Lifestyle changes really can make a difference in erectile function
There is a growing body of evidence that lifestyle changes really can make a difference to erectile difficulties, especially in obese men. (1) Never a day goes by without some article or another on the subject of how our diet and lifestyle can affect our health. (2)
Erectile difficulties or impotence, as it used to be known, is a symptom of other illness within our bodies.(3) Erectile difficulties do not appear overnight without warning. It is the strongest marker men have for the state of their general health. There may be the odd occasion experienced by all men at various stages in their life when the old “todger” won’t function as expected. This can be due to excess of alcohol, drugs, tiredness or stress, (4) but still it is a warning to change our habits.
Take for instance cardiovascular disease. The diameter of the arterial supply to the penis is tiny in comparison to the major arteries supplying the heart. If there is any clogging up of the arteries anywhere in the body it will most probably first be experienced in the arteries supplying the penis. Graham Jackson’s study in 2006 (5) stated that a man with ED and no cardiac symptoms was a cardiac patient until proved otherwise. We cannot ignore these warnings. Similar evidence also applies for diabetes. Men with diabetes are six times more likely to develop ED (6) so it correlates that men with ED should have tests to rule out diabetes.
In a recent trial published in the Journal of the American Medical Association it was clearly demonstrated that lifestyle changes are associated with an improvement in sexual function. (1) These men were given detailed advice about how to lose at least 10% of their total body weight by the reduction of calorific intake and increasing their level of activity. It is a very simple message eat less and exercise more. There is no need to follow complicated diets that can be expensive and difficult to maintain. Aiming for achievable goals is important too. Taking baby steps, setting realistic goals and making lasting achievable changes will do more good.
For more information on this article contact Mary Clegg 01264 358853 or email mary@beecourse.com
1.Esposito, K., et al 2004, Effect of lifestyle changes on erectile dysfunction in obsese men – A randomized controlled trial, JAMA, vol. 291, no. 24, pp. 2978-2984.
2. Times on Line: Body and Soul 2008
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/body_and_soul/article3171498.ece retrieved 21st January 2008.
3.Lue, T.F., et al 2004 Sexual Medicine: sexual dysfunctions in men and women, Paris: Health Publications
4. Laumann, E.O. et al, 1999, Sexual dysfunction in the United States - Prevalence and predictors, JAMA. Vol.281, pp.537-544.
5. Jackson G., et al 2006 The second Princetown concensus on sexual dysfunction and cardiac risk: new guidelines for sexual medicine, Journal of Sexual Medicine, vol. 3, pp. 28-36.
6. Cho, N.H., 2006 Prevalence of erectile dysfunction in Korean men with type 2 diabetes mellitus, Diabetic Medicine, vol. 23., issue 2, pp. 198-203.
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