Patrick Dempsey's mantra for spicing up sex life - spanking!

London, September 24 : Patrick Dempsay, known for his role as Dr. Derek Shepherd in the medical drama Grey's Anatomy', has confessed that spanking spices up his sex life.

The actor, who married wife Jillian Fink in 1999, has said that experiments in the bedroom contribute to an active romantic life.

"Romance is an atmosphere, a feeling, a mood, a place, it's in the air. It is the little things - even a spanking every now and then," the Sun quoted him as saying.

"It is hard to define romance other than going with the clichs of a lake, a boat, a picnic basket and a sunset," he added.

The actor, however, also loves treating his wife in the age-old-fashioned ways by taking her off for a weekend in France or Italy.

He said: "Paris, New York and Rome are fun to visit.

"But then there is the Italian countryside, Tuscany and Florence, where everyone is romancing."

ANI