Great Sex, Naturally (37 page)

Pomegranate juice can also increase circulation, which (as you’ll see in the pages ahead) may help improve male erectile response. Other benefits include reduced blood pressure and improved cardiovascular health (with the potential to reverse heart disease). Pomegranate juice gives a man an enjoyable, convenient way to consume the fruit’s beneficial ingredients in a readily absorbable form.

Soy and Conception

If you and your partner are trying to conceive, he may want to avoid eating lots of soy. A study published in the journal
Human Reproduction
in 2009 found that a high intake of soy foods is associated with lower sperm concentrations, although it didn’t affect sperm-cell quality or semen volume. According to the study, decreases in sperm concentration were especially pronounced in obese men who ate high-soy diets.

Rekindling Passion by Overcoming Erectile Dysfunction

You may not often find informative articles about natural solutions to erectile dysfunction (ED) in popular health magazines, but it’s one of the more prevalent conditions in the United States, estimated to affect 17 percent of men in their 60s and close to half over 75. A man who has ED, once more widely referred to as
impotence
, is either unable to have an erection or unable to maintain one sufficient for satisfactory sex. He may also have reduced libido, although not necessarily. To be diagnosed as having ED, a man has to experience a frequent or consistent inability to have or maintain erections. ED is usually considered severe if a man is rarely able to have erections, and mild if he can sometimes have them. (If your partner is only occasionally unable to achieve or maintain an erection, it doesn’t mean he has ED.)

In addition to the obvious problems it can create for a man’s sex life, ED can also affect his quality of life and self-esteem. Many men feel they’re expected to be always “up” for sex, literally. If a man finds himself unable to rise to the occasion, so to speak, it can have profound implications for his sense of self. If your partner has ED, or any episode where he’s unable to have or maintain an erection, it’s important to use sensitivity and avoid any emotional trauma or shame around sexual-performance issues.

ED can have many causes and contributing factors: damaged nerves that supply the penis, heart disease (such as hardening of the arteries) that reduces blood flow to the penis, the use of common prescription medications (including antidepressants, appetite suppressants, and high-blood-pressure drugs), obesity, poor diet, hypertension, poor nitric oxide production, hormone imbalances (including low testosterone, which we’ll address later in this chapter), midlife hormone changes, unrelenting stress, enervating illnesses, and psychological issues. A man is at greater risk for ED if he smokes; uses alcohol to excess; or has pelvic surgery, diabetes, radiation therapy, nerve disorders, or strokes. And a recent study in the
International Journal of Men’s Health
found that circumcised men are more than four times more likely to experience ED than intact men.

There are many solutions to ED, and plenty of reasons for a man with ED to be optimistic about overcoming it. Both Western natural medicine and Chinese medicine, as you’ll discover, can provide effective alternatives for addressing many of the underlying causes. (Some, such as damaged nerves to the penis, may require special medical attention; a man who has ED should have a doctor do a checkup to determine the cause and rule out serious conditions.)

Prescription drugs like Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra have been aggressively marketed for men with ED, but they’re hardly natural. (See sidebar.) A man who treats ED with natural methods is apt to find them vastly preferable to drugs because he won’t be dependent on taking a pill prior to sex. Rather than feeling like a man who has ED and needs oral medication as a temporary fix, he’ll feel that his sexual function is more or less back to normal.

Drugs like Viagra certainly aren’t panaceas for ED. For some men, their effects diminish over time, or they never succeed to begin with. If a man’s ED is caused by psychological factors (an estimated 20 percent of cases fit this category), it often involves complex emotional and relationship issues that no drug can unravel, and requires more than a chemical approach. In such situations, drugs like Viagra can be futile attempts to remove symptoms without resolving underlying problems, which need psychological solutions. And it’s no small irony that many cases of ED are caused by side effects of prescription drugs, yet met with more of the same. If side effects of one drug are “treated” by another with new side effects, at what point will the cycle end?

The Side Effects of Pharma-Sex

The potential side effects of drugs like Viagra can be frightening. They shouldn’t be used by men who take nitrate drugs commonly prescribed for angina—the combination could cause potentially life-threatening drops in blood pressure—and some men with serious kidney or liver problems should be closely monitored for possible dangerous side effects.

You’ve probably seen the commercials for Viagra with a voice-over reciting a litany of warnings and side effects so lengthy that it seems to take up most of the ad time. The possible side effects mentioned on the manufacturer’s website include headaches, stomachaches, facial flushing, sensitivity to light, dizziness, ringing in the ears, hearing loss, blurred vision and cyanopsia (seeing everything with a bluish tint), potentially dangerous abnormal heart rhythms, inability to lose an erection (considered a medical emergency), heart attacks, strokes, and death. Other sources list additional side effects that include chest pain, fainting, nosebleeds, rashes, shortness of breath, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, heart palpitations, cerebrovascular hemorrhage (bleeding into the brain’s tissue), and transient ischemic attack (sudden temporary brain-function loss). Studies also link Viagra with loss of vision; in 2005, after blindness was reported by some men taking Viagra and similar drugs, the FDA requested that “vision loss” be added to the lists of possible side effects.

The consequences of taking Viagra and similar pharmaceutical ED treatments aren’t always limited to their required warnings. If a long-established couple has grown accustomed to a certain frequency of sexual intimacy and a drug like Viagra is suddenly added to the mix, it can throw their relationship off balance. Although these drugs may seem like the answer for some couples, not every woman enjoys her partner’s newfound drug-induced sexual interest; some complain that they can’t, or don’t want to, keep up with it. And a drug that unnaturally fuels sex can create other unexpected health problems, including increased rates of sexually transmitted infections among certain age-groups. (see
Appendix G
.)

You might wonder why ED should be treated at all, if men naturally experience hormonal changes and lower sexual function during some phases of their lives. Why not accept that ED is more common in older men, and let nature run its course? The answer is that many cases of ED aren’t part of the natural aging process and are totally preventable. A man’s sexuality may be different from the way it once was, but he doesn’t necessarily have to settle for lower sexual function.

If a man learns he has ED because of heart disease, smoking, alcoholism, or the use of appetite-suppressant drugs, the bad news comes with a bright silver lining: since his condition is caused partly or entirely by unhealthy habits, lifestyle changes can be essential to reversing it. (His diagnosis may even give him the opportunity to take steps that save his life; ED is sometimes the first sign of a problem that, if left untreated, could eventually lead to heart attacks or strokes.) One or more changes in his habits and routines, applied consistently over time, may be all that’s required to overcome ED. Let’s look at the key lifestyle adjustments he might need to make and some tips that may help alleviate his condition:

—
Choose a heart-healthy, libido-boosting lifestyle.
First and foremost, healthy lifestyle choices mean eating right and getting enough exercise. A man with lifestyle-induced ED should be especially vigilant about adhering to every part of the Great Sex Lifestyle in
Chapter 2
. Pomegranate juice, which can increase blood flow, may particularly benefit men with ED resulting from clogged blood vessels. A 2005 study in the
Journal of Urology
found that pomegranate juice (in conjunction with other high-antioxidant drinks) helped improve erectile response.

—
Give up smoking and alcohol.
A man can treat ED not only with what he consumes and does, but also what he
doesn’t
consume and do. If he’s a smoker, he can wear a nicotine patch, use nicotine gum, or get acupuncture to help him quit. If he drinks alcohol, he can reduce his consumption, and avoid social functions involving heavy alcohol use. If he drinks excessively, he can get professional help, join a support group, or do whatever it takes to detoxify his body—and let ED be a “sobering” experience. Alcohol may be a factor in ED even if a man doesn’t consider himself an alcoholic.

—
Relax!
A man who has ED is often a driven, goal-oriented individual who overstresses his system. The only thing he may not be driven to achieve is the state of relaxation necessary to regenerate his health and libido. When faced with ED, he may become even more focused on achievement elsewhere in his life and even less able to relax and relieve stress. It may be crucial for him to break out of this negative feedback loop and rediscover the value of taking time off for activities that aren’t achievement related. He may benefit from stress-management courses or learning to meditate, but most of all he needs to forget about his worldly concerns, relax, and completely let go of the “fight” for a few hours every now and then. He may be surprised by how much this can affect his ability to enjoy sex again; some men are amazed to discover the degree to which, at times, leisure is the measure of pleasure.

—
Have more fun.
Some men with lifestyle-induced ED have lost sight of the simple joys of play and gleefulness. They may be out of touch with the hidden connections between sexuality and whimsicality, sensuality and impracticality, the erotic and the quixotic. Often men in this category need to remember how to discover the important links between fully enjoying life and being sexually functional—how to find the “fun” in functional.

—
Avoid vicious cycling.
If a man with ED is a cyclist or mountain biker, he may need to use bike seats that protect his lower pelvis and prevent pressure on the area between his scrotum and anus. Prolonged pressure on this area can compress blood vessels that supply the penis and lead to penile numbness and ED. (Some research suggests that constant seat vibration from extended motorcycle riding could also damage pelvic nerves.) A man who’s in great shape from cycling may tend to exacerbate penile numbness and ED by mistakenly assuming that increasing, rather than decreasing, his workouts will relieve his symptoms.

—
Consider foreskin restoration.
In some cases of ED, penile sensitivity may be a contributing factor. According to a recent report in
Men’s Health News
, circumcision severs the penile nerves responsible for most of a man’s sexual sensory input, resulting in a reduction in penile sensitivity by as much as 75 percent. If your partner was circumcised, foreskin-restoration techniques, which we’ll explore in the pages ahead, may help resolve ED by enhancing the sensitivity of his penis.

While many men completely reverse ED with lifestyle changes, not all do. Men who have ED due to diabetes, for example, may not experience full recovery—but by making the right lifestyle choices, they can help manage both their ED and their diabetes. Similarly, some men who have ED as a result of being on drugs such as antidepressants or blood-pressure medications may find that healthy lifestyle changes don’t reverse the condition, but make a difference in their ED as well as every other aspect of their lives. More important, men taking drugs that cause ED should, whenever possible, use natural medicines instead. A study issued online in 2011 by the
British Journal of Urology International
reported that the more prescription drugs a man takes, the greater his chances of having ED.

Along with lifestyle changes, a number of herbs and nutritional supplements can be helpful to any man with ED. Some work by boosting nitric oxide (which can be a factor in ED) or by exerting other beneficial effects. And unlike Viagra and similar drugs, they’re not known to have any potentially life-threatening side effects when used properly.

As you’ve seen, the herbal aphrodisiac
Tribulus terrestris
is effective for men with ED because of its ability to increase nitric oxide; one study found it useful for treating ED in men with diabetes. (See recommendations for dosage and use earlier in this chapter.) And L-arginine, which we’ve explored for general male sexuality enhancement, can also help men with ED. A study reported in the
Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy
found that L-arginine combined with pycnogenol (a flavonoid derived from pine bark that can also affect a man’s nitric oxide level) significantly improved ability to have and maintain erections in 92.5 percent of participants with ED. The recommended daily doses for treating ED, based on the study, are 1.7 grams of L-arginine and 80 mg of pycnogenol. (See earlier recommendations for taking L-arginine.)