We've all heard the classic stories about how young parents don't have sex very often because they're too tired from chasing the kids, making dinner, getting baby ready for bed ... yadda, yadda, yadda.

But in this essay, Jeanne Sager raises a new explanation for lower libidos: A desire to simply have one's body left alone.

"My aunt calls it being 'touched out.' Someone has their hands on us all day long when we're new parents, she says. Our kids yank on our T-shirts, begging for another Danimals yogurt drink. They wiggle onto our laps ... It's not that I don't want sex. I just want a few moments to remember it's my body to begin with."

I think Jeanne has stumbled onto something significant that few of us rarely discuss: How hands-on, in the literal sense, we are with our kids. One of the most surprising things about motherhood for me was discovering how much pain my son is capable of inflicting at such a young age. He kicks, he bites, he punches. And who knew that pinching my forearm could hurt So Freaking Bad? 

Perhaps that is why we just want our spouses to leave us alone when we finally have a brief moment to ourselves. But what do you think? Is that one of the main reasons we aren't always in the mood? Or is the truth more dark, disturbing and best explored in therapy? 

Photo: Getty Images Via Babble.com