Drinking Wine Might Make You More Attractive. Here's Why

You've most likely heard of or experienced "beer goggles" for yourself. It is a term Merriam-Webster describes as the effect that happens when after drinking one (or five) alcoholic drinks, a person starts to look more attractive to you. Yes, the beer goggles have likely made for some memorable stories. But did you know it can go both ways? A study shared by Health found that a single glass of wine made drinkers look more attractive to sober judges, versus when the participants hadn't had anything to drink. How can this be?

The study shared by Health was conducted on 40 students. After comparing photos taken of the students' faces when they were: sober, had one glass of wine, and right after they had a second glass of wine, an interesting conclusion was found. The students whose photo was taken after one glass were rated as more attractive than when they were sober.

This could be explained by how your appearance slightly changes after one glass of wine. Marcus Munafò, Ph.D., the senior study researcher, explains to Health, "The people who had consumed a small amount of alcohol had a slightly rosier complexion. Rosiness is attractive because it characterizes good physical health characteristics," he says.

That's one theory. Another answer can be found in the eyes of the students who had enjoyed a glass of wine. Pupil dilation is a natural occurrence that happens after ingestion of alcohol, says LiveScience, which is a trait that is usually perceived as positive by a viewer. Interestingly enough, the extra attraction stopped after one drink as the students then rated the sober photo more attractive than the one that was taken after having more than one drink, notes Health. 

While "beer goggles" might have been more widely known at first, we're now enlightened on "the one glass of wine trick." It's always fun and useful to know about how alcohol can affect our choices.