Getting enough sleep may be key to healthy sexual desire among women, a new study suggests.

US researchers assessed the sleeping habits and levels of sexual desire among 171 women and found that those who got more sleep on any given night tended to experience greater sexual desire the following day.

In fact, each additional hour of sleep a woman got increased her likelihood of sexual activity with her partner by 14%.

The study also noted that women who got more sleep were more easily aroused than women who got less sleep.

According to lead researcher, Dr David Kalmbach of the University of Michigan, the impact of sleep on sexual desire and arousal ‘has received little attention in the field'. However, these findings suggest that insufficient sleep may lead to a decrease in sexual desire and arousal in women.

"I think the take-home message should not be that more sleep is better, but that it is important to allow ourselves to obtain the sleep that our mind and body needs," he commented.

Details of these findings are published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.