Life without sex: Here's what it does to men, and what it does to women

A lack of sex is detrimental to health and relationships, with a growing number of couples cohabiting as roommates rather than partners. While external factors like busy lifestyles, stress, caring for aging parents, or the birth of a child can contribute to a decline in intimacy, the more significant issue is the physical and emotional distance that grows between partners, diminishing attraction and desire.

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The lack of sex is not good for health, nor for the relationship with a partner.

This problem requires attention when it arises, not months or years later, as the damage to the relationship may already be done. It's not about situations where sex is impossible, but rather when it is intentionally avoided, which few people find unproblematic. This can become an ego conflict, where the partner avoiding sex disregards the other's feelings and needs, while the partner desiring sex is perceived as solely focused on physical intimacy.

Sex is a normal and natural expectation in a relationship, with its frequency varying based on the relationship's dynamics. Contrary to the common assumption that men are more often deprived of sex in marriage, numerous studies indicate that both genders "withhold" sex equally. Whether sex is bad, excellent, or mediocre, it remains a fundamental human need. While some tolerate abstinence more easily than others, some can become erratic and behave out of character during periods without sex.

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It becomes an ego conflict – the side that doesn't want sex doesn't think about the feelings and needs of its partner, while the one who wants it comes across as only caring about that.

Discussions often focus on how men cope with abstinence, while female celibacy is frequently met with jokes and theories about hysteria or nervousness. Ancient Greeks believed women suffering from prolonged abstinence experienced "hysteria" (from the Latin for uterus), thinking sexual pleasure traveled from the uterus throughout the body, causing all organs to suffer in its absence. This led to nervous women who took out their frustrations on their surroundings. Although hysteria was treated with vibrators in the last century, experts today explain what truly happens in the female body during extended periods of abstinence. For women of reproductive age, desire fluctuates with the menstrual cycle, peaking around ovulation and slightly increasing before menstruation, when sex is most "missed."

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Contrary to the prejudice that men are always or mostly the ones who lack sex in marriage, numerous studies show that members of both sexes "withhold" sex to an equal extent.

Since sex stimulates the release of "happy hormones," women certainly miss this "release valve." However, the consequences for women are no more severe than for men, according to doctors. While female masturbation was once taboo, modern research confirms that women also find relief this way, especially during periods of abstinence, though perhaps to a lesser extent than men. It is often said that in a good relationship, sex accounts for only 10 percent of the dynamic, while in a bad one...

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Ancient Greeks spoke of women who abstained for a long time as suffering from hysteria, and 'hystera' is the Latin name for the uterus.