Alcohol affects a man's erection.

Question

Accordingly, alcohol depresses the central nervous system in males, making it harder for some men to obtain and maintain an erection.

Answer 1

According to the Journal of Sexual Medicine, when alcohol is being consumed moderately it's shown to increase sex drives and also helps reduce anxiety one may have about their sexual performance. However, when alcohol is consumed excessively this is when one may experience erectile dysfunction. Because alcohol is a depressant it ultimately slows down the Central Nervous System. The CNS is responsible for sending information to the rest of the body. When alcohol is consumed however, the CNS has problems with reaction times, motor skills, and coordination. This ultimately makes the communication between the brain and penis much slower than usual. 

https://www.smsna.org/patients/did-you-know/alcohol-and-temporary-erectile-dysfunction

Answer 2

This claim is true. A meta-analysis of erectile dysfunction and alcohol consumption done by researchers in 2021 looked at 46 different studies with a total of 216,461 participants.

"The results of our meta-analysis indicated that there was a significant association between regular alcohol consumption and ED (OR 0.89, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.81-0.97)."

Li S, Song J-M, Zhang K, Zhang C-L. A Meta-Analysis of Erectile Dysfunction and Alcohol Consumption. Urologia internationalis. 2021;105(11-12):969-985. doi:10.1159/000508171

https://eds-s-ebscohost-com.proxy2.library.illinois.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=c3a85e88-a399-446c-b0c2-ebc95b8322dd%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d

Answer 3

This claim is true. 

According to American Addiction Centers, alcohol is a depressant causing the nervous system to be suppressed: suppressing circulation and nerve-ending sensitivity. The article also points out that there is a high association between consuming alcohol and having erectile dysfunction. The article states that "Alcohol dehydrates, taking away the blood and oxygen flow needed to bring greater sensation to the genitals." This dehydration causes, "decreased blood volume and increased angiotensin, a hormone associated with erectile dysfunction." 

AmericanAddictionCenters

An article written by a Urologist on WebMD explains how alcohol is a depressant but also a sedative. He brings up a historical fact "Before the development of the first true anesthesia in 1846 at Massachusetts General Hospital, surgeons routinely relied on alcohol and bullet-biting to carry out operations. Drink enough of it and alcohol can numb sensation to the penis to the point that it can be hard to get and maintain an erection." Making it apparent that alcohol slows the nervous to the point where in the early days of the medical field, alcohol was used as a sedative during surgery.

WebMD

A scholarly article from JAMA Network fact-checks the claim that the Urologist made that alcohol was used as anesthesia saying, "The use of alcoholic fumes for anesthetic purposes is recorded as early as 1513." 

JAMANetwork

This claim is true because scientific claims have been made by irrefutable sources, alcohol affects the nervous system where erections rely on nerve endings and blood volume. Alcohol has been used in history as a numbing agent and sedative for surgery, showing how strongly it affects the nervous system.