How Do Aphrodisiacs Work?

The word aphrodisiac didn’t show up until the early seventeenth century, meaning quite literally, “a preparation or drug which excites sexual desire”. It comes from the greek “aphrodisios”, meaning “sacred to Aphrodite”, Goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, passion and sexual desire, and it’s closely related to “aphrodisian”, which means, “one devoted to sexual love”.

Because the term has become so commonplace and diffuse, I differentiate between the more everyday aphrodisiacs - things like chocolate or oysters or anything else that might excite sexual desire for your personal tastes - from the *true* aphrodisiacs.

The true aphrodisiacs are a class of herbs, some of which have been used for millennia, that arouse sexual desire by dramatically enhancing blood flow to the genitalia. Some herbs do this more directly than others. They are called the PDE-5 inhibitors, herbs like Yohimbe (active constituent Yohimbine hydrochloride) or Epimedium (active compound icariin, among others), and they’re incredibly effective in treating chronic low libido and erectile dysfunction. But they also increase ability to achieve orgasm in women, which is of course quite understandable given they engorge the sex organs with lots of blood.

But because sexuality is complex, and so much of our selves are tied up in our sexuality, some of the aphrodisiacs are working somewhat less directly. I’ve said many times that libido, hormone balance, fertility, psychology and stress response are all inherently interconnected; so the aphrodisiacs work in varied ways, with secondary properties that address some of these other aspects of sexuality.

Some of them work to boost hormone production. Testosterone for instance. If a gentleman’s libido is low and he’s not ‘performing’ well when he does engage in sex because his testosterone is low, boosting testosterone production will help his body to naturally restore balance and with it, sexual vitality. In this case, rapidly enhancing blood flow to the genitalia will address the issue in the moment and is bound to create a potent sexual experience, but it won’t address the underlying cause.

As another example, if an individual is struggling to be present in sexual connection because they’re constantly on the go and in their head, then the right aphrodisiac for them will have secondary properties that help turn off the racing mind, and get into the presence of the physical body.