What causes low sex drive in women who are in long-term relationships? If you're in a relationship, and love your partner to pieces, but have lost all interest in sex, you're not alone.

Sex has become a chore. And even worse, there’s always the pressure from your partner to connect sexually. You don’t look forward to sex anymore. The truth is, you could actually live without it. Life is just too busy.

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When you go to bed at night, all you want to do is sleep. And when you wake up in the morning, you need to get on with your day.

But there’s always that underlying pressure to sexually connect with your partner — and you’re just not really interested. What’s going on?

Here are 3 common reasons women experience low libido — and how to increase sex drive in women.

1. Women guard their sex centers.

If you look at the sexual energetics of it, there's a magical exchange between men and women.

Generally speaking, at the beginning of a relationship, men come into the relationship with their sex center activated. Masculine energy is ready to consummate the connection.

But even though they're eager to consummate the connection, they keep their heart guarded.

Women, on the other hand, come into a new relationship with their heart center open and their sex center guarded. The energetic exchange or invitation here is that a woman is inviting a man up to his heart, and a man is energetically inviting a woman into her body.

Now, if a woman doesn’t have a safe invitation, she may still take it — but she’ll keep her sex center guarded. And that guard can stay up for years!

Guarding your sex center robs you of your libido and disconnects you from your sexuality. Do you know what your sexual needs are?

2. They don't ask for what they need.

Let’s face it. Again, men aren’t the best, most sensitive, or in-tune lovers. And men’s sexuality is quite different from women’s. That’s why it’s extremely important for women to ask for what they need.

Female sexuality isn’t as direct and straightforward. It’s a bit of a mystery. Unfortunately, it’s often a bit of a mystery to the woman, herself.

You’ve lost your interest in sex because sex isn’t about you. You haven’t made your needs important enough. If you were experiencing pleasure, you’d show up every time.

It’s the negative experiences — an inattentive lover, or even an outright selfish one — that keep you uninterested in sex.

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3. You're starving for conscious touch.

Pleasure is what a woman’s body was made for. As a woman, you are a sensual being.

If given the opportunity — meaning an emotionally and physically safe environment — your body and your sexuality will respond to touch. But not just regular touch — conscious touch.

What is conscious touch? It's when the giver is touched with presence and understands that their hands are extensions of their heart. Conscious touch is healing, awakening, and nurturing of one’s soul.

Conscious touch is when you can touch another in a way that allows the receiver to connect deeper to themselves, heightening their own inner awareness and pleasure potential.

We live in a touch-deprived world. Having sex and excluding conscious touch is like having a banana split without the banana. There’s a feeling something big is missing.

If you’re a woman who wonders why you’re no longer interested in sex, don’t go straight to thinking there is something wrong with you. Your sexual response system is complex and needs to be tended to.

See where you might be guarding your sex center and why. Ask for what you need and make your sexual needs matter. And create an environment where a conscious touch can be cultivated, either with yourself or within your intimate relationship.

Your sexual satisfaction is important and when you are satisfied, you’ll then be very interested in sex.

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Anna-Thea is an author and Certified Divine Feminine Educator. She educates people on how to claim their bodies as sacred and how to claim their power in a loving way.