Could stress be causing my erectile dysfunction?

Your boss expects your latest report on his desk by Wednesday, a coworker has just pawned his work off on you, your partner is asking for more time together, and you just realized you forgot to pick up the kids from school.

When a man is stressed, it can be difficult to focus on anything else. The stress can be all consuming, and can begin to creep into other aspects of life. Things that used to be fun simply feel like distractions from your mounting obligations. Loved ones become annoyances, friends become hindrances; stress will begin to consume you.

And stress doesn’t only affect your headspace. It can begin to affect you physically, in ways you might not expect. Your blood pressure will rise, your heart may struggle to keep up, and your erection may pay the toll.

Your erection depends upon steady blood flow to work properly. When the body can’t dependably get blood to the penis, you’ll find it difficult to achieve an erection. With your blood pressure increased due to stress, your body will struggle to keep up with the demands of the brain, and blood flow will suffer. With blood flow affected, your body won’t be able to get blood to the penis, which means missed erections.

Stress-related erectile dysfunction can be a vicious circle. When you’re stressed, you can’t achieve an erection. When you can’t achieve an erection, this adds to your stress and makes the problem worse.

If stress is keeping you from getting down to business between the sheets, it’s important to find a way to ease the stress. Pinpoint what is causing stress and figure out a way to manage it. Make plans to prevent worrying, and work to find a way to lessen the stress in your daily life.