More Sexual Desire Before Your Period? You're Not Alone, and Orgasm Could Relieve Cramps

There are days, just before your period starts, when desire appears stronger than usual. Then the period arrives with its cramps, and the question changes: would an orgasm help? If you notice more sexual desire before your period, or to put it plainly, more cravings for sex before your period, you're not alone, and both things have more scientific explanation than it seems, although there are also more nuances.

Why Sexual Desire Increases Before Your Period

To understand sexual desire before your period, we first need to look at the average pattern, which is what has been most studied. In 2013, researchers James Roney and Zachary Simmons followed 43 women for one or two cycles: each day they collected a saliva sample to measure their hormones and recorded their sexual desire. According to their study published in the journal Hormones and Behavior, desire peaked at mid-cycle, around ovulation. Estradiol was associated with increased desire, while progesterone was linked to decreased desire. In fact, the rise in progesterone explained the drop in desire after ovulation. This means that on average, sexual desire before your period is lower than during ovulation.

But the average doesn't explain everything, and this is where the cravings for sex before your period come in. In a 1987 study, 69 women recorded their sexual activity daily over two or three cycles. Sexual activity peaked during ovulation, but participants also reported that arousal and sexual pleasure increased as they transitioned from their period to the premenstrual days.

A more recent study on desire throughout the cycle went further and found two patterns in two groups of women. In one group, desire had a single peak at mid-cycle. In the other, in addition to that peak, there was a second rise in sexual desire before the period and another right after. So, sexual desire before your period is research-backed, although it doesn't happen to everyone.

If you want to know more about libido before the menstrual period, how desire changes throughout the cycle, and what other factors influence it, such as contraceptives or menopause, we cover it in our article about female libido.

Does orgasm relieve menstrual pain?

If that sexual desire before the menstrual period persists when cramps arrive, there’s good news, with nuances. Regarding orgasm and menstrual pain, the landmark research is from 1985. Beverly Whipple and Barry Komisaruk published in the scientific journal Pain two experiments with 10 women each. While they stimulated their vagina, a device applied pressure to a finger to measure at what pressure they felt pain and how much they could tolerate.

When the stimulation was pleasurable, pain tolerance increased by 36.8% and the threshold for feeling pain rose by 53%. When they reached orgasm, the figures were much higher: 74.6% more tolerance and 106.7% higher threshold. The distractions used for comparison did not produce that effect, so the authors concluded that vaginal self-stimulation reduces sensitivity to pain.

Before turning it into a remedy, it’s wise to read the fine print. There were very few participants and menstrual pain was not measured, only pressure on a finger. Additionally, a later study on sexual arousal and pain found that arousal alone, without genital stimulation or orgasm, did not reduce pain in women. The authors suggest that the key may lie in genital stimulation or orgasm.

What is proven for menstrual pain

If the relationship between orgasm and menstrual pain still has limited data, other remedies have considerably more. A systematic review with meta-analysis published in 2019 in the journal BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine gathered 23 trials with 2,302 women experiencing menstrual pain. It analyzed three techniques that can each be applied independently: exercise, heat, and acupressure.

The three reduced menstrual pain compared to doing nothing. Exercise showed the largest effect, while heat and acupressure had a moderate effect. Additionally, in comparisons with pain relievers, exercise and heat reduced pain intensity more, while acupressure was less effective. The authors conclude that exercise and heat are possible alternatives to pain relievers.

Orgasm was not part of that review. So, if it relieves you, you can see it as a complement to what is proven, not as a substitute.

Sex during your period: what you need to know

If sexual desire before your period accompanies you during menstruation, keep in mind that your period is not a safe time to avoid pregnancy. The British public health service (NHS) reminds us that there is no time in the cycle when having sex without contraception is risk-free, and that sperm can survive in the body for up to 7 days. This is explained on their page about pregnancy and periods.

It also does not protect against infections. The health website KidsHealth, from the pediatric organization Nemours, notes that sex during your period can facilitate the transmission of some sexually transmitted infections, and that condoms are the best way to prevent them.

Menstrual cup or disc for sex during your period

Here is the big difference between the two products. The cup is placed in the vaginal canal and is held by suction, so it is not recommended for penetrative sex. The menstrual disc sits at the base of the cervix, without creating a vacuum, and remains outside the area of penetration.

To use the disc during sex on your period, there is one essential step: cut the pull tab. At PapayaCup, we recommend using the disc with the pull tab for at least three cycles before cutting it, as it makes removal much easier, and once cut, it cannot be reattached. We explain this step by step in the menstrual disc guide and in the article about when and how to cut the pull tab. Neither the cup nor the disc are contraceptives nor do they protect against sexually transmitted infections.

When to Consult

If you have sexual desire before your period and strong cramps afterward, an orgasm may help, but it does not replace a medical consultation when the pain is not normal. Mayo Clinic's information on dysmenorrhea recommends making an appointment if cramps affect your daily life every month, if symptoms worsen, or if you start having strong cramps after age 25. And seek immediate help if the pain comes with very heavy bleeding, such as soaking a pad or tampon every one or two hours.

And if what concerns you is not the sexual desire before your period, but rather that the desire changes significantly or disappears, in the article about female libido we review when it is normal and when it is advisable to consult.

Frequently Asked Questions about Sexual Desire Before Your Period