Aphrodisiacs to Spice Up Your Life
Can Aphrodisiacs Add Something Extra to Your Love Life?
Feb 5, 2008
External and Internal Stimuli
Throughout history, stimulants known as aphrodisiacs were used to regain vigor in waning love affairs. Aphrodisiacs (named after Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love, beauty, and fertility) are classified into two groups: psychophysiological stimuli and preparations taken internally.
Psychophysiological effects are reactions to exciting visual, tactile, olfactory, and aural stimuli. Romantic comedy movies, music videos, magazines, romantic literature, perfumes, scented candles and oils are all psychophysiological stimulants.
Internal preparations include food and drink. Fruits and vegetables (apples, prunes, dates, bananas, cherries, cucumbers, and pomegranates), beans (vanilla beans and coffee beans), seafood (caviar, clams, snails, snakes, and eels), and spices (ginseng, pepper, garlic) are among the most popular foods considered to be endowed with aphrodisiacal powers. Their reputation is more folklore than fact -- supposedly erotic foods have not been found to have any direct physiological effect.
Facts and Findings About Aphrodisiacs
If you’re considering spicing up your love life, then consider these facts and findings before investing time or money on love potions.
- Cantharides, commonly known as “Spanish Fly,” are actually dried beetles, which cause an acute irritation of the genito-urinary tract, with accompanying dilation of the associated blood vessels. Taken in excessive doses, Spanish Fly causes great discomfort, violent illness, and sometimes death.
- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned aphrodisiacal products containing strychnine, a chemical derived from beetles and yohimbine, a poisonous crystalline alkaloid substance obtained from West African tree bark.
- Recent studies indicate that eating high-fat foods reduces blood levels of the male sex hormone testosterone, resulting in reduced muscle mass, bone size, sex drive, and occasionally causing impotence.
- Chocolate naturally contains phenylethylamine (PEA), a chemical that transmits pleasurable impulses inside the human brain. Some researchers believe that lovers have higher levels of PEA, thus enabling people to simulate the euphoric feeling of being in love by eating chocolate.
- In a Michigan study of nearly 800 people aged 60 and older, men and women who regularly drink coffee were shown to be much more sexually active than older people who don't drink coffee. A possible explanation is that coffee is a stimulant of the central nervous system and a muscle relaxant known to enhance response to sensory stimulation.
So the safest (and perhaps most effective) way to heat things up may be lighting a scented candle, and sharing a cup of coffee and a box of chocolates while you watch a romantic DVD at home.
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