Alcohol is popularly associated with sex because its chemical effects on the body helps lower inhibitions, gives a short-term feeling of euphoria and enhances short-term sexual pleasure in some men. These side effects of alcohol have led to a large number of men combining sex and alcohol. However, the damage alcohol can cause to your body in general and to your sexual health in particular outweighs the so-called benefits of alcohol.
Here is how alcohol affects your sexual health:
It lowers sexual performance: Alcohol is sedative in nature and it tends to numb your brain. This often leads to inability to get aroused sexually and get an erection. Alcohol also disorients your mind, making you clumsy during the sexual act. All of this may lead to poor sexual performance in men.
It makes you infertile: Long-term and regular consumption of alcohol decreases the sperm count in men and makes them less fertile. Scientific studies have reported that alcohol severely affects the ability to produce children.
It lowers your libido: Consuming too much alcohol causes depression in men. Due to this negative state of mind, men may not have desire to have sex at all and have low sexual libido.
It shrinks your genitals: Drinking too much over a long period can lead to reduction in size of reproductive organs in men.
It increases chances of STD: While alcohol may lower your inhibition, it may also make you indulge in risky sexual behavior and increase your chances of infection from sexually transmitted diseases.
These are only some of the direct affects alcohol has on your sexual health. Besides this, alcohol may contribute to unwanted sex, unwanted pregnancies, sexual violence and serious relationship problems between partners. However, the good news is that most of the adverse effects of alcohol on your sexual health are reversible and you can be healthy once you leave this habit.