Author: edquestions

When it gets time to get down to business between the sheets, it can be downright nerve wracking. There’s so much pressure to please your partner and last a while, you can sometimes find your little guy bowing out. This can make your anxiety even worse, which in turn can lead to even more missed erections down the road.

Sexual performance anxiety is a very real thing. But if you consistently find yourself unable to achieve an erection when you’re set to engage yourself in a sexual activity, you may in fact be dealing with erectile dysfunction. Considering that both issues can be caused by your thoughts and emotions, it can be hard to differentiate performance anxiety and erectile dysfunction. So how can you determine which issue you’re dealing with?

The solution is simple: Get to the root of it. Performance anxiety is defined as the inability to perform in a sexual situation due to anxiety, whereas erectile dysfunction is the inability to achieve an erection. If you find your erection failing during sexual encounters, run some tests when you aren’t about to have sex.

The most important question to answer is whether or not you can achieve an erection by yourself. Be it through masturbation or good, old-fashioned sexy thoughts, you need to will your penis to stand at attention. If you can achieve an erection on your own volition, that’s a pretty good indicator that you’re suffering from performance anxiety. Alternatively, if you find yourself unable to get it up on your own, you’re more than likely dealing with erectile dysfunction.

However, that’s not to say that the inability to achieve an erection on your own time is a sure sign of erectile dysfunction. This issue could still be traced back to your anxiety with sex, which is causing you to become anxious even alone.

The best way to determine whether it’s sexual anxiety or erectile dysfunction you’re dealing with is to talk to a doctor. Lay out your problem, discuss possible solutions, and together you can devise a way to overcome the issue, whichever it may be.

Every man has the occasional missed erection. Maybe you’ve had a few too many drinks, or maybe you’re just not in the mood. Sure, a missed erection happens, but what if it keeps happening? You might come up with excuses, but the simple fact is that you’re struggling to achieve an erection time and time again. But how can you tell if you’ve just been striking out recently or if you’re dealing with honest-to-goodness erectile dysfunction?

If you suspect that you may be afflicted with erectile dysfunction, it’s important to make sure. Here’s how to determine if you’ve got ED.

Alone time: If you find your erection struggling during sexual intercourse, conduct some tests. To determine if your ED is related to sexual anxiety, see if you can get it to stand at attention while you’re alone. Be it through masturbation or just by thinking stimulating thoughts, see if you can will your penis into achieving an erection. If you can achieve an erection on your own volition, then your erectile issues might be related to anxiety with sex. If you can’t get it up on your own, you might be dealing with erectile dysfunction.

Stamp it out: If you consistently can’t achieve an erection, it’s important to determine if it’s due to a mental hang-up or a physical issue. This can be figured out by conducting a test while you sleep. Before going to bed, wrap the base of your penis with stamps. Form a complete circle, and make sure the stamps are unbroken. Once the stamps are on, hit the hay. When you wake up in the morning, check the ring. If the ring is broken, this indicates you subconsciously achieved an erection while asleep, which mean that your ED is mental in nature. If the ring of stamps remains unbroken, this means your erectile issues are due to a physical issue.

After conducting these tests, you should have your answer. If you’ve found that you might be afflicted with erectile dysfunction, talk to your doctor about how to overcome this issue.

While most men would be quick to label erectile dysfunction as a medical issue that they won’t have to worry about until they’re well into their golden years, the fact is that erectile dysfunction can strike at any age. It’s certainly true that ED becomes much more prevalent amongst older men, but there are plenty of young and middle-aged men dealing with ED.

While erectile dysfunction is an issue that can be easily overcome with medical help and consultation with a doctor, many men would be hesitant to talk to a doctor about such an embarrassing issue. ED is definitely an intimate, difficult to discuss ailment, refusing to seek medical help due to embarrassment is a sure fire way for your problem to get worse.

Due to many men’s hesitance to speak to a doctor about their erectile dysfunction, many experts believe that reported percentages of men dealing with the issue are skewed, with the reported number more than likely being much lower than the actual number.

But as it stands, research has found the percentage of men who suffer from erectile dysfunction per age group breaks down as such:

18-29: 7%

30-39: 9%

40-49: 11%

50-59 18%

57-64: 31%

65-74: 45%

75-85: 43%

Think about that. These numbers are still pretty high, but most experts think the actual numbers are even higher. The simple truth is that ED is common, no matter your age. If you find yourself struggling with erectile dysfunction, consult a doctor and work towards overcoming the problem.

Listen, every man needs some “alone time” every now and again. It’s a totally healthy, totally natural process, and it’s been found to help relieve stress and anxiety, so it’s kind of good for you, too. But as long as masturbation has existed, there have always been its detractors. Wives tales have sprung up about the act, saying that too much of it can lead to blindness or hairy palms. While we all known this isn’t true, there are some wives tales that sound a little more believable. Namely, can watching too much pornography lead to erectile dysfunction?

The logic is certainly sound. It’s said that an overreliance on porn can lead to your sex drive getting worn out, which translates into missed erections and disappointed partners. If you spend too much time masturbating, your brain will eventually begin to not respond to sexual feelings, which will prevent your erection from springing to life.

Now, at face value, this definitely sounds like something that could happen. But the truth is that no matter how much porn you enjoy or how often you masturbate, your erection will never keel over and die. Your brain can’t get worn out on sexual feelings, so it’s impossible to develop ED by oversaturating your brain with porn.

Masturbation is an incredibly personal habit, and you should never pay rumors about it any mind. No matter how often or rarely you choose to indulge in masturbation or pornography, you’re not affecting your erection in the slightest. So enjoy both at your leisure, gentlemen. It’s not like your erection is going anywhere.

Erectile dysfunction can be caused by numerous factors. Whether it’s stress at the workplace, depression at home, or making the wrong dietary choices, erectile dysfunction can strike at seemingly any moment. But while most men would quickly write off the occasional missed erection as a fluke, it’s not wise to be so cavalier about erectile dysfunction. You might equate ED with a less-than-stellar love life, it might also be an early indicator of internal health issues.

Your erection lives and dies thanks to your cardiovascular system. To achieve an erection, your penis requires a steady supply of blood, which causes the penis to engorge and go to work. If something is slowing blood flow in the body, your penis will struggle to achieve an erection.

While there are many things that can cause your heart to struggle to supply the body with blood, one of the most common causes is atherosclerosis, which is the hardening of the arteries. Atherosclerosis causes the blood vessels to become clogged with plaque. This plaque buildup starts in the smaller arteries, which includes the arteries leading to the penis. This plaque greatly reduces blood flow, and can lead to a litany of health issues within the body, including erectile dysfunction.

You may think that this plaque can be eliminated with healthy living and exercise, but that is not always the case. If left unchecked, this plaque buildup can worsen and can lead to aneurysms, stroke, and peripheral artery disease.

If you struggle with heart disease or have recently found yourself unable to achieve an erection, consult a doctor. Atherosclerosis can be a serious affliction, and could spell an early grave if not treated. While being unable to achieve an erection is embarrassing, it may very well save your life if treated properly.

Erection dysfunction can be caused by seemingly an endless number of issues. Whether it’s due to depression, laziness, or smoking, ED can rear it’s ugly head and strike at any moment. While a vast majority of erectile-related issues can be traced back to psychological issues, your erection isn’t in the clear even if you have an untroubled mind. In fact, it could even be your medication that ends up doing your erection in.

Yes, the medicine you are taking explicitly to help your body could end up causing issues in other parts of your body. While antidepressants and antihistamines have been linked to ED, one of the most common medicinal causes of the problem is blood pressure medication.

This is problematic because many men depend on blood pressure medication to lower their blood pressure to save their erection. For some men, the medicine they are relying on to solve their problem actually just ends up making the problem worse.

That’s not to say all blood pressure medication will worsen your erectile dysfunction. The most common culprits for ED are diuretics (better known as water pills) and beta-blockers. Typically, these would be the first kind of blood pressure medication a doctor would likely prescribe to a man struggling with high blood pressure.

If you’re struggling with high blood pressure and you already have ED, talk to your doctor and avoid diuretics and beta-blockers. It’s been found that men with ED that take these forms of medication typically find their ED worsening, with a recent study finding that a whopping 70 percent of men polled that took these medications while afflicted with ED found their ED getting worse.

If you have high blood pressure, talk to a doctor about the best medication to overcome this issue. But if you’re struggling with erectile dysfunction, explore possible alternatives to diuretics and beta-blockers.

It’s always nice when your partner hits it off with your buddies. When your significant other fits into your friend group, you won’t have to beg to go grab drinks or to go hang out, because your partner will be asking to come along. But if your partner gets a little too chummy with your friends, your feelings about your partner joining your friend group may begin to sour.

If your partner manages to become fully integrated into your friend group, it may begin to gnaw at you. These are your friends, after all. Your partner has his or her own friend group, so there’s no reason for your partner to be hanging around constantly. Eventually, these feelings may morph into full-blown jealousy; after all, the only reason your partner is hanging around your friends is because he or she’s sneaking around behind your back with one of your friends, right?

If you become hung-up on these thoughts, eventually jealous might creep into the bedroom, and your erection could end up paying the price.

A recent study of 3,00 men between the ages of 57 to 85 found that men whose partner got too close to his friends was 92 percent more likely to experience erectile issues.

This is due to the fact that psychological factors play a large part in your sexual performance. So if you’re tossing thoughts of infidelity around, your mind is going to be preoccupied, and your body is going to take this as a sign that an erection just isn’t a priority.

If you think jealousy is costing you your erection, get to the root of the problem. Confront your feelings of jealousy, either with your partner or a mental health expert. Figure out how to overcome these problems, either by pushing out jealous thoughts or by confronting the issue directly with an open dialogue with your partner.

Do you struggle to consistently achieve an erection? Well, there’s an easy exercise you could be incorporating into your daily life that could very well bring your erection back to its former glory. It doesn’t require any weights, you don’t have to be a work-out nut to do it, and it can be done literally anywhere. It’s the kegel exercise, and it could be the key to saving your erection.

When someone mentions kegel exercises, men are typically not the demographic that springs to mind. Kegel exercises have long been associated with pregnant women, with moms-to-be using the exercise to improve bladder control. But kegel exercises help curtail urinary slip-ups by strengthening the pelvic floor muscles, a group of muscles responsible for regulating the bladder and, you guessed it, the erection.

By toning your pelvic floor muscles, you’ll be strengthening the muscle group responsible for controlling your erection. These bulbocavernosus muscles, as they’re known, allow the penis to engorge with blood and pumps semen during ejaculation. If you work this important muscle group, you could regain your erection.

Kegel exercises are incredibly simple to perform. Simply squeeze the muscles in your groin responsible for urination. These muscles can be found by stopping your stream during urination. Feel those muscles tightening? Those are your pelvic floor muscles.

Once you’ve located the muscle group, squeeze these muscles, hold it for five seconds, and then relax. Simple as that. Performs reps of these squeezes 10 to 20 times, two or three times a day.

Eventually, kegel exercises will become easier, ensuring you can knock a rep out anywhere, be it on the floor at home or standing in the elevator at work.

Stick with kegel exercises, and you should see your penile control greatly improve.

You’ve always enjoyed sex. In fact, you can’t ever think of a time when you didn’t enjoy sex. Even the crummiest sex is still sex after all, right? But as of recently, you just can’t bring yourself to care about sex. Your partner is practically throwing herself at you, but you still can’t muster up the gumption to get down to business between the sheets. You’ve tried thinking about sex, but that doesn’t help. You’ve tried to incorporate new, exciting things into the bedroom, but that doesn’t help. While your general disinterest in sex was bad enough, lately you find you’ve been struggling to achieve an erection.

All of your sex-less woes can be traced back to one culprit: low libido. If your libido has taken a dip, you’ll find that sex just isn’t as interesting to you as it used to be. That’s not to say that low libido ensures that you’ll forever be apathetic about sex. Quite the opposite, in fact. Odds are there is some catalyst for your low libido, and if you can get to the root of the problem you can reclaim your sex drive.

Low libido can be caused by many factors, including stress, depression, low self-esteem, and even lack of sleep. When your body encounters one of these problems, it can lead to wires getting crisscrossed, which can lead to sexual feelings getting lost. As your sex drive dips, you may find that your erection isn’t springing to attention like it used to. Again, this leads back to the wires in your brain. When your body attempts to tell the brain that it’s time to wake up the erection and engage in intercourse, the notification can get lost, leading to missed erections.

If you’re looking to regain your sex drive and erection, seek help from a mental health expert. Together, you can work through what feelings might be causing your lowered sex drive. It may be stress at work, feelings of inadequacy, or something you that didn’t even realize was problematic, such as a hormone imbalance.

Once you’ve rooted out the cause of your low libido, you can begin to work through the problem. Over time, you’ll overcome the issue, your sex drive should go back to normal, and your erection will spring back to life.

A new sexual partner is always exciting. Something about a new body to learn, new preferences to figure out, new quirks to love; hopping into bed with a new partner is pretty much the adult equivalent of getting to open your presents early on Christmas morning.

But a new sexual partner can be intimidating, too. You might worry that you won’t be able to satisfy your partner, or maybe that your kinks will scare your new partner off. There are so many question marks the first time you get together with a new sexual partner, it can be downright scary.

For some men, it can be so scary that it can prevent your little guy from standing at attention. With no erection, that means no sex. No sex means a disappointed partner. Disappointed partner means the connection fizzles out and dies, which means a disappointed you.

If you consistently find yourself unable to achieve an erection when with a new sexual partner, blame it on your brain.

If a man is nervous going into a sexual encounter, this can lead to wires getting crossed upstairs. On one hand, your brain is being told to send blood to the penis to initiate intercourse. Conversely, the anxiety you’re feeling about sexual activity is telling your brain to ignore this command, which cancels pumping blood to the penis.

Thankfully, this is a problem that can be easily overcome. Since it all boils down to anxiety, the solution is simple: Relax! Step back, take a couple calming breathes, and remind yourself that sex is supposed to be fun. Don’t focus on the negative “what if’s;” instead, focus on the new experience that lies ahead.

Work out a way to calm yourself down when you feel anxiety setting in, and explain to your new partner that you need to overcome this issue together. Through foreplay and patience, you should be ready to go in no time.