Weed Is What Your Sex Life Is Missing

Weed has the ability to heighten your senses: music sounds way better, food tastes more incredible, and physical touch feels electric. Sure, there are plenty of health benefits to smoking weed as well, but if you're not already incorporating weed into the bedroom for these reasons alone, you're doing your sex life a serious disservice. Michele Harrington, head of strategic partnerships at Foria, a CBD and cannabis sexual wellness brand, says "cannabis not only enhances pleasure, but can also help women relax their pelvic enough muscles to receive even deeper pleasure and more intense orgasms." This is a game changer considering 64 percent of women cannot have an orgasm during intercourse in the first place, according to a study published in the National Library of Medicine. So to help you optimize your sex game, we spoke with experts on how to incorporate weed into your love life. From using it as a way to connect with your partner, to investing in a cannabis-infused lube, here's how to make the most out of your high.

Let's say you come home after a long day at work and intimacy is the last thing on your mind. Your partner is on the same page after dealing with a stressful day, and quality time sort of falls by the wayside as you both get stuck in this routine.

"Believe it or not, marijuana can reignite special time together," says Libby Cooper, creative director of weed delivery app Eaze. "Marijuana can help relax your mind and body after a day at the office, uplift your mood, and make you more present in the current moment. When shared together, consuming marijuana can become a fun ritual in itself. Whether it is rolling a joint and then standing on your roof together to smoke it or cutting a gummy in half and cheekily popping it in your mouths, marijuana can make an evening special."

There are various strains of weed and ways of ingesting it for different situations. If you're thinking a lazy night in, opt for an indica strain (for full-body relaxation). If you're looking to watch a movie or do something active, for example, a sativa would be more fitting.

"Sativa strains are energetic and lead to amazing, long conversations," Cooper says. "It's a great way to tune into your partner."

Virtually any activity is more fun when high. Cooper's personal favorite is to cook dinner with her partner and smoke a sativa joint right before the food is ready.

Calmness, relaxation, increased arousal, and better blood flow are all potential side effects of ingesting marijuana, which can lead to better sex.

"Marijuana heightens your senses, and just like enjoying your dinner and conversation more, it makes touch that much more exciting," Cooper says. "Perfect for both newer flings and long-term relationships, consuming marijuana before being intimate will make the sex — how can I say this? — really, really goddamn incredible!"

An important thing to note, however, is that there will most likely be a trial period. When you're too stoned, you can burst into giggles in the middle of sex, be too sleepy, or — for ladies — even end up reaching the point of genital numbness (it'll still feel great, but it might take you a lot longer to orgasm). And remember to drink a lot of water! Having cottonmouth while making out is the worst. Cooper says it's all about starting off slow in terms of both the amount you consume and the intensity of touch.

"I recommend playing around with different strains and consumption methods to see what works best for you and your partner," Cooper says. "I prefer staying away from edibles for intimacy because you don't know if your metabolism is the same speed as your partners. Vapes and prerolls are a great way to share a moment and then have almost immediate feedback on how it made you feel."

For many women, painful or uncomfortable sex is caused by inflammation and tension in the pelvic floor, which can be a result of trauma, injury, hormones, mental blocks, scar tissue, you name it, says Harrington. But "both cannabis and CBD support blood flow to the tissues of the vulva and vagina, increasing lubrication and enhancing pleasurable sensations." Foria offers Intimacy Melts and Awaken Arousal Oil with CBD, which work to ease discomfort making sex more pleasurable for both partners.

Have fun figuring out what works best for you and your significant other. You may find that you two prefer topicals over smoking, vaping over edibles, etc. Here are some recommendations from Cooper for you to try tonight in your legalized state (or with a medical-marijuana card).

—Additional Reporting by Taylor Andrews