--- title: Alcohol Effects: Try Red Wine to Relax and Spirits to Feel Sexy description: Different types of alcohol inspire different emotions, finds a new study. Here's when to order red wine and when to try spirits instead canonical: https://time.com/5029850/alcohol-effects-drinking-red-wine/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-21T23:30:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:17:52.306Z article:section: Health og:title: This Type of Alcohol Makes You Feel Sexy, According to Science og:description: Different types of alcohol can inspire different emotions og:url: https://time.com/5029850/alcohol-effects-drinking-red-wine/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt134418d87e67c1a7/6988e661929fadd9a0bee8cc/alcoholic-drinks-emotions.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5197 og:image:height: 2923 og:image:alt: alcohol-drinks-emotions og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Type of Alcohol Makes You Feel Sexy, According to Science twitter:description: Different types of alcohol can inspire different emotions twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt134418d87e67c1a7/6988e661929fadd9a0bee8cc/alcoholic-drinks-emotions.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Type of Alcohol Makes You Feel Sexy, According to Science > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Nov 21, 2017 11:30 PM UTC  Standing on a banister, an assortment of various sizes and shapes of alcoholic drinks, ranging from shot, brandy, cocktail, beer and wine Standing on a banister, an assortment of various sizes and shapes of alcoholic drinks, ranging from shot, brandy, cocktail, beer and wine Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Nov 21, 2017 11:30 PM UTC If you’re trying to wind down after a long day, wine may help you relax, a new study suggests. But if you’re more in the mood to feel sexy and confident, order spirits instead. A group of researchers in the U.K. set out to determine whether different types of alcohol prompt different emotional responses among drinkers. They used data from almost 30,000 people who responded to the [Global Drug Survey](https://www.globaldrugsurvey.com/), a yearly international poll about drug and alcohol habits around the world, and published their [results in the _British Medical Journal_](http://bmjopen.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016089). Spirits — like vodka, gin, whiskey and other hard alcohols — were linked to a range of strong feelings. They were most likely bring up negative feelings, such as aggression (in 30% of people), restlessness (28%) and tearfulness (22%). But they were also most likely to spur some positive emotions, including feeling energized (58%), confident (59%) and sexy (42%). People who drank red wine and beer, on the other hand, were more likely to report feeling relaxed. Almost 53% of people said they felt relaxed after drinking wine, and almost 50% did after having beer. [Red wine](http://time.com/4070762/red-wine-resveratrol-diabetes/), more than white wine or any other type of alcohol, was most commonly associated with fatigue, making 60% of drinkers feel tired. **MORE**: [It’s True: Alcohol Helps You Speak a Foreign Language Better](http://time.com/4989850/alcohol-foreign-language-speak/) The drinks may be linked to different emotions because of variations in alcohol percentages, ingredients and the amounts typically consumed, the researchers speculate. Advertising and cultural implications related to the beverages may also play a role. All of the emotions studied were more commonly reported among female drinkers than male drinkers, except for aggression. People ages 18 to 24 and those who drank heavily also reported more emotions, both positive and negative, after consuming alcohol. The responses also varied somewhat by geographic area and socioeconomic status. The findings also suggest that, whether they realize it or not, people may be choosing their drinks based on their emotional state or how they expect a certain beverage to make them feel. “These findings suggest that individuals inadvertently select drinks which are known to elicit negative emotions because they crave the positive emotions that go with them and link with existing evidence that those dependent on alcohol drink alcohol as a coping mechanism rather than drinking for pleasure,” the authors write in the paper. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5029850/alcohol-effects-drinking-red-wine/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5029850/alcohol-effects-drinking-red-wine/"},"headline":"This Type of Alcohol Makes You Feel Sexy, According to Science","datePublished":"2017-11-21T23:30:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:17:52.306Z","description":"Different types of alcohol inspire different emotions, finds a new study. 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