Erectile dysfunction – the inability to sustain an erection sufficient for sex over a period of six months –is still a taboo subject for many sufferers. Yet, there are millions of men worldwide, who silently suffer from this condition.
The reasons for the potency problems, which these men experience can be divided into three groups.
- Psychological causes. Usually related to stress, performance anxiety or excess masturbation to internet pornography (see below),
- Hormonal causes. Poor lifestyle choices in men promote excess estrogen. Also, the (im-)balance of testosterone and estrogen worsens as we get older and produce less T. A scientific peer-reviewed study from Portugal has specifically looked at the effects of excess estrogen in men on ED (you can read it here). It concluded that the “change in ratio between testosterone and estrogen is a likely cause for erectile dysfunction in older men”,
- Cardiovascular causes. Also referred to as vascular erectile dysfunction. The inability to flood the penis with blood is caused by poor cardiovascular health due to lifestyle choices, most commonly nutrition, smoking or alcohol. This can also be a side-effect of medication or an early warning sign of serious illnesses.
Due to the large variety of the many possible causes, the actual cause of the erectile dysfunction in the individual can only be conclusively established by a series of professional examinations.
I would advise to consult a doctor if you are trying to regain full sexual potency. Only he or she will be able to conduct an accurate diagnosis and a programme for successful treatment.
Psychological Impotence
It has been known for years that psychology can be solely responsible to the inability to sustain an erection. Excessive stress, poor relationship communication or impotence related performance anxiety – the subjective pressure to perform – can result in chronic erection disorders. Some men already develop psychological problems after a single failure to perform.
Psychological causes are diagnosed when erections successfully occur during the night or in the morning, but not during intercourse. A healthy male has 4-5 erections in an average night. These occur during to the release of human growth hormone and testosterone at night.
An appropriate treatment for psychological erectile dysfunction can be offered by specialised psycho-sexual therapists.
Internet Pornorgraphy
A new field of study is the effect of internet pornography on male potency. Some theories state that excess internet porn causes “arousal addiction“, which can easily be mistaken for performance anxiety.
The Coolidge Effect is a phenomenon, whereby males exhibit renewed sexual interest when exposed to a new available female sexual partner. Conversely, long-term partners run the risk of increasingly boring one another over time. This effect is exacerbated by internet porn!
The brain is poor in distinguishing between imagination and reality, for example triggering an identical fight-or-flight response whether a threat is imagined or real. Internet pornography suggests to the brain access to an unlimited amount of “perfect” sexual partners, which releases vast amounts of excess dopamine in the brain.
This overrides our natural satiation mechanism and triggers a binging response, which was once an evolutionary advantage. Interestingly, fast food has the same binge-triggering effect on the brain and commonly causes obesity.
Out of all online activities, internet pornography is therefore considered the most addictive.
The following video explores the various theories of the effect of internet pornography on male erectile potency.
Physical causes of erectile dysfunction
An estimated 75% of reported erectile dysfunction cases, however, have a physical cause. Since the possible causes are so varied only the most important ones shall be mentioned at this point.
Impotence as a Side Effect
Erectile dysfunction can be triggered by the excessive use of narcotics such as recreational drugs, alcohol, medications or other substances. These can result in nutritional deficiencies or even biological lesions, which can directly lead to erection problems.
Smoking cigarettes carries a particularly high risk (read the study here). It increases blood pressure, which damages blood vessels in the long term. Inhaling the pollutants in the cigarette smoke causes blood vessels to both constrict and also calcify more quickly, inhibiting the body’s ability to flood the penis with blood. That is why the true and proven messages on cigarette packets have been warning that smoking can lead to impotence for some time now.
In contrast to smoking, small amounts of alcohol can encourage an erection by dilating blood vessels. However, someone who regularly consumes large quantities of alcohol may suffer physical damage to their nervous system.
Due to the inhibiting properties of alcohol, nerve signals will no longer reach the best parts of the man and inhibit the ability to have an erection. Shakespeare put it best when he said that drink “provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance.“
Substances can cause unwanted side affects like impotence due to their intended inhibiting effects on adrenaline and noradrenaline (beta blockers) or those used to treat epilepsy or depression (anti-depressants).
Over 100 compounds found in mainstream medication are thought to promote the risk of impotence.
A large number diseases either directly cause or indirectly promotes impotence. The vast majority of these are cardiovascular diseases affecting the heart and blood vessels.
Cardiovascular disease is an umbrella term for all diseases of the heart and circulation, including heart disease, stroke, heart failure, cardiomyopathy, atrial fibrillation, clogged blood vessels (atherosclerosis), high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, metabolic syndrome (a condition involving increased blood pressure, high insulin levels, body fat around the waist and high cholesterol) as well as Parkinson’s disease and Multiple sclerosis.
Collectively, heart and circulatory diseases cause more than a quarter of all deaths in the UK, accounting for around 160,000 deaths each year.
Natural Cures for Physical Impotence Causes
Biological factors such as poor blood flow at old age can usually be treated with traditional potency boosters, such as the famous blue pill. However, the amino acid Arginine (and its cousins Citrulline and Ornithine) offer a natural alternative, if a long-term sustainable approach without side effects is preferred.
Statistically, the most common cause of erection problems is calcification, or narrowing of blood vessels. This causes an inability to transport sufficient blood to meet demand as and when needed – including the arteries leading to the penis to create an erection. This cause is also referred to as vascular erectile dysfunction and can be treated naturally with the amino acid Arginine with significant additional health benefits.
In a proper scientific, peer-reviewed study 37 out of 40 (92.5%) of participating men were able to enjoy a normal erection again after taking 1,700mg of Arginine and 80mg of Pine Bark Extract after three months1.
This convinced me to try it out. Here are my favourite Arginine and pine bark extract erection cures.
I am very happy to report that I am cured. And my girlfriend loves it! 🙂
- “http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12851125” ↩