Losing your sense of smell – one of Covid-19’s symptoms – can stop you having sex, a new study reveals.
American researchers have found a link between loss of smell, known as anosmia, and decreased sexual motivation and emotional satisfaction in older adults in the United States.
Experts say the sense of smell plays an “exceptionally strong role” in sexual motivation – and that both are “closely linked”.
The researchers looked only at adults 65 and older, which means that the bond can only become stronger as we age and may be less pronounced in young adults.
Despite this, the researchers say that the potentially treatable causes of sensory loss must be addressed by doctors to “improve the quality of life” – in other words, their sex life.
The loss of smell from Covid-19 does not appear to be permanent, scientists say, but it may be one of the first symptoms of the disease. Researchers say loss of smell as a whole is linked to decreased sexual motivation
As we age, our sensory functions continually decline, with several impacts for older adults.
Previous research has already suggested that patients with olfactory disorders complain of problems in their sex lives.
To learn more, the researchers investigated the effect of loss of olfactory function, or sense of smell, on the sexual desire and satisfaction of the elderly.
The team, which also included a specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, worked with a sample of 2,084 older adults in the United States, all 65 and older.
The adults, described as a ‘nationally representative sample’, were recruited from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, an ongoing population-based longitudinal study on social and health factors.
The experts measured their olfactory sensitivity with scent sticks and their frequency of sexual thoughts and sexual activity using a questionnaire, as well as satisfaction with their most recent sexual relationship.
“Decreased olfactory function in older adults in the United States has been associated with decreased sexual motivation and less emotional satisfaction with sex, but not with decreased frequency of sexual activity or physical pleasure,” say the researchers.
However, a decrease in smell sensitivity did not indicate a decrease in the frequency of sexual activity or a decrease in physical pleasure.
The analyzes were adjusted for age, sex, race, education, cognition, comorbidities and depression – but the team was unable to determine causality, which means that it is not known whether loss of smell causes decreased sexual desire or vice versa.
The researchers looked only at adults 65 and older – meaning that the link between loss of smell and low sex drive can only become stronger as we age and may be less pronounced in young adults
“Our research shows that a decline in olfactory function can affect sexual pleasure in older adults,” said study author Jesse K. Siegel of the University of Chicago.
‘Therefore, the treatable causes of sensory loss must be treated by doctors to improve sexual health.’
Experts say this may be due to “evolutionarily conserved” neurological links between smell and sexuality.
“The sense of smell has a strong, preserved evolutionary connection with the limbic system, which plays a critical role in the processing of emotions and sexual motivation,” says Siegel and his team in their article, published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.
“Neurons in the olfactory bulb also project directly into the hypothalamus, another important mediator of sexual motivation.”
The study’s author, Dr. Jayant Pinto, also from the University of Chicago, told MailOnline that the olfactory system is connected to centers in the brain that allow for the experience of pleasure.
‘These connections are old in the sense that lower organisms need to detect chemicals in the environment [such as] nutrients to feed, toxins to avoid, ”he said.
“As sexuality is essential for reproduction, it also depends on sensory information.
“Thus, the associations we find may be signs that these two old parts of the physiology of our nervous system are connected.
“The benefit would be more efficient mating and more progeny, in an evolutionary sense.”
The study was conducted before Covid, which means that it is also unknown how the loss of smell in people with Covid is specifically linked to sexual desire.
The three most common symptoms of Covid-19 are high temperature, new and continuous cough, and loss or change in smell or taste.
Public Health England also lists several less common symptoms, including headaches and rashes.
Generally, the loss of meaning “may return to normal in a few weeks or months,” according to the NHS, and treatment with steroid sprays or nasal drops can help people with sinusitis or nasal polyps.
However, people who have lost their sense of smell specifically due to Covid may not get it back two months later, a January study suggested.
A study last July also found that one in ten people who lose their taste and smell with the coronavirus may not recover in a month.