive sex drive, a high fever, insomnia, anxiety, or hot flashes. You shouldn’t use epimedium if you have low blood pressure or you’re on blood-thinning medications.

5.
Reishi.
Also known as
lingzhi
in Chinese (
reishi
is the Japanese name), the reishi mushroom is one of the earliest medicines used in Asian cultures for promoting health and sexual fulfillment. Due to its ancient reputation for increasing longevity, it became known in Chinese medicine as the “mushroom of immortality.” It has been widely used as an aphrodisiac, to treat infertility, and for many other sex-related benefits.

Extensive research has found that reishi contains compounds with numerous potential health-enhancing effects. It can activate your immune cells and build your immunity, support your adrenal glands, lower your cholesterol and decrease unfriendly cholesterol, and help protect your liver and promote liver detoxification. In addition, reishi has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and potential anticancer effects. And the list goes on: it can reduce allergic responses, help improve white-blood-cell count, support memory in older people (and may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease), and decrease some side effects of radiation and chemotherapy.

The effects of reishi on your sexuality aren’t as immediate as with some aphrodisiacs. You don’t take it a few hours before sex to boost your libido, but long-term, over a period of months, to gradually strengthen your chi and overall vitality, and eventually intensify your sexual chi. In the terminology of traditional Chinese medicine, it stimulates not only your chi but also your “kidney essence”—a special form of chi passed down to you by previous generations and stored in your kidneys—to allow for a powerful, slow-motion transformation of your sexual energy.

The recommended daily dose is 800 to 1,200 mg, containing 14 percent polysaccharide and 4 percent triterpene.

Reishi mushrooms.

6.
Ginkgo biloba.
The ginkgo biloba tree, one of Earth’s oldest surviving plants, has long been considered sacred in Asia, and extracts from its leaves and seeds have been used for healing and aphrodisiac purposes since ancient times. Modern research confirms that ginkgo biloba can improve your sexual response; it appears to increase nitric oxide and enhance your sexuality by promoting blood flow to your vagina and vulva. And research indicates that ginkgo biloba, taken along with another herb that we’ll explore below, can increase sexual desire, frequency of sex, sexual satisfaction, and orgasmic potential for many women.

A study published in the
Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy
found ginkgo biloba can help both women and men with sexual dysfunction occurring as a side effect of antidepressant medications. Women responded more than men, but both showed marked improvements in four phases of sexual response: desire, excitement (including increased lubrication in women and erection in men), orgasm, and resolution or “afterglow.”

While ginkgo biloba is enhancing your sexuality, it’s also offering you a host of other potential health gains. It can provide antioxidant benefits, thin your blood, strengthen the walls of your blood vessels, promote circulation throughout your body, and improve your memory in your senior years.

The recommended dose is 40 mg three times a day, as a standardized extract of 24 percent ginkgo flavonglycosides. Side effects are uncommon, but may include slight digestive disturbances or headaches. Avoid taking ginkgo biloba if you’re pregnant or on anticoagulant medications.

7.
Catuaba.
Catuaba is well known in its native South America; songs celebrating its powers as an aphrodisiac have been sung by the Tupi Indians of Brazil for hundreds of years. Catuaba preparations, typically derived from the bark of a number of trees found in Brazil, have traditionally been used to enhance sexuality and treat decreased sexual desire due to fatigue.

Researchers have isolated a variety of active constituents in catuaba, including beneficial plant sterols, that seem to back up its historical uses. Animal studies have shown that it dilates blood vessels, so it appears likely that catuaba, like many other aphrodisiacs, has the ability to increase nitric oxide.

Catuaba is also reported to calm nervous tension and reduce anxiety, while simultaneously stimulating the brain and nervous system. With these dualistic effects—in terms of Chinese medicine, both yin (relaxing) and yang (stimulating)—it may be a particularly good herb for enhancing women’s sexuality by creating balance. Catuaba also offers special benefits for men; it has been proven efficacious in treating impotence and increasing male libido. Other potential benefits for both women and men include mitigating pain, providing antiviral properties, improving memory, and treating general exhaustion.

For supporting sexual function and enhancing sexuality, the recommended dose is 500 mg once or twice daily. (Look for products from reputable companies that verify the legitimacy of the plant source.) No toxic effects of catuaba have been found to date, and it appears to be free of other side effects as well.

8.
Suma.
Also known as
Brazilian ginseng
, the root of the suma plant has been used as an aphrodisiac and sexual stimulant for centuries. It has also been a prized herbal medicine to address a wide variety of ailments and disorders; its nickname among the indigenous people of Brazil translates as “for all”—a reference to its traditional uses for treating practically every health condition.

Suma’s aphrodisiac powers, and many of its medicinal benefits, are supported by modern research. Animal studies have shown that it can increase sexual activity and potency. One study, which looked at the effects of suma and damiana, found that both boosted sexual performance, whether combined or used independently.

The active constituents in suma are plant sterols that may support hormonal balance and increase levels of estrogen and progesterone in women, and testosterone in both women and men. This makes it potentially valuable for helping smooth out the precipitous hormonal fluctuations that some women experience at midlife or during their menstrual cycles. It has been used to increase libido while also treating symptoms of both menopause and PMS.

Suma is an effective adaptogen, which means it can help restore your overall health, enhance many of your body’s functions, and support your adrenal glands during stressful times. It appears to help improve, balance, and regulate the immune system as well. Suma may also have the ability to bring oxygen to cells, improve energy efficiency on a cellular level, relieve pain, decrease inflammation, and enhance athletic performance.

As an overall sexual enhancer for both women and men, the recommend dose is 500 mg once or twice daily. Because of suma’s potential effects on hormone levels, it shouldn’t be used by anyone who’s had a hormone-driven cancer such as breast or prostate cancer.

Sex, Drugs, and … a Quick Fix for Women?

You may have heard that the pharmaceutical giants are seeking to develop a “Viagra for women.” They certainly have a giant financial incentive; it may be just a matter of time before such a product is marketed with extravagant claims broadcast all over the media. If that happens, however, you can be sure it won’t be a natural solution, and as with Viagra and other drugs, it will most likely have undesirable side effects. And the illusion that sexual enhancement can be had in a synthetic pill could deprive women of the many benefits, pleasures, and empowering feelings that come from boosting their own libidos through natural means. If you’re motivated to enhance your sexuality and your health without resorting to drugs, you’ll probably always prefer natural alternatives—even though a health-care system dominated by pharmaceutical corporations may have little use for them.

9.
Muira puama.
The wood of this small South American tree, often referred to as “potency wood,” has been considered a highly effective medicine by many generations of healers. Muira puama has traditionally been used as an aphrodisiac and nerve stimulant; according to some sources it has also been used to increase potency, lower erotic inhibitions, and treat infertility.

A number of active compounds have been found in muira puama, although it isn’t yet clear which may be responsible for its aphrodisiac effects. More research is needed, but studies appear to back up muira puama’s libido-benefiting attributes. A study in 2000 at the Institute of Sexuality in France, reported in
Advances in Therapy
, looked at 202 pre-and postmenopausal women with low libido. After taking a combination of muira puama and ginkgo biloba for a month, 65 percent reported significant increases in their frequency of sexual fantasies and desires, rate of sexual intercourse, and overall satisfaction with their sex life. They also reported greater intensity of sexual desire, increased excitement associated with sexual fantasies, improved ability to reach orgasm, and elevated intensity of orgasms. Another study at the same institute found that taking muira puama on a daily basis was effective in treating 62 percent of men with low libido, and 51 percent of men with erectile dysfunction.

The recommended daily dose of muira puama for women is 500 mg, preferably taken in the morning. (The daily dose for men is typically between 500 and 1,500 mg.) If taken later in the day, its stimulating effects may cause insomnia for some people.

10.
Damiana.
The botanical name of this Latin American herb,
Turnera aphrodisiaca
, makes no secret of its potential effects on your sexuality. Damiana has long been used by the native people of Mexico to increase sexual energy in the pelvis, enhance fertility, and provide a wide range of other sexual benefits. It has been traditionally recommended for treating decreased sexual desire associated with what today we would call nervous-system debility.

Modern research shows that damiana contains alkaloids that improve pelvic blood flow, increase genital sensitivity, and have stimulating effects similar to caffeine. An animal study reported in
Psychopharmacology
in 1999 found damiana effective in improving sexual performance and treating impotence; the authors concluded that the results support its long-standing reputation as an aphrodisiac.

Both women and men can use damiana, but it appears to have extra benefits for women. Because it has progesterone-like effects, damiana can assist in balancing women’s hormones if they have estrogen dominance, and help with infertility due to low progesterone. Other benefits may include relieving menstrual cramps, improving concentration, and helping prevent urinary tract infections.

You can drink damiana as a tea—although the taste is bitter, so it’s often mixed with other herbs. For a wonderful feminine herbal aphrodisiac tea, blend equal parts of damiana, lemon balm, oat straw, and chamomile. Damiana leaf can also be taken in capsule form; the recommended dose is 450 mg up to three times daily.

11.
Maca.
In the previous chapter we explored the use of maca for treating midlife symptoms, strengthening your hormonal system, and stimulating your production of estrogen and other hormones; our focus was on its promise as an alternative to hormone replacement therapy for menopausal symptoms. Maca deserves additional attention here because of its special place in the pantheon of aphrodisiacs.