Men's Sexual Health Blog: Erectile Dysfunction & Stress Effects

Erectile Dysfunction & Stress Effects

Strategies to Combat Stress-Related Erectile Dysfunction

Taking extra shifts at work, working longer hours, promotions, and there’s no doubt, you’re stressed to your outer limits. It doesn’t take a psychology degree to know that the rest of your life starts to suffer. You forgot to go to Johnny’s baseball game, you couldn’t make it to hang out with your friends after leaving the office, and your performance in the bedroom is less than you’d like.

In order to maintain an erection, many processes of the parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for sexual arousal, salivation, and digestion among other functions, must be in charge. When stressed, however, the sympathetic nervous system, responsible for the fight-or-flight response, takes over and the parasympathetic nervous system loses control. Luckily, there are many steps that can be taken to reduce stress and maintain parasympathetic control in order to maintain optimal performance in the bedroom.

The first step that can be taken in order to reduce the negative effects of psychological stress is to implement deep breathing. Deep breathing is very powerful for improving performance in the bedroom because it forces your parasympathetic nervous system to take over. If you suffer from stress-related problems in the bedroom should be sure to implement deep breathing techniques immediately. To do so, the most commonly recommended strategy is to alternate between inhaling for three seconds, holding your breath for six seconds, and then exhaling over the course of seven seconds. Continuing to repeat this process consistently throughout intercourse could be immensely beneficial for forcing your parasympathetic nervous system to remain in control and conquering stress-related erectile dysfunction.

Another incredibly common, successful tactic is to visualize something completely unrelated to sex. This works well for some people who are over-thinking and fretting about their performance. Some men become so overwhelmed with concerns about what their partner is thinking or how well they are doing that they cannot help but perform poorly. Once you begin to visualize unrelated, neutral images, and remove the fear of rejection from your mind, you can greatly improve your ability to remain erect. The old joke has stuck around for a while: think about baseball. If you’ve cleared your mind of your fears and are only thinking about the lineup from the 1974 Yankees, you’re likely to get drawn away into the pleasure of sex, rather than the thought process behind it.

One additional strategy that can be incredibly effective is to only plan sex during times in which your daily stress will be minimal. For example, if you know that you are going to be undergoing a large amount of work-related stress during the week, you should assume that your performance in the bedroom will suffer during this time. Instead of having sex while stressed, it is often in your best interest to wait until the stress has decreased greatly. Chances are, you’ll perform much better on a weekend after a day of relaxing than during the week after a day of grueling labor.

Overall, stress-related erectile dysfunction can be an incredibly frustrating condition that can be detrimental to your well-being. Fortunately, however, by implementing a few basic tactics, you can regain control of the parasympathetic nervous system when you need it most and prevent stress from impairing your performance in the bedroom.

Contributor Bio: "Allison Gamble has been a curious student of psychology since high school. She brings her understanding of the mind to work in the weird world of internet marketing with psychologydegree.net."

7 comments:

Anonymous05:46
Erectile dysfunction is a man's problem. In this men may fail to attain an erection during sexual intercourse.
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RxBlogger09:30
Stress Management: Tea and cookies -
Relax in a comfortable chair with a soothing cup of herbal or decaffeinated tea and a cookie or biscuit.
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Anonymous17:43
Stress can be one of the causes of Erectile Dysfunction. You may be worried about work, or issues at home. The best thing to do to try and cure stress is to take a day for yourself - no work, no family, just you. Do what you want to do. If, after you've destressed you still have Erectile Dysfunction then there are medications available, like Viagra, to help you. You're not alone.
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Anonymous05:49
I agree with the comments. I am a nurse and we have studied way back that stress is one of the factors that trigger Erectile Dysfunction. It is somewhat psychological too. Thus, people who have this dysfunction must know how to divert himself into much erotic ways to achieve a certain extent of full erection.
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Anti-Depression06:18
Depression can be brought on by stress. Depression isn't a manifestation of weakness. It is a typical reaction to certain activities that happen in our existence that we can't stand and which we now have simply no control of. It is perfectly normal to be stressed out every now and then. Something you have to get under control.
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Sleep07:09
Stress can lower libido during intimacy that can be attributed to erectile dysfunction. The natural vigor can be recovered with proper sleep and rest. Vitamins and exercise can also be considered.
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Anonymous03:33
A couple of suggestions.

Erection problems can be mainly physical, mainly psychological, or a mambo combo. You say that you are unable to maintain an erection during intercourse. Can you keep an erection when she touches your penis with her hands or mouth, or when you masturbate?
Some men have problems keeping erections at the beginning of a relationship. Then, after they become more comfortable with their new partners, their erections become more reliable. Pay attention to your erection patterns to help you decide if you need to see a urologist or a sex therapist. If you have erections when you wake up or through masturbation, but not with a partner, that's important information that says your body is working correctly, physically. For the time being, why not receive pleasure and not worry about erections? These kinds of difficulties are common and transient. You can view them as part of life rather than as problems. Or, if it is a problem for you, sex therapy may make a difference

You could be experiencing "desensitization" from your masturbation, or "performance anxiety" due to your lack of actual experience with a partner.

To overcome either of these the most effective "technique" is for you and your partner to:

1. Go into your bedroom and get as comfortable as possible. You both need to be very relaxed (not via alcohol, or drugs). Try soft lights, soft music. Remove your clothing and continue to relax together.

2. Slowly begin to lovingly touch each other with NO goal to engage in sex. As your level of excitement rises relax and enjoy the feelings. Again you are NOT going to have sex (tonight), only pleasure.

3. If you feel yourself nearing "the point of no return" back off, and/or have your wife apply the Semans procedure, aka "squeeze", "pinch" procedure. A firm (not painful) "pinch" to the head of your penis. Then when you are able continue "pleasuring" each other. This will allow you to experience having erections for longer and longer periods.

For LOTS MORE information you can go here
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