Roy SkillenAlcohol and Sex
April 22nd 2008 01:08
There’s nothing like a few beers to give you the courage to walk up to the beautiful blonde sitting at the bar and ask her to dance. If she says yes, a few more drinks for each of you could lead to a bit of a smooch and a fumble on the dance floor. A couple of tequilas later and you pluck up enough courage to invite her back to your place and low and behold she says yes, you’re quids in for the best night of your life, or so you think. It’s as you leave the club and the fresh air hits you that you realise how much you’ve actually drank and a sudden worry comes over you, and you stop and pray to the heavens that the dreaded brewers droop doesn’t rear its ugly head, at least not tonight.
But are this, and other sexual problems that are supposedly caused by alcohol just myths, stories invented by health professionals to scare us and protect us from the other more obvious problems that drinking can cause.
There have been many medical studies on the effects of alcohol on sexual performance, but the idea that these effects are negative certainly isn’t a new one. Shakespeare once famously said that heavy drinking “provokes the desire but takes away the performance” but why is this so?
There are thousands maybe even millions of people around the world who can’t even think about having sex without first knocking back a few wines believing that it will improve their sensation or make them better lovers. It is the feeling that alcohol use lowers all tensions and gives us a more laid back attitude making us more talkative, less shy and more inclined to try things that we otherwise wouldn’t even contemplate. In some it will even facilitate their sexual desires by expanding their social skills. But the problem is that these effects, which are seen as the positive side to drinking, will only occur in the early stages of intoxication and drinking more will not only make you a lot less charming but it may cause many other problems as well.
Both men and women over the years have reported that even a few drinks can cause difficulty in becoming aroused and in reaching orgasm. But it was the scientific research team of William Masters and Virginia E Johnson whose study in the mid 1950s that led to the first solid link between alcohol and sexual inadequacies. They found that in the short term alcohol dilates small blood vessels all over the body so that there is less engorgement of the sexual organs, meaning less of an erection making intercourse or reaching orgasm near impossible. But that’s not the only reason that brewers droop may occur Dr Derek Jones says “There is no doubt that alcohol can affect your sexuality because alcohol is one of the main culprits for lowering testosterone levels. It is vital that we maintain proper amounts of testosterone for our overall health” Testosterone is a steroid hormone which is essential for keeping an enhanced libido and high energy levels, in other words drinking alcohol will actually lower not increase your sexual desire. The failure to get an erection may not be the only short term problem that men may face. If you’re sitting there about to crack open your sixth tinnie thinking to yourself ‘brewers droop never has and never will happen to me’ here is another thing you should probably think about first. While having a few beers may make you believe your dynamite in bed the truth is, not only can that few beers give you brewers droop, but it can also ruin your ejaculatory control causing premature ejaculation. But if this is a problem that plagues you Masters and Johnson actually put their years of research to good use by coming up with the squeeze method, which is all about learning control. The squeeze method describes stimulating the man to the brink of ejaculation. It’s at this point that your partner (or yourself whatever tickles you’re fancy) squeezes the penis hard enough to make him partially lose his erection, which will prevent ejaculation. This process should be repeated several times before ejaculation is allowed. The goal of the technique is to teach the man to become aware of the sensations leading to orgasm, and then begin to control and delay his own orgasm. Masters and Johnson reported that 98% of couples who learned this technique had success treating premature ejaculation. A problem may occur after your final Jack Daniels and all the weeks of teasing just last that extra minute amount to bugger all, but it is certainly worth ago.
The long term effects of constant alcohol can be even more detrimental to your sex life. Despite what the majority of us think alcohol is actually a depressant. It attacks the central nervous system (CNS) slowly destroying brain cells. If this damage is continued for long enough it can result in irreversible sexual impotence and may even destroy testicular cells, leaving men with shrunken testicles ( a fate worse than death )causing infertility.
As for how common these effects are, the many studies and surveys that have been conducted vary a great deal. This is due not only to the way they are conducted, but they also depend on how willing men are to tell the truth about having sexual problems, and let’s be honest none of us like to admit to any sort of problems in the bed room. It’s because of this that estimates range pretty widely. Men experiencing ejaculation problems due to alcohol is thought to be between 5-25%. Some researchers say that as many as 54% of alcoholics suffer erectile difficulties while 31-58% had a decrease in sexual desire. But these numbers would be expected to rise if men would just let go of that male pride thing and tell the truth, but we all know that it is not likely to happen any time soon. But even these numbers have made me think twice about how much alcohol I consume. So I have come to an executive decision that my 9am Monday morning beer will be no more, I promise.
But are this, and other sexual problems that are supposedly caused by alcohol just myths, stories invented by health professionals to scare us and protect us from the other more obvious problems that drinking can cause.
There have been many medical studies on the effects of alcohol on sexual performance, but the idea that these effects are negative certainly isn’t a new one. Shakespeare once famously said that heavy drinking “provokes the desire but takes away the performance” but why is this so?
There are thousands maybe even millions of people around the world who can’t even think about having sex without first knocking back a few wines believing that it will improve their sensation or make them better lovers. It is the feeling that alcohol use lowers all tensions and gives us a more laid back attitude making us more talkative, less shy and more inclined to try things that we otherwise wouldn’t even contemplate. In some it will even facilitate their sexual desires by expanding their social skills. But the problem is that these effects, which are seen as the positive side to drinking, will only occur in the early stages of intoxication and drinking more will not only make you a lot less charming but it may cause many other problems as well.
Both men and women over the years have reported that even a few drinks can cause difficulty in becoming aroused and in reaching orgasm. But it was the scientific research team of William Masters and Virginia E Johnson whose study in the mid 1950s that led to the first solid link between alcohol and sexual inadequacies. They found that in the short term alcohol dilates small blood vessels all over the body so that there is less engorgement of the sexual organs, meaning less of an erection making intercourse or reaching orgasm near impossible. But that’s not the only reason that brewers droop may occur Dr Derek Jones says “There is no doubt that alcohol can affect your sexuality because alcohol is one of the main culprits for lowering testosterone levels. It is vital that we maintain proper amounts of testosterone for our overall health” Testosterone is a steroid hormone which is essential for keeping an enhanced libido and high energy levels, in other words drinking alcohol will actually lower not increase your sexual desire. The failure to get an erection may not be the only short term problem that men may face. If you’re sitting there about to crack open your sixth tinnie thinking to yourself ‘brewers droop never has and never will happen to me’ here is another thing you should probably think about first. While having a few beers may make you believe your dynamite in bed the truth is, not only can that few beers give you brewers droop, but it can also ruin your ejaculatory control causing premature ejaculation. But if this is a problem that plagues you Masters and Johnson actually put their years of research to good use by coming up with the squeeze method, which is all about learning control. The squeeze method describes stimulating the man to the brink of ejaculation. It’s at this point that your partner (or yourself whatever tickles you’re fancy) squeezes the penis hard enough to make him partially lose his erection, which will prevent ejaculation. This process should be repeated several times before ejaculation is allowed. The goal of the technique is to teach the man to become aware of the sensations leading to orgasm, and then begin to control and delay his own orgasm. Masters and Johnson reported that 98% of couples who learned this technique had success treating premature ejaculation. A problem may occur after your final Jack Daniels and all the weeks of teasing just last that extra minute amount to bugger all, but it is certainly worth ago.
The long term effects of constant alcohol can be even more detrimental to your sex life. Despite what the majority of us think alcohol is actually a depressant. It attacks the central nervous system (CNS) slowly destroying brain cells. If this damage is continued for long enough it can result in irreversible sexual impotence and may even destroy testicular cells, leaving men with shrunken testicles ( a fate worse than death )causing infertility.
As for how common these effects are, the many studies and surveys that have been conducted vary a great deal. This is due not only to the way they are conducted, but they also depend on how willing men are to tell the truth about having sexual problems, and let’s be honest none of us like to admit to any sort of problems in the bed room. It’s because of this that estimates range pretty widely. Men experiencing ejaculation problems due to alcohol is thought to be between 5-25%. Some researchers say that as many as 54% of alcoholics suffer erectile difficulties while 31-58% had a decrease in sexual desire. But these numbers would be expected to rise if men would just let go of that male pride thing and tell the truth, but we all know that it is not likely to happen any time soon. But even these numbers have made me think twice about how much alcohol I consume. So I have come to an executive decision that my 9am Monday morning beer will be no more, I promise.
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