Viagra gets the job done, but it's a quick fix. For many men, weaning
themselves off the little blue pill and finding a longer-lasting
solution to their sexual dysfunction may require hitting the gym and
putting down the doughnuts.
A new Australian study, published
Friday in the "Journal of Sexual Medicine," found that losing just 5% to
10% of body weight over a two-month period improved the erectile
function -- and revved up the sex drives -- of obese men with diabetes.
The
study was very small (it included just 31 men), so the results should
be taken with a grain of salt. But the findings are yet another reminder
that obesity and erectile dysfunction (ED) often go hand in hand.
Excess
weight -- especially excess belly fat -- can affect sexual function in
many ways; it can interfere with the body's ability to supply blood to
the penis, for instance, and it can cause testosterone production to
plummet.
And though the research on weight loss and sexual
dysfunction is still emerging, there's growing evidence that men who get
active, eat healthier foods, and pare a few pounds will see their sex
lives improve -- not to mention their overall health.
In fact,
doctors express hope that the promise of an improved sex life will
finally get through to all the overweight and obese men who haven't
responded to dire warnings about heart disease, diabetes and stroke.
"You
talk all the prevention you want," says Kevin Billups, M.D., an
associate professor of urology at the University of Minnesota, in
Minneapolis. "When I talk about restoring penile health, I have their
attention."
When a patient comes to see him about ED, one of the
first things Billups tells him to do is to stand up and look at his
belly. "If you can't see your penis," he says, "that's a problem."
How obesity hits below the belt
The most important way that excess weight drags down a man's sex life is by affecting the health of his blood vessels.
An
erection occurs when the blood vessels leading to the penis dilate,
causing it to fill with blood. This process begins when the inner lining
of the vessels (known as the endothelium) releases nitric oxide, a
molecule that signals the surrounding muscles to relax. (Viagra and
similar drugs work by increasing the amount of nitric oxide in the
endothelium.)
Although
experts aren't exactly sure why, obesity appears to damage the
endothelium. And when the endothelium doesn't work properly, the penis
may not get enough blood to produce or sustain an erection.
"An
erection is basically a cardiovascular event," says Robert A. Kloner,
M.D., a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of
Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, in Los Angeles. "If blood
flow cannot increase because the blood vessels can't dilate normally,
then there's a decrease in erectile function."
Sure enough, in
the new study, endothelial function improved in the men who lost weight.
(Function was measured using two different laboratory tests.)
Poor
heart health can cause ED in another way. The fatty foods and lack of
exercise that cause weight gain also contribute to the narrowing and
hardening of arteries (atherosclerosis), in which cholesterol and other
substances build up in the artery wall.
Atherosclerosis,
which can lead to heart attacks if it occurs in major arteries near the
heart, can happen just as easily in the small blood vessels leading to
the penis.
In fact, atherosclerosis may hit those small blood
vessels first, which is why ED is increasingly seen as an early warning
sign of heart disease, Kloner says.
The role of testosterone
Blood
vessel problems are responsible for the vast majority of ED cases in
obese men over 40, experts say, but another common culprit is low
testosterone, which is also linked to obesity. Adequate levels of this
male sex hormone are necessary to maintain sex drive and get erections.
Low
testosterone is "very much underdiagnosed," says Ronald Tamler, M.D.,
co-director of the men's health program at the Mount Sinai Medical
Center, in New York. "And as we are all getting fatter, it's becoming an
increasing problem."
Those
big bellies Billups warns his patients about are especially worrisome
when it comes to testosterone. Belly fat, a strong predictor of heart
risk, seems to have a greater effect on the hormone than excess fat
distributed in other parts of the body.
"That's the bad actor
that causes all sorts of inflammatory mediators and different substances
to be emitted into the body that will lower testosterone," says
Billups, who studies the relationship between heart health and sexual
dysfunction.
Losing even a little weight can improve blood vessel
function (as the new study shows), but the effect of weight loss on
testosterone levels may not be as rapid or as direct. Men who have
persistently low testosterone levels and ED despite losing weight may
need to consider testosterone gels, shots or patches, Tamler says.
Weight loss can turn things around
Being
overweight doesn't seem to affect a man's self-esteem as much as it
does a woman's, says Joel Block, Ph.D., a psychologist on Long Island
who specializes in couples therapy and sex therapy. ED, on the other
hand, can trigger a cycle of shame and doubt in even the most confident
men.
"Once [ED] happens it becomes self-perpetuating," says
Block, an assistant clinical professor at the Albert Einstein College of
Medicine, in New York City. "The more he fails, the more difficulty he
has."
Eventually, Block says, a man will begin to avoid sex. And his condition may plunge him into depression.
"Even
if you have clear cut medical reasons -- diabetes, obesity -- when
you're having erectile dysfunction...it is depressing," Billups says. "A
lot of these men [are] down in the dumps."
Losing
weight can help with the plumbing aspect of ED, but it can also provide
an ego boost that carries over into the bedroom, says Stephen
Josephson, Ph.D., a psychologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
"People
need to feel good about themselves [to] overcome performance anxiety
and other things in the sex arena, and sometimes it's as simple as
getting into shape," Josephson says.
Some men who have relied on
pills like Viagra or Cialis to get erections can toss them once they
start exercising, eating right and losing weight, Billups says.
These men may see their morning erections return, he adds, and their wives have been known to say they're acting "friskier."
"They'll come in and tell me, 'Wow, doc, things are really turned around,'" he says.
Having hair on a body is extremely unflattering as a women. Luckily Permanent Laser Hair Removal in Islamabad, Rawalpindi & Pakistan can help you. Click to learn more.
ReplyDeletelaser hair removal in islamabad