What is Erectile Dysfunction?

Erectile dysfunction is a sexual dysfunction that does not allow a male to maintain or develop an erection of the penis. For many men, the subject of erectile dysfunction is a stressful and often sensitive subject to discuss.

While maintaining peak sexual performance isn’t as difficult for younger men, older men may experience problems related to stress, hypertension, diabetes, injuries, medical disorders or even psychological issues. However, some dysfunctional issues can be the result of factors that are brought upon by certain behaviors, such as the consumption of alcoholic beverages.

The Effects of Alcohol

It is common knowledge that the consumption of alcohol acts as a depressant on a person’s nervous system. While a glass or two of your favorite beverage may help to enhance “romantic” feelings between you and your partner, continual drinking can cause erection issues, and limit sexual performance.

Once in a person’s system, alcohol dilates (or expands) the blood vessels in the penis. If you are able to achieve an erection during this state, the alcohol in your system actually keeps the blood vessels open, allowing the blood to drain out quickly. Once this happens, the penis will quickly return to its relaxed state, and intercourse becomes increasingly difficult, if not entirely ineffective.

Know Your Limits

The best way to see if your current alcohol intake is related to any impairment that you may be having, gauge any erectile problems that you may be experiencing against the amount of alcohol consumed prior to sex. If the issues do not happen when there have been no alcoholic beverages ingested, then you may want to consider cutting back or abstaining altogether from drinking during times of intercourse.

If this seems to remedy the situation, then hold off on consulting with a doctor before being put on any erectile dysfunction prescriptions. However, it is important to remember that alcohol is a long-term toxin that can stay in your system hours after consumption. The longer and more frequent a drinker a person is, then the chance of having problems with the nerves that are affected by erectile dysfunction increase even without drinking.

How to Remedy the Situation

If you and your partner are planning to have intercourse after a few drinks, try drinking a few glasses of water to flush the alcohol out of your system before or during any pre-sexual activity. If continued restraint from alcohol before sex is not remedying the situation, then it would be appropriate to consult with a medical professional to see what options are available to potentially remedy the issue. Further options that are available range from prescription or natural medicines (such as ginseng), pumps to maintain erections, to surgical procedures.

While it may initially seem like a debilitating problem for your love life, erectile dysfunction is a problem that can be treated with the correct treatments and proper attention to the body. With a little bit of time and restriction of outside intoxicants, your sexual performance can be improved to a more enjoyable level for you and your partner.

Give yourself the nutrition you need for healthy erections.

Sources:
http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/erectile-dysfunction-high-blood-pressure
http://www.infosex.com/erectile-dysfunction.htm