The #1 Stress Hack That Will Improve Both Your Holiday Gut + Sex Life

December 15, 2020

December is the time for friends, family, food, and celebration. And for many of us, this can bring about feelings of both excitement and anxiety. Think about it: Does this time of year make you cringe, or do you try to embrace all this time of year has to offer? Is it a little bit of both? You’re not alone.

Whatever your answer, this December is bound to be a challenging one. With the pandemic numbers on the rise, many of us will be altering our holiday schedules and routines. Uncertainty is still afoot and while we’re hopeful, none of us really knows what 2021 has in store.

But what if I told you there’s a way to turn the holiday season on its head? Instead of focusing on what we can’t do this holiday season, why not turn the holidays into a “can do” holiday and focus on what you CAN DO! Keep reading for my #1 tip that will decrease holiday stress and supercharge your sex life.

How to Re-Imagine the Holidays This Year

Remember when you were young and you’d look forward to opening presents for months? The anticipation was almost too much to handle. The holidays were about joy — pure and simple. Well, this month, I want to help you access that same excitement, but with an adult spin.

You may be wondering how, exactly, you’re going to do that. Well, it’s pretty simple actually. With just one tool you can reduce stress, improve digestion, access joy, and transform your sex life. The tool I’m talking about is called Kundalini yoga, a type of yoga that involves breathwork, focuses on activating dormant energy and balancing the chakras.

If that sounds a little “woo-woo” for you, I get it! But I assure you that the benefits of breathwork and yoga have been well-studied. For example, studies have shown that Kundalini yoga can:

Improve symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorders
Improve obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
Decrease cortisol levels and perceived stress
Improve insomnia

For centuries, kundalini yoga was kept secret until Yogi Bhajan broke with tradition and brought it to the United States in 1969. According to yoga experts, when you finish a kundalini yoga class you should feel like you’ve just been to therapy, had an awesome workout, and feel the high of having been out on the town with friends. But don’t be put off by the white turbans and garments Kundalini yoga teachers tend to wear, as well as the chanting that often accompanies Kundalini yoga classes. Peel back the layers of Kundalini yoga and what you’ll find is that it’s all about reconnecting with your body and awakening — that’s where your gut health, libido and sex life come into play as well.

How Kundalini Yoga Can Transform Your Sex Life

As a way to control the mind and body, Kundalini yoga exercises can relieve stress and calm the mind. This means that your blood pressure goes down, cortisol levels decrease, and you find yourself lost in the present moment. Breathing exercises can also increase oxygen circulation in the body and promote a sense of relaxation, which can increase feelings of desire and make you more receptive to sex.

Add this to the fact that Kundalini yoga helps loosen up the spine, activates the parasympathetic nerve plexus in the sacrum — which is great for digestion as well as sexual excitement — and brings awareness to the lower spine and sacrum, and you have the perfect recipe for “being in the mood.”

“Remember, you have to “rest to digest.” That’s what the parasympathetic nervous system is all about — the same part of the nervous system involved in the excitement phase of sexual arousal.”

Knowing this, it will come as no surprise to learn that experts suggest that Kundalini yoga can increase sexual pleasure and extend the longevity of sex by influencing ejaculation and help participants attain a meaningful and satisfying sexual life . Many people also report that because Kundalini yoga helps move energy up the spine, it allows for a more full-body orgasm. Sounds like it’s worth a try, doesn’t it?

The Orgasm-Gut Connection You Need to Know About

As “America’s Gut Doctor,” you know I can’t resist the urge to tie everything back to gut health. And the truth is, having more sex and more orgasms can benefit the gut in ways you might not expect! Here’s what I mean:

3 Reasons Why Orgasms Are Good For Your Gut

1. Orgasms decrease stress and protect microbiome balance

If there’s one thing that’s bad for the microbiome, it’s high stress and cortisol. Stress allows bad bacteria to take over, crowd out good ones, and reduce the populations of beneficial bacteria in our gut, leading to leaky gut, dysbiosis, and annoying digestive issues, like bloating. The good news is that orgasms release a hormone called oxytocin, which is your most powerful antidote to high cortisol and stress.

2. Orgasms can boost beneficial bacteria and diversity in the gut

Orgasms from having sex with a partner get your blood pumping, which is crucial to achieving a healthy gut. The truth is no one has actually put together a sex-gut impact study, but you’ve got to admit it would be a fun one to put together. However, studies have shown that exercise can alter the gut microbiome in beneficial ways , including enhancing the number of beneficial microbial species, enriching the microflora diversity, and improving the development of commensal bacteria, which protect our gut from pathogens. This means that building up a sweat and having more orgasms in bed could actually make your gut more resilient to germs and other threats.

3. Orgasms help you eat a Happy Gut ® Diet

Orgasms cause your body to release a hormone called prolactin. You may have heard of prolactin as the lactation hormone, but it actually is released in both men and women during orgasm, making both feel relaxed, blissfully sleepy, and more, well…satisfied. Don’t you find that post coitus nap to be incredibly restorative? And as you probably can guess, being well-rested improves your decision making and intuitive connection with your body, which is absolutely crucial to you feeling your best. The opposite — lack of sleep — can cause people to crave sugar, simple carbs, caffeine and other gut-damaging foods. In fact, studies show that just one bad night of sleep can cause you to view junk food more favorably.

“An orgasm a night can keep your gut happy and diet just right!”

When you’re doing Kundalini breathwork, you have no choice but to be fully present in your body and pay attention to all the signs and signals it’s sending you. From what I’ve observed in my own life and among my patients, Kundalini yoga (like all types of yoga) is also a great way to connect with your intuition about food and eating. It helps you get in touch with what you should eat to nourish your body properly, as well as what foods to avoid because they give you a sad gut. Personally, I have always found I can’t eat an unhealthy meal after a yoga class. My post-yoga body always craves green juices and lots of veggies.

How to Get Started with Kundalini Yoga

If you’ve gotten this far you may be thinking: “Okay, you’ve sold me on the stress-busting, gut-protecting, and sex life-enhancing benefits of Kundalini yoga — but where do I start?” Technically speaking, kundalini yoga is a blend of three yogas:

Bhakti yoga — a type of yoga that involves devotion and unconditional love
Raja yoga — which is all about mental and physical control
and Shakti yoga — which is centered around expression of power and energy

This means that it’s a little more intricate than just striking a tree pose and doing a few sun salutations. It’s best to start with guidance. I recommend starting with videos online. Here are two options to get you started:

Many of us are feeling a little lost this holiday season; we’re missing our loved ones, our routines, and life before the pandemic. But adding Kundalini Yoga to your routine is a guaranteed way to expand your body and mind, without ever having to leave the house. And it’s easy to get started, no matter what your level of physical fitness is. Try it out this year! Your gut, mind, and sex life will thank you for it.

Dr. Vincent Pedre is a leading authority in gut health, a bestselling author, and a medical doctor with a holistic approach to wellness. With over two decades of experience, he is dedicated to helping people achieve optimal health through personalized nutrition, lifestyle adjustments, and integrative medicine.

Dr. Pedre offers personalized health consultations, as well as the comprehensive Gut-Brain Mastery Program — 6-Week Stress-Less Challenge — which is designed to help individuals biohack their brain health through their gut to reduce stress, boost mood, improve gut health, and achieve rockstar resilience.