Summary

My Erection Problem.. Is It Just My Age?

  • As we have already said in Erectile dysfunction physical causes any physiological erection problem, will most likely have developed slowly over time and you may have noticed a gradual decline in your ability to get or maintain an erection.
  • A number of research studies into age related erectile dysfunction have been carried out in recent years.

    The most comprehensive erectile dysfunction research study took place in 2004 at an ED out patients clinic in Italy.

  • Its main findings were these.
    • Up to the age of 40, for most men, their erection problem is likely to be psychological.
    • For men in their 40s, domestic and work related stresses often increasingly play a part in erectile dysfunction.
    • As you get older, the more likely it becomes that your ED problem has a physiological basis (no surprise there).
    • The older you get, the more likely it becomes that underlying medical conditions are to some degree responsible for your erectile dysfunction.
    • After the age of 40 it becomes progressively more difficult to maintain as hard erection as you would like. (In other words, as you get older, purely as a function of aging, you are more likely to have a soft erection)
    • Although testosterone declines as you get older, a low testosterone level in of itself does not play any part in erectile dysfunction. Although it does affect your libido (desire to have sex)
    • Correspondingly

      - and probably for you (as with most men with erectile dysfunction problems), the driving force behind you're wanting to find the cause of your ED in the first place -

      Erectile dysfunction has been found not to correlate to libido.

      (I.e. Your experience is of still having a healthy appetite for sex but suffering the frustration of not being able to satisfy the need).

    • With increasing age, (especially for men in their 60's and beyond) a man's relationship with his partner tends to become more of a contributing factor to his erectile dysfunction for a number of reasons.
    • Libido does not diminish much with age in men.

      However women experience a severe decline in libido after the menopause and this can often lead to tensions in a relationship.

    • It was also noted that mens' desire for their partner often tended to diminish as their partner got older and this in some cases manifested as erectile dysfunction.
  • While reading the above list, bear in mind that - depending on your age and general state of health - more than one of these factors may be influencing your erectile dysfunction.

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