Why Am I So Horny? The Science Behind High Libido and How to Manage It

“Why am I so horny recently?” You might be asking yourself that if it’s been five days in a row of having sex with your partner, and yet, on the sixth day, you still wake up ready for another round.

This article was scientifically reviewed by Human Sexuality expert Dr. Laurie Mintz in June 2023. She is a professor, researcher, private practitioner and Fellow of the American Psychological Association.

Karolina Wilde and Dr. Laurie Mintz

Different people have different sex drives, and they can vary depending on various things happening in life. And as long as your horniness doesn’t obstruct your daily activities, having sex as often as you crave is totally healthy and normal. 

But if you’re still itching to find out what could be the reason behind your high sex drive, then let’s look at the science behind why you feel horny.

Why Am I So Horny?

It’s hard to pinpoint one specific reason why you feel horny. Sex drive can change with years and even seasons of the year, but here are the seven most common reasons behind high sex drive:

New Relationship

If you’re in a new relationship, it’s completely normal that you’re thinking to yourself, “why am I so horny?” more often. At the beginning of a new relationship, our hormones go crazy, making us more sexually aroused by our partner. Hence, you’re hornier and have more sex. 

There’s even a name for this phase of a relationship. It’s called the limerance phase and it generally lasts anywhere from 3 months to two years only. While the science isn’t exact, it does appear that hormones are at least partially responsible for this phase, including dopamine, oxytocin and noradrenaline.  

Frequent Masturbation

Our bodies work in wonderful ways. If you’ve been masturbating a lot and exploring your own pleasure, the chances are that you’re feeling hornier because of it. The more sex – and orgasms – you have, including with yourself, the more you want.

Now, when you go through times in your life when you’re not having sex and are not engaging in sexual activity, completely ignoring your body’s desire for sex, it’ll start ignoring its arousal, lowering your desire for sex. 

So, if you’ve recently got a new sex toy and started enjoying quality time with yourself more often, it might be a reason why you feel so horny. 

Quality Sex

If you’ve been having lots of quality sex with your partner, you might be feeling hornier because your body craves more of the good thing. So, keep doing what you’ve been doing with your partner so far because, clearly, it’s working well!

Pregnancy

During pregnancy, women might find themselves feeling hornier than usual. This can be due to higher levels of estrogen and progesterone, as well as an increase in blood flow to the genitals.  

If you consult with your doctor, and they give you the green light to have sex and enjoy orgasms, nothing is stopping you from having as much sex with your partner as you desire. However, you might need to find new, more comfortable sex positions to accommodate the changes in your body.

That Time of the Month

You might be feeling hornier at certain times of the month, depending on where in your menstrual cycle you are. 

A study published in 2024 revealed that women tend to initiate sex more often when they’re ovulating. So, if you find yourself asking, “why am I so horny during certain times of the month?” it might be because you’re ovulating. 

That Time of the Year

We know that a change in seasons affects our mental health. And just like a change in seasons can affect our mental health, it can also affect our sex drives. For example, one study found that testosterone levels (a hormone that might play a part in how horny you feel) in both men and women are higher during fall than summer. 

So, some people might actually feel hornier in the fall rather than in the summer. On the other hand, depression is linked to lower sex drive in some people, so if you suffer from seasonal depression, you might find your sex drive dip in the colder months compared with summer.

Change in Your Lifestyle

Have you been working out consistently? Did you make changes to your diet and consume more nutritious food? Or maybe you’ve changed jobs, and all of a sudden, your stress levels are lower? All of these lifestyle changes can have a huge impact on your libido. 

Foods like dark chocolate, avocados, and salmon are all rich in nutrients that support overall health, and some thus believe they can improve your sexual health as well. In addition, working out boosts your confidence in your body, leading you to want to engage in sexual activity more often. It also increases blood flow and blood flow (to the genitals) is an important part of arousal!

Not So Common Causes

There are also a few extreme exceptions that might be responsible for a high sex drive in some people:

Sex Addiction

Sex addiction, like most behavioral addictions, is controversial because doctors don’t agree on whether it should count as an addiction or not. Technically, being addicted to behaviors like having sex or playing video games doesn’t cause physical addiction like drugs or alcohol. That’s why most therapists like to call this compulsive sexual behavior, instead of an addiction.

 

If the frequency of sex and masturbation doesn’t affect your daily life, you shouldn’t be worried about it. However, if you start to notice that you skip work or school due to the need to always be engaging in sexual activity or if you find yourself engaging in risky sexual behavior, then it might be worth it consulting with a knowledgeable sex therapist.

What To Do When I’m Horny?

If you find yourself feeling horny, here are some things you can do:

Have Sex

If you have a consenting partner, it’s super easy – when you feel horny and if they are willing, have sex with them. Sex has many health benefits like lowering stress levels, and it also helps improve your relationship with your partner. To make things more interesting, you can explore different things with your partner like BDSM, role-play, tantric sex, or mutual masturbation. 

Masturbate

Masturbation can be a wonderful way to release pent-up sexual tension and have some quality “me” time. Masturbation also helps you get to know your body and pleasure better, which can lead to better overall satisfaction with partnered sex. 

You can play with yourself, try tantric masturbation or treat yourself to a new sex toy that will help you experience orgasms you haven’t felt before. 

Meditate

Meditation is wonderful when you feel horny but don’t want to engage in sexual activity and when you’re stressed or struggle with being focused. There are a ton of apps that can help you ease into meditation with their short beginner guided meditations. 

Meditate for 10 minutes every day for a month, and you’ll see that you’re feeling overall more balanced and in control of your mind. 

Exercise

While some people report that they feel hornier after a workout, it can actually help you release some of that pent-up sexual tension while releasing happy hormones to your brain. 

Pick a form of exercise you like, whether it’s a walk in a park, running, or a weight lifting session, and go for it.