Men who are struggling in the sack will soon be able tap into their inner teenage stud — by literally popping a dose of the hormone that makes pubescent boys so horny, according to a report Monday.
The hormone kisspeptin, dubbed “Mental Viagra,” switches on a man’s desire to procreate and is linked to feeling sexy, romantic and turned on, according to a first-of-its kind study reported by the UK Telegraph.
Scientists at Imperial College London predict pills of the horndog hormone could one day be used to rekindle the spark in sex-starved relationships, the paper reported.
“This hormone is in all of us, so we know that is safe, and maybe one day there will be a tablet that people could take to boost this effect,” lead researcher Waljit Dhillo told the paper.
For the study, 29 young heterosexual men were given injections of the hormone and two sets of images. One set contained sexy and romantic pictures; the other contained no people.
Brain scans showed heightened arousal levels when the subjects viewed the sexy photos — but not when they viewed the ones containing no people, according to the paper.
The hormone boosts brain circuits associated with sex and love and sets off reward centers in the brain, increasing sexual desire, the scientists said.
In the future, it could also be used to treat pyschosexual disorders and depression, said Alexander Comninos, who also authored the study.
“It shows that kisspeptin boosts sexual and romantic brain activity as well as decreasing negative mood,” he said.
“This raises the interesting possibility that kisspeptin may have uses in treating psychosexual disorders and depression which are major health problems which often occur together, but further studies would be needed to investigate this.”