Erectile Dysfunction - Tips to avoid ED
Summary
- Watch your weight
- Have healthy diet
- Manage your blood pressure
- Keep diabetes under control
- Quit smoking
- Have a check on your alcohol consumption
- Say NO to drugs
- Get your testosterone levels checked
- No anabolic steroids
- Control Stress
- Check if your medication has side effects that includes Erectile Dysfunction
- See a good sexologist near you.
Watch your weight
Did you know that you look better and more confident to yourself when you are in good shape and right size? Not just from the outside, you have many health benefits if you maintain good BMI. You can avoid a whole lot of medical conditions such as diabetes, higher cholesterol levels, kidney problems, erectile dysfunction etc if you work out regularly and maintain healthy weight.
Your work out doesn’t necessarily be high intensity workout at the gym; it can be brisk walk for an hour or jogging or cycling or even using a jump rope. Watch what you eat and work out regularly for healthy testosterone levels and to avoid Erectile Dysfunction.
A good diet
Avoid unhealthy foods that are full of saturated fats, full fat dairy products, fried foods, red meat etc. Add more vegetables, fruits and whole grains for good health and stamina.
Manage your blood pressure
In people with high blood pressure, the blood vessels narrow down. Narrow blood vessels means less blood flow through your body, including your penis. Lower blood means less number of erections and even when you manage to have an erection, your erect penis may not be as hard as it should be.
Diabetic? Keep it under control.
In one of our recent articles, we were mentioning how diabetes can cause erectile dysfunction. If you haven’t read it yet, please read ‘Can diabetes cause erectile dysfunction’? In diabetic people, the high sugar levels damage the blood vessels and nerves in the body including those that are running through your penis. When the damage happens, the communication between the penis and your brain doesn’t happen normally. At the same time, the blood flow into the penis will also be not normal to have a proper erection.
If you are smoker, please quit today!
Smoking damages the blood vessels. Smoking also reduces the body’s ability to heal from any injury, may it be internal or external. Again, as the blood vessels are damaged, less blood will run through your penis and that results in Erectile Dysfunction.
Drinking alcohol? Keep it under control.
Alcohol consumption decreases libido, the desire to have sex. When you don’t have the desire to have sex, you may not have an erection even when your partner next to you and ready. This can not only hurt your physical health but also your personal relationship too. Good thing about alcohol consumption is, your libido can return to normal if you cut down on alcohol or completely stop it.
Consuming weed or other drugs? Stop them right away.
Weeds and drugs (not the ones your chemist sells), can damage your nervous system and also the blood vessels. Damage to nervous system disrupts the communication between your body and brain, damage to blood vessels directly affects the ability of the penis to have an erection. If you require counselling, please see a good therapist before you damage your life and relationships doing drugs.
Check your testosterone levels
As you cross 30, levels of testosterone start dropping. Unlike women, whose body stops producing hormones all of a sudden at the time of menopause, men’s body gradually slows down the production of testosterone.
If you think you are not having good erections like before, you go to check your testosterone levels and get appropriate treatment. A good sexologist tries to treat the low testosterone problem without putting you on to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as much as possible. Only when other treatments may not work, HRT will be your option.
Don’t take anabolic steroids
Anabolic Steroids, mostly used by those paper thin skinned, muscular guys at the gym has it’s own negative effects. They may boost the testosterone levels but at the same time, as you are taking external supplement; internal production of testosterone will take a hit. Your testicles will shrink and you may eventually lose interest in sex.
If you are on steroids, stop abusing them today. It will take a while to get back to normal sexual life, but that’s ok.
Try to control stress
If you realize that work stress, personal life related stress is bothering you, you got to figure out ways of how to control it and come out of it. Stress is a biggest threat to health to all individuals. Not just Erectile Dysfunction, stress can cause 100s of other diseases including improper functioning of liver, thyroid, pancreas, kidneys, heart etc.
Opt for mediation, yoga or other physical activity that can divert your mind from thinking about the things that are causing stress in your life. You must also see a therapist if you think you need help managing stress. Stress affects your medical condition, your work and your personal relationships.
Check your medications
If your doctor has put you on to anti-depressants, muscle relaxing medicines or antihistamines for allergy etc, you may see Erectile Dysfunction happening as a result of side effects of those medications. If that is the case, talk to your doctor and let him/her know what is happening. He/she may put you onto different drugs or may let you continue until your current issue is addressed. Once you put away such medicines, your erections should get back to normal.
Be quick to see a good sexologist near you
If you think that you are not having erections like before, don’t hesitate to let your partner know and then see a good sexologist near you as soon as possible. Letting your partner know that you have some medical condition can put you on a safer side without making them think that they don’t appeal to you sexually anymore. Seeing a doctor can help you get back your erections once the problem is addressed.
Note that while you are in your teens and lower 20s, you will have testosterone levels at their peaks and you will be able to have sex multiple times in a day. As you age, especially once you start moving into your 30s, it is normal that your ability to have sex decreases and it can easily be noticed when you are in your 40s. Being in 40 and expecting your libido like your 20s will only makes you move towards artificial testosterones that can cause more harm than good. If you have any questions about your sex drive or testosterone levels, the best way is to see a sexologist and get clarified.
