Robert Frost wrote, “The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.” Time changes everything. Aging alters how our body looks as well as how it works. Your penis ages alongside everything else. Without you suspecting anything your once reliable equipment starts to fail you. Some interventions can make this downward slide less steep so that we can extend the usefulness of our boy parts. Here is a description of what many men experience as they move thru life- and a maintenance plan to gain better mileage.
CHALLENGES
Erectile dysfunction
As the years add on erections become less enthusiastic and less reliable. ED has many causes such as low testosterone, high estrogen, prescription medications (especially hypertension medicines and antidepressants) shortages of ingredients required for good erections like amino acids arginine/citrulline. ED can be due to damaged blood vessels from smoking, diabetes or hypertension. Emotional causes include stress, anxiety, guilt, or stage fright with a new partner. It can de due to general dissatisfaction with your life or relationship. Every man will experience this at some point, but don’t despair help is available. With so many causes there are a ton of solutions.
Curvature
The totality of a lifetime of traumas both large small along the length of your shaft can start to pull you off in one direction. While some curvature is completely normal, what we are talking about here is a hard turn left, right or up. It can get so bad that it renders your equipment nearly as useless as a badly bent key.
Shrinkage
I think I was bigger before? The answer is yes, you were. You lose size as you age for a variety of reasons. The cells that comprise your penis are subject to the same stressors as the rest of you. The cells shrink, elastic tissue is replaced with less elastic tissue. The blood flow that rushed into your penis giving you rock hard fullness lessens due to narrower blood vessels, damaged vessels and less expandable tissues. You can get hard but not as full throttle as before. Scaring may cause curvature. Also, as abdominal fat increases so does the fat surrounding the base of your penis. This fat buries a larger percentage of your length under the skin. The equation is easy: gain more belly fat = have a shorter penis; lose fat here = gain length there.
SOLUTIONS – results may vary
NON-MEDICAL MAINTANCE PLAN
Good health goes a long way to extend the warrantee on your sexual equipment. First, abolish bad habits that are damaging you. You know what these are.
Lose fat (notice I didn’t say lose weight). Fat increases inflammation, raises estrogen levels (anti-testosterone hormone) and buries some of your length into your lower belly.
Get vascularly fit. Making your heart and blood vessels healthier and more responsive will reboot your erection generator. Moderate intensity, rather than high or low intensity, seems to have the nod from science for vascular health (more on that in a future blog).
Cut the crap out of your diet, especially sugar and flour which lead to more inflammation, insulin resistance (pre-diabetes) and more fat. Increase foods that contain arginine and citrulline. Eat 1.5 ounces of dark chocolate daily – seriously. A study at UCSF showed that 1.5 oz. dark chocolate daily increases blood vessels dilation about 10%.
Mind your hormones. Good testosterone levels and low estrogen levels make a difference. The more fat you carry, the more testosterone gets converted to estrogen. So, losing that extra fat boosts erectile function by multiple mechanisms.
Do Kegels. Yes, the same ones’ women do to strengthen their pelvic floor muscles. A stronger pelvic floor will increase horsepower to your sexual motor. This may seem weird but it has been clinically demonstrated. In a British study 40% of men with ED who did daily pelvic floor exercises returned to normal function in 6 months. If you already have normal function this can give better sexual control and stamina. In general, a strong, tight core including the pelvic floor will allow you to “push” your male prowess to greater length and girth.
Mind your meds. Many medications adversely affect erectile responsiveness. Discuss with your doctor and look for alternatives if this applies.
Manage sleep apnea. If you sleep in a separate room because your snoring is so obnoxious, you likely have sleep apnea. This is a big topic – too big for this article but a major contributor to deterioration of male health. See a sleep specialist and get this under control. A bunch of problems will auto-correct by getting this one problem under control.
MEDICAL INTERVENTIONS
ED drugs like Viagra, Cialis and Levitra can boost erection quality in most men. They work by increasing and prolonging the dilatation of blood vessels in the penis. Amino acids arginine and citrulline are required so work them into your diet.
Injection like trimix are a more aggressive intervention that can help men that don’t respond to pills or don’t tolerate side effects. Very small needles are used but still…
Testosterone enhancement. Either by increasing your production of testosterone or supplementing what you make. Lower estrogen pharmacologically by blocking conversion of testosterone to estrogen.
Curvature has a new non-surgical, injectable treatment. Xiaflex is the first FDA-approved non-surgical treatment option for men with this condition. Price tag is staggering.
Platelet Rich Plasma – PRP holds promise but the jury is still out on this. Blood is drawn from a vein is placed in a separator that extracts the plasma containing platelets. Platelets, which carry multiple growth factors, stimulate stem cells and help regenerate responsive tissue. PRP is injected into the penis (Topic for future blog).
