"Erections result from relaxation of the arteries that carry blood into the penis. As those arteries relax, they expand, allowing extra blood to flow into the organ, which produces an erection hydraulically. Starting in the 1980s, researchers showed that ED was often a result of cardiovascular disease (CVD), arterial narrowing that reduces blood flow around the body. When CVD limits blood flow through the heart, the result is heart disease, in the brain, stroke, and in the penis, ED."
"Lifestyle interventions that keep the arteries open were found to help restore lost erections, including: regular exercise, the Mediterranean diet, sleep apnea treatment, and cholesterol and blood-pressure control. In addition, around the millennium, the Food and Drug Administration approved drugs that open the penile arteries: Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, and others. Medical treatment of ED proved so effective for so many men that some doctors declared the condition a medical issue, with no psychological component at all."
Early clinical views treated erectile dysfunction as a psychological disorder, with explanations ranging from subconscious animosity to depression, relationship conflict, chronic pain, or pornography use. Psychotherapy and psychoanalysis produced consistently poor success rates. Erection physiology depends on arterial relaxation and increased penile blood flow. Research since the 1980s linked many cases of ED to cardiovascular disease and arterial narrowing, making ED a marker of systemic vascular problems. Lifestyle interventions—regular exercise, Mediterranean diet, sleep apnea treatment, and cholesterol and blood-pressure control—can restore erections. FDA-approved drugs such as Viagra and Cialis open penile arteries and substantially improved treatment outcomes. Medicalization of ED prompted pushback from sex therapists and psychologists.
Read at Psychology Today
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