When you find yourself in a long-term relationship, it’s easy to think of your significant other as both a friend and a partner. This means plenty of nights alone snuggled up on the couch or quite nights of reading books in bed, finding happiness in just the two of you. But even the strongest of relationships need some time apart, and this means getting out and about and getting together with friends. But this apart time can sometimes lead to feelings of jealousy developing. One partner may feel as though the other partner is losing commitment to the relationship, or perhaps they might feel that the partner is spending too much time with a flirty friend. Whatever the case may be, this jealousy can bubble up and can actually lead to the development of erectile issues.
This isn’t just a coincidental connection, either. The erection is dependent upon signals from the brain on when its time to wake up and get to work. If these signals should get lost in a jumble of feelings of jealousy and thoughts of possible infidelity, your erection won’t get its cue, leading to a missed erection. When your mind is preoccupied with jealousy, your erection will pay the price.
In fact, even spending too much time with your partners friends can lead to problems in the bedroom. A study of 3,000 men between the ages of 57 to 85 polled them on how much time their significant other spent with friends they considered “theirs.” The higher the amount of time spent translated into rising chances of erectile dysfunction, with the study finding that men who considered their partner too close to their friends were 92 percent more likely to develop erectile issues.
If you feel as though jealousy is to blame for your recent erectile woes, get to the root of the issue. Talk to your partner, approach the problem as a couple, and you should be able to stamp out these feelings and regain your erection.