You consume a lot of alcohol? You are heavy smoker? While TV commercials make it appear as smoking and drinking are manly vices that attract women, the truth will defenitely surprise you. These bad habits can lead you to male impotence!
Most doctors define impotence or erectile dysfunction as the disability to achieve and maintain an erection good enough to penetrate the vagina during sexual intercourse.
Most of us experience impotence from time to time. This is normal and there is nothing to worry about. But if the problem persists, impotence can shatter a man’s ego and destroy his sexual life and relationships. This can lead to lowered self-esteem, embarrassing situations and strained social relationships.
Older men appear to be more affected by impotence than younger men. About 20 percent of men older than 60 are impotent. By 80, more than 70 percent of men suffer from it.
But this is not always the case and some men in their 80s continue to enjoy great sex on a regular basis. Obviously, age is not the only contributing factor to impotence. The key point to control the condition lies in correcting harmful habits that may be present.
The effects of alcohol on sexual performance were summed up by Shakespeare in this line in Macbeth: “It (drink) provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance.”
Indeed, use of alcohol can make one feel sexy and its role as an aphrodisiac has been glamorized in many movies. But the same relaxing drink that reduces sexual inhibitions can also make you completely impotent. And men who drink too much are so overcome by alcohol’s sedating effects that they end up in bed sleeping – instead of having sex!
This is because alcohol stops the production of testosterone, the hormone which controls ones libido. With too much alcohol, the testicle’s ability to produce this hormone is impaired, resulting in much lower or even no interest in sex.
Another bad thing about alcohol abuse is that no one knows just how much a person can intake before it completely damages his sexual health. Denying that the problem exists may indicate that you are already an alcoholic and on the road to impotence and even infertility.
Heavy smoking is another contributing factor to male impotence. The more you smoke, the more blood vessels are damaged. These includes the large arteries and tiny vessels which bring blood to the penile area and make erections possible.
