Washington D.C: Got the blues instead of euphoria after your bedroom session? Don't worry post-sex depression is a real thing among women.
In a recent paper published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, 46 per cent of female university students reported post-coital dysphoria (PCD) symptoms at least once in their lifetime, the Independent reported.
Over five per cent of the 230 respondents to an online survey said they had experienced PCD symptoms "a few times" within the past four weeks. There appeared to be no relationship between PCD and intimacy in close relationships.
Studies have shown that 10 per cent of women experience what is known as "post-sex blues" or PCD following intercourse; a condition characterised by tearfulness, anxiety, agitation, a sense of melancholy or depression, or aggression.
In another Australian study published in the International Journal of Sexual Health in 2011, a third of women said they felt depressed even after satisfactory sex. Researchers from the Queensland Institute of Technology have theorised that hormonal shifts which occur after orgasm, which can also trigger post-coital headaches, could be to blame.
Lead researcher Robert Schweitzer said that the results of their original research in this area have now been confirmed in an international multinational study on negative postcoital emotions, which appear to have evolutionary functions.
