Shutterstock Plenty of readers already know that the ego-busting effects of a good trip can also positively impact your sex life, and now there’s more science backing up the use of psychedelics for sexual dysfunction. A recent study featured in Scientific Reports has shed light on the potential benefits of psychedelics, such as magic mushrooms and LSD, for enhancing sexual function, PsyPost reports . The research shows that participants found multifaceted improvements in their sexual well-being that persisted for several weeks after their experiences. This suggests that these substances not only can be fun during the trip (although note that not everyone likes to have sex while tripping) but may provide sustained benefits far beyond their immediate psychoactive effects.
Before we move on to how psychedelics enhance sex lives, let’s recall how they can improve depression. Because the two are related. As the National Institutes of Health report , psychedelics, such as psilocybin and MDMA, have demonstrated potential as effective treatments for mental health conditions such as treatment-resistant depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. It’s thought that they work by facilitating the formation of new neural connections in the brain in a pretty awesome process of brain healing itself known as plasticity.
This is notable because traditional antidepressants like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as Prozac and Zoloft, can come with sexual dysfunction as a side effect. While SSRIs work for some folks, and it’s never really cool to hate on one person’s medicine, as the New York Times reports , […]
Psychedelics Offer Long-Term Improvement in Sexual Functioning, Enjoyment
