Marijuana is known for making food taste better, but a new study suggests getting high could make sex feel better, too.
Published this month in the journal Science Medicine, researchers found that women who used weed before sex had higher sex drives, less pain during the encounter, and more satisfying orgasms compared to women who abstained.
They also found that women who frequently used weed at any point, not just before sex, were more likely to have enjoyable orgasms compared to those who rarely got high.
For the sake of this study, people who got high at least weekly were considered “frequent users” while “rare users” only got high several times in a year.
The study authors conclude that marijuana impacts sexual satisfaction, but aren’t quite sure why.
However, they theorize it could be due to lowered stress, anxiety, and inhibitions, which make people more likely to experiment in bed.
Or, maybe weed just really changes the way you experience intimacy.
“Marijuana is also known to heighten sensations such as touch, smell, sight, taste, and hearing,” they write.
And they note the possibility that weed may help activate neurotransmitters linked to sexual pleasure. THC, the part of marijuana that gets you high, binds to cannabinoid receptors in our brains.
This boosts the amount of dopamine, a hormone partially responsible for pleasure, in our bodies, which may explain for the increase in satisfaction.
However, this is just one theory, and there’s still so much more we don’t know about how marijuana use impacts our bodies. Of course, it’s entirely possibly to help your partner orgasm without resorting to drugs. Try switching up positions, or you know, just communicating about their needs.