The concept of too much alcohol as a passion killer is backed up by anecdotal and scientific evidence, but this doesn’t seem to affect the fascination that it could be a libido enhancer. While it is true that things start to slow down as your blood alcohol level rises, light drinking can actually help when the action heats up. That said, here are some surprising ways alcohol can spice up the sex, from better orgasms to a higher sex drive.
Temporary relief for premature ejaculation
People with active sex lives know for a fact that it will take a bit longer to reach orgasm especially when one is drunk, which brings us to the notion that alcohol is a way to delay it, especially for men who have little control of reaching peak.
In fact, a report authored by sex therapist and relationship counsellor Petra Zebroff stated that researchers recommend alcohol as a treatment to control ejaculatory timing. It is a temporary solution, the article emphasized, as there are more effective treatments for premature ejaculation.
Couples who drink are happier and vice versa
A study published in The Journals of Gerontology, claims that couples who share the love for drinking have higher relationship satisfaction. Alternatively, couples who share the same abhorrence for alcohol are also happier. The published study, when summarized, means the effects of drinking often vary by the marital context. When both spouses drink heavily, perhaps counterintuitively, it is associated with positive marital outcomes (e.g., higher marital satisfaction and lower divorce rates).
Whereas discordant drinking (e.g., heavy drinking spouse paired with a spouse who does not drink or drinks light amounts of alcohol) is associated with worse marital outcomes.
Increased subjective pleasure and stronger orgasms
Having way too much to drink indeed causes difficulty in reaching orgasm, but according to a research published in The Journal of Sex Research, light drinking may be expected to result in greater feeling of sexual arousal, a better orgasmic experience, and only a moderate increase in the time it takes to reach orgasm.
Moreover, alcohol has a dampening effect on the brain's prefrontal cortex area, which normally controls inhibition, according to a recent University of Helsinki study. This loosening of inhibitions may account for your boosted sex drive after a glass or two of wine.
The best type of alcohol for sex
Researchers at the Santa Maria Annunziata Hospital in the University of Florence published a study claiming Red Wine increases sexual arousal in both men and women.
According to the paper, having just two glasses of red wine each day actually causes your sex drive to skyrocket due quercetin, a flavanol found in red wine.
So when it comes to alcohol and sex, your best bet is opening and splitting a bottle of red with your partner. It’s the perfect way to experience the positive effects the combination of wine and sex can deliver, with a smaller chance of the negatives.
