There’s nothing like a drink to help lighten the mood on a first date, but otherwise, we’ve been taught alcohol can hinder romance. Too much alcohol is never healthy, but a little booze could actually be helpful for romance, your sex life, and even your marriage. Here are five surprising ways that alcohol can help your sex life, from a better orgasm to a higher sex drive.

1. Couples Who Drink Together, Stay Together

Nothing brings a couple closer together than alcohol, whether that’s mutual love for drinking or shared abhorrence, and research published last year in The Journals of Gerontology found that, as couples age, happiness is closely tied to shared drinking habits. As a result, drinking together, or abstaining from alcohol together, is beneficial for a long-term relationship, Reuters reported. On the other hand, having a opposite drinking pattern from your spouse, such as having one spouse who drinks while the other abstains completely, is likely to result in more dissatisfied marital relationships.

Read: 'Drunk In Love' Now Backed By Science, As Alcohol And Oxytocin Show Similar Brain Effects

Not even a serious drinking problem is enough to tear some couples apart. A 2013 study found that although alcohol abuse often ruins relationships and leads to divorce, when both partners have equally unhealthy drinking habits, they are just as likely to stay together as a couple that doesn't drink at all.

2. Women Are More Attracted To Men Who Drink

Drinking isn’t just good for your marriage, it could also help out the singletons. For example, one 2016 study found that women were more attracted to men who drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes, at least for short-term sexual flings, The Telegraph reported.

Women are more interested in healthy and stable non-drinking or moderate-drinking men for long-term relationships, as this is a sign that a man is both capable and willing to care for children. However, for shorter relationships, it's the bad boy drinker/smoker that wins the most hearts as it appeals to women’s attraction to risky behavior. Or at least that’s what the study researcher suspect anyway.

3. Short-Term Relief For Premature Ejaculation And Erectile Dysfunction

Alcohol can make it more difficult for both men and women to achieve an orgasm, but for men who suffer from premature ejacualation, where he ejaculates either before or shortly after sexual penetration, alcohol could help. According to The Huffington Post, some researchers actually recommend alcohol as a treatment to control ejaculatory timing, and while it may only be a temporary solution, it could help you out in a pinch.

In addition, while too much alcohol may dampen the mood by making it extremely difficult for a man to achieve an erection, a moderate amount of alcohol can actually make his erection more intense, The Guardian reported. In fact, a 2009 study found that men who drank moderate amounts of alcohol reported 30 percent fewer erectile problems than non drinkers. While the reason for this is not entirely clear, it may be due to the fact that moderate amounts of alcohol can improve cardiovascular health, and erections pretty much rely on having peak operating blood vessels.

4. Boost Sex Drive

If you feel more frisky after a few cocktails, you’re not alone, especially if you’re a woman. Although alcohol has colloquially been used as an aphrodisiac, in 1994 researchers actually found some proof to back this. Scientists from Finland and Japan found that women who drank moderate amounts of alcohol had increased levels of testosterone in the body, although men’s hormone levels were largely unaffected, The Independent reported. This effect was most pronounced in women taking the contraceptive pill, as they already had low levels of testosterone to begin with.

The team suspected that these elevated testosterone levels in women may lead to increased sexual desire in female drinkers, The Independent reported.

5. May Enhance Orgasm

Too much alcohol does have the reputation for hindering orgasms in both men and women, but if you are lucky enough to have an orgasm while buzzed, it may be especially good. According to The Huffington Post, some women report feeling more sexual pleasure when they have had a few drinks.

This may be linked to the relaxation associated with having a few drinks, the fact that alcohol can help some people overcome their inhibitions and insecurities, and allows men and women alike to truly let loose and enjoy themselves.

See Also:

Alcohol And Sex: What Is 'Whiskey Penis' And How Does It Affect The Male Libido?

Low Sex Drive? How Weed, Alcohol Increase Sexual Dysfunction, Hurt Libido