female sex drive

What they found: The researchers found no association between the levels of sex hormones in a woman's blood and her sex drive. In particular, women with higher levels of testosterone were just as likely to report low libido as women with lower levels. Women who reported lower sexual well-being were more likely to have low levels of a natural steroid called DHEAS, but most women with low levels of that steroid did not report sexual problems.
What it means to you: Many things influence a woman's sex drive—stress, fatigue, and even just plain not feeling up to it.

The levels of sex hormones in a woman's blood, however, do not seem to influence her sexual functioning. Some health experts have argued that testosterone could be used as a marker of sexual functioning, but this study refutes that. It does not, however, rule out the use of testosterone patches such as those that have been used somewhat successfully, though only experimentally, to help women with a low sex drive.

Caveats: Only 9 percent of the women whom the researchers asked to participate in the study agreed, an extremely low response rate that could mean the sample is biased in some way. In addition, the researchers took only one blood sample; it is possible that fluctuating sex hormone levels could be associated with how much desire a woman feels at any given time.