Can Stress Cause Erectile Dysfunction?
Erectile dysfunction, also called impotence, is an inability to attain and sustain an erection required for satisfactory sexual intercourse. ED disorder affects almost 52% of men worldwide. However, it is noticed that several men suffer from this sexual disorder at some point in their lives. Stress can interfere with your sexual function and cause erectile dysfunction.
How does stress cause erectile dysfunction disorder in men?
Stress can cause sexual dysfunction risk factors in men. With time, chronic stress often leads to lack of sleep, emotional fatigue, high blood pressure, lack of blood flow, affects blood vessels and poor physical health, all of which can make it difficult for you to maintain an erection.
Along with other factors like cardiovascular problems or high blood pressure, stress can also cause trouble in attaining hard erections. You should know that short-term and long-term stress can contribute to sexual disorders like premature or delayed ejaculation, low sexual drive, and erectile dysfunction.
How does stress lead to erectile dysfunction?
With time, stress has become a common part of everyone’s lives. Unhappily, many of us have to deal with prolonged exposure to stressful situations, which leads to chronic issues and is induced by various things like interpersonal relationships, problems at the workplace, accidents, and paying bills. Chronic stress further causes problems with anxiety disorders. It can affect your sexual desire, emotional responses, sexual stimulation, or sexual arousal and start to affect sexual health.
Stress in your body can further lead to high blood pressure, rapid breathing, and increased heart rate; all of this affects your nervous system, which is responsible for achieving and sustaining erections. Once you start having problems getting an erection, it makes you feel more stressed and makes your ED condition worse.
Sources of stress that can make you suffer from erectile dysfunction
Here are some common stressors which might contribute to stress-induced ED:
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Work stress
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Depression
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Financial stress
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Relationship problems and conflicts
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Deadlines
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Excessive alcohol or drug consumption
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Parenting
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Losing a loved one
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General anxiety disorder or sexual performance anxiety
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Mental health disorder
How to lower your stress?
Stress-causing ED means that the sources of stress in your life have increased too much. It is essential to find healthy methods that can help reduce stress and manage its sources effectively.
Here are some ways that can help you live a less stressful lifestyle:
Start some physical activities.
Regularly working out can help you deal with stress. Try indulging in moderate-intensity aerobic activity or high-intensity aerobic exercises. Include strength training in your exercise routine. Physical activities promote the smooth flow of blood in your body and reduce the chance of ED symptoms.
Meditation
Indulging in meditation, even for 10 minutes a day, can play a vital role in reducing stress. Try mindful meditation for 20 minutes, and you will notice a great reduction in your stress and anxiety levels. Progressive muscle relaxation and reducing caffeine and alcohol intake, as well as nicotine, dance, laughter, socialising, and acupuncture activities, might help.
Go for talk therapy.
Cognitive behavioural therapy is the best option to treat stress and erectile dysfunction. You can discuss things that cause stress, along with how erectile dysfunction is affecting your life.
During Cognitive behavioural therapy, you will mainly focus on stress triggers. You and your mental health professional will come up with ways to deal with stress-inducing behaviours and implement healthy coping strategies accordingly.
How to treat erectile dysfunction caused by stress?
Nowadays, several effective treatment options can help you to treat erectile dysfunction caused by stress.
Talk to your doctor about taking erectile dysfunction medicines. Some common options include PDE5 inhibitor drugs such as Viagra and Cialis. Along with stress management, these ED medicines can help with erectile dysfunction and improve your sexual health.
You can also adopt healthy lifestyle habits that reduce stress and improve sexual function, such as eating a nutritious diet, limiting alcohol consumption, quitting tobacco, and maintaining a healthy weight.
During any psychological factors affecting your sexual health, seek sex therapy and therapies to manage any other mental health conditions.
Disclose your medical history with your doctor and also inform them about your mental health and feelings. Also, make sure to mention if you have other medical conditions or are taking other medicines to treat high blood pressure or other conditions. It will help your doctor to prescribe the treatment according to and advise you on the best possible treatment for the type of ED you have.
Summary
Therefore, you might find talking with your healthcare provider about ED uncomfortable, but it is necessary to have a conversation. The doctor will help you advise the best erectile dysfunction treatment for you and suggest ways to reduce stress.
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