How does Alcohol Affect Sexual Health?

Alcohol can be a great social lubricant, no doubt about it. If you’re a little nervous approaching that dazzling specimen of humanity during a party, a little liquid courage can mellow you and help you mingle and flirt effectively. More than a drink or two, though, and we can start getting into problem areas. You know the score. Excess can lead to decisions that we regret in a big, ugly way later, not to mention some nasty ramifications for long-term health if recreational drinking turns into a vocation.

The non-physiological detrimental effects of excessive drinking are pretty obvious. Your inhibitions plunge if you’re hammered. You’re more likely to engage in unprotected sex, opening the door for you and your partner sharing much more than a romantic interlude. If you do try to use protection, your motor skills can be screwed up to the point you might be incapable of putting on the condom or dental dam correctly. You might not even be able to perform. Then there are all the regrets the morning after about what went down the night before.

Physiologically, alcohol does funky things to our systems, and alcohol has tailor-made methods to mess with men and women. Men who drink excessively can count on a serious hit to their sperm count, inability to maintain an erection (followed in time by inability to even get an erection), and being unable to have an orgasm. Women who are alcoholics can count on the same difficulties with becoming sexually aroused and responsive, along with diminished production of natural lubrication during sex. Alcohol can even make becoming pregnant difficult, to the point of triggering premature menopause. Finally, both men and women can enjoy the spectacle of shrunken genitalia if they’re hitting the sauce way too hard.

So, what have we learned today? All good things in moderation. A drink or two isn’t liable to lead you into sexual pitfalls, but if you’re hitting the sauce heavily, nothing good’s going to come of it, especially if you’re adding sex into the mix.