Causes of Erectile Dysfunction and Natural Solutions

Post written by Joy McCarthy of Joyous Health

Alright boys, this post is for you! Let’s get right to it… your man-parts. We already know from statistics that when the man-parts are not performing optimally you are less likely than us woman to mention it to your health care professional, so I hope this post sheds some light.

Erectile dysfunction (ED), affects over 50% of men from 40-70 years of age. It’s a name given to a set of symptoms that the pharmaceutical companies coined as ED. Lucky for them, they’ve made billions off Viagara because we are society obsessed with an instant fix. However, there are some simple reasons/causes behind ED.

Let’s review the sex-drive-killers first:

• Stress/anxiety: You may thrive under stress and pressure, but guess what? You won’t be feeling sexy during this time. Stress is the most common sex-drive-killer, exhausts the adrenals and your body. The last thing you’ll have energy for is romping around the bedroom.
• Smoking: Toxins, need I say more? Each puff has over 250 chemicals and more than 50 of them have been proven to cause cancer.
• Alcohol: You may find your inhibitions are lowered which gets you in the mood, but the metabolic effects of perpetually using the drinky for this will cause the opposite effect and lower your sex drive and your sperm count.
• Lack of exercise the other version of ED known as “Exercise Deficiency”: Exercise is mood-enhancing, amazing for circulation (ahem, right where you need it), confidence-building and puts your sex drive in first gear! Sit on the couch night after night eating potato chips and you will see your sex drive take a nose dive.
• Relationship problems: For women, emotional closeness is one of the most important factors in being a willing and open participant. If you don’t take time to make her feel loved and appreciated then you are not going to get any action. Poor communication and lack of trust can from either side is a common problem.
• Further, just not being “into your lady” (sorry ladies, but the same goes for you too… if you are not into your man and you have no hormonal or health issues, but you are dry as a desert, sometimes it’s just not right), then no amount of sexy lingerie, sex toys are going to get it up if you don’t dig her.
• Drugs: Statin lowering drugs (Lipitor, Crestor etc), antihistamines, anti-depressants, high blood pressure pills, heart meds are all sex drive killers. In fact, these drugs are implicated in up to 25% of reported cases of ED. This is a very common side effect that is listed in the tiny print on that leaflet that comes with your drugs, that you likely never read?
• Lack of sleep: Fatigue, we’ve all been there before. However, if this is you night after night, then you might not be getting enough shut-eye putting your libido to sleep too.
• Diabetes and chronically high levels of blood sugar are sex drive killers.
• Poor diet also known as S.A.D (standard american diet).
• Hormonal imbalance: This is an important cause to consider, however what promotes hormonal imbalance are all the above mentioned causes (S.A.D., lack of sleep, stress, lack of exercise, even too little intimacy – side note: did you know a good orgasm actually elevates oxytocin and testosterone!?!). An imbalance is merely the effect and not the cause.Hormones such as adrenocorticotropic hormone, oxytocin, prolactin, and androgens, especially testosterone, have been implicated in ED.
• Too little intimacy: Even though this is the last point, it’s an important one. Many assume that “sex” is intimacy. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Try spending more non-sexual intimate time together – alone. Go for a nice walk, talk, cuddle, trade sexts. Learn to express affection without having to have sex. As intimacy builds, so does sex drive.