After studying more than 250 sex diaries, researchers from the University of Connecticut and University of Iowa concluded that alcohol definitely makes you say things in bed you don’t intend — but (to the researchers’ surprise) they’re mostly blurts of “low magnitude,” because drunks perceive less of a benefit to spilling their innermost feelings. You might accidentally insult your girlfriend, but you probably won’t admit to hooking up with her sister last Christmas Eve.
Conversely, the researchers found that sober pillow talk — fueled by euphoria from the post-coital hormone oxytocin — leads people to share constructive innermost feelings that “potentially strengthen their sexual and/or romantic relationship,” such as fantasies they’d like to try. Alcohol seems to counteract those oxytocin-created “perceptions of a safe space for sharing information.”
