Health Tips

STRESS! It’s one of the most common words used to describe life nowadays. Defined as the daily wear and tear our bodies undergo in response to our continually changing environment, stress is a double-edged sword that has both positive and negative impacts on our lives. On the positive side, stress motivates us to take action and introduces us to new experiences which may be rewarding in many ways. It is a vehicle for change.

Unfortunately, the negative aspects of stress can have tremendous consequences on both our physical and psychological well-being, and therefore our sex lives. This is especially true when we experience high-level stress that we do not manage properly.

Excessive stress causes imbalances in our body chemistry. Stress has been proven to weaken the immune system, which leaves us vulnerable to a host of maladies, including colds, fatigue, headaches, ulcers, sleeping problems, cancer, high blood pressure, hypertension and heart disease. Such problems in turn greatly increase our risk of experiencing impotence. This is true for both men and women.

Stress can also be directly responsible for erectile dysfunction. It is known to increase the production of adrenaline and nor-adrenaline (specific erection inhibitors), while it decreases nitric oxide (NO), which is a muscle relaxant. So essentially, when you are stressed, nerve impulses constrict vessels and smooth muscles in the penis, thereby reducing the blood flow that causes an erection.

Just as important, the emotional consequences of stress can contribute significantly to impotence. Feelings such as guilt, distrust, anger, resentment and self-doubt are often associated with stress, as are even more serious disorders such as depression. When these feelings dominate our thought processes, it’s not surprising that many of us lose interest in sex or have difficulty performing.

Indeed, performance anxiety itself is a huge factor in impotence. Millions of men worldwide, be they handsome, ugly, young or old, experience the fear of sexual failure, which is a self-perpetuating problem. A man becomes so concerned about not being able to get an erection and satisfy his partner, that he cannot relax during sex and the problem is unnecessarily compounded. It’s a vicious mental cycle.

But you are NOT helpless! There are many steps you can take to alleviate stress and prevent it from ruining your sex life. First, make some lifestyle changes if necessary: change your diet, exercise regularly, get a pet (they’re great listeners), stop smoking and limit your alcohol intake. If your job is causing you undue stress, get a new one.

Next, take just an hour or so to learn stress management techniques. These are real and they work. Methods such as breath control, meditation, stress monitoring and relaxation training can put you back in the driver’s seat. Then you can make stress your slave, not your master.