Here are some examples of lifestyle choices that do have the ability to affect your erectile health:
• Smoking. There are endless reasons to give up cigarettes, and if the possibility of lung cancer or heart disease isn’t enough motivation, how about the motivation of knowing you put yourself at higher risk of erectile dysfunction? Nicotine has the effect of narrowing blood vessels throughout the body, including the ones leading to your reproductive organs. And if you don’t have decent blood flow, you can’t have decent erections.
• Diet. The stereotypical “American” diet that’s high in saturated fats, cholesterol, sugar, and processed foods isn’t ideal for erection health. Foods that lead to clogged coronary arteries also lead to clogged arteries elsewhere. In fact, younger men with erectile dysfunction may find that their doctor wants to run other tests to assess cardiac health. Erectile dysfunction is somewhat of a “canary in a coal mine” indicator of the possibility of early heart disease. The good news is that lifestyle changes can improve both heart health and erection health.
Exercise helps you feel better, look better, and enjoy sex more.
• Exercise. When you get regular exercise, you not only can shed excess weight and build up your stamina, you improve overall circulation. Between the improved circulation and the extra confidence that often goes along with getting in shape, exercise is definitely good for your erection health.
• Alcohol consumption. A glass of wine with dinner isn’t going to ruin your sex life. Drinking to excess, however (whether periodically or regularly) eventually takes its toll on your erection health. In addition to the short-term inability to have an erection after a bout of heavy drinking, long-term alcohol abuse can result in long-term damage to erectile health.