Feel Like Getting Horny? Here’s 15 Surefire Ways To Turn Yourself On

For many people, it takes a little longer to get in the mood, and that’s OK.

Humans process sensual and sexual experiences through a series of interactions between their sexual response system’s so-called “accelerator” and “brakes,” also known as the dual control model of sexual response. The simplest way to think about it: the accelerator turns us on, and the brakes turn us off. When your brakes are dominant, you may struggle with getting turned on, whereas when your accelerator is dominant, you may have a much easier time getting there. 

“Arousal is about a balance of accelerators and brakes,” says Tazima Parris, a sex coach, pleasure mentor, and founder of Infinite Relating. How do you balance them? Context.

How our individual system works, whether our brakes or accelerator is more dominant and how they work together, depends not only on the genitals we were born with, but also on who we are as a person: what we like, what we don’t like, what stresses us out, what makes us feel all tingly, where we are in life. Finding out what turns you on is about creating the best context for pleasure, for you, with as few of the turn-offs in play as possible.

Here are a few simple yet concrete examples of how to create those contexts to help you get horny when you want to be, sourced from experts.