Let’s debunk erectile dysfunction, shall we?
Whether you have trouble getting up or staying upright, it’s annoying – but you’re not powerless in this situation. Once you have a deeper understanding of how an erection works, you can have much more control over your body and take proactive steps to train it: to look and feel harder, stay harder, and orgasm with more intensity.
Let’s start with the science. Why does the penis harden?
Because the arteries inside it swell with blood. When you are sexually aroused, the body sends blood to the genitals, and this blood fills two tubes of spongy tissue in the penis: the corpus cavernosum. As they swell, the penis becomes erect and the veins here narrow to trap blood. This keeps the penis hard until the orgasm or arousal stops and the blood flows as usual.
What is the source of erectile problems?
When someone can’t achieve or maintain an erection, it’s either because there’s insufficient blood flow to the penis – meaning their arteries aren’t pumping enough blood – or, there’s too much blood flowing out of the penis because their veins aren’t is not compressed enough.
Ten to twenty percent of DM causes are psychological* and include stress and anxiety. But other psychological issues about arousal and sexual expectation can play a role here as well: maybe the owner of the penis is used to intense porn, so IRL sex isn’t as exciting. perhaps there is resentment towards their partner or a lack of sexual attraction. But in general, erratic erections have much more to do with overall physical health, and vascular health in particular.
So here are seven ways to train your penis for harder erections, both immediately and holistically. Most of these tips have the added benefit of improving your overall health, which tbh is pretty sexy in itself. Self-care penis owner? We like to see it.
1. Train the rest of your body
To improve the function of your arteries and veins, you need to get your body used to the efficiency of blood flow. That’s a fancy way of saying: exercise. How long? Twenty minutes a day you have to do it. Studies* show that this level of moderate exercise was successful in treating erectile dysfunction (ED), even as the participants aged. The reasoning is simple: arteries and veins are not passive conduits of blood. Instead, each has three layers and the middle one is made up of muscle fibers. So when you exercise, you’re not just working the muscles you can see with the naked eye. You work your arterial and venous muscles, which become increasingly stronger in supporting your erection.
2. Get data information about your erections
Use a smart penis ring to understand how lifestyle factors affect your erection. The Tech Ring by FirmTech is a penis ring that measures the number of nocturnal erections (which can indicate cardiovascular health), the duration of your erection, and penile firmness. With actionable capabilities, this information can then be used by the penis owner to optimize their erectile ability: they can experiment with different lifestyle strategies, such as more exercise, less drinking and smoking, and a healthier diet, to to see which ones make the biggest impact on their erection. In addition to providing vital data, the ring is uniquely comfortable and most users report better erections and orgasms. Win, win, win if you ask me.
3. Do kegels
You’ve probably heard of kegels before, but what you may not know is that any gender can perform them – not just vulva holders.
“Kegels” is the name for squeezing your pelvic floor muscles, as if to stop the flow of urine. When you take time every day to tone this muscle group, you’ll protect against premature ejaculation, which depends in part on pelvic floor muscle tone. But in addition, strong pelvic floor muscles will give you a more intense orgasm and a “missile” ejaculation. An easy place to start is this: squeeze your pelvic floor, hold for three seconds, then release for three seconds. Repeat up to 20 times. Start with one session a day, eventually building up to three or four sessions a day.
4. Edge during solo sex
The more daring version of kegels is extreme: basically the same thing, but you do them while you’re turned on and hard.
While masturbating, experiment with getting close to orgasm – think 7 or 8, on a scale of 1-10 – then bring yourself back up and come back up. Climbing over and over again will result in a powerful orgasm because your genitals are so soaked in blood. But also? It will help train your pelvic floor muscles to not break down as quickly, keeping your erection on for longer than usual.
5. Sleep
Sleep loss can make you more likely to develop plaque in your arteries*, which negatively affects your circulation. As we know by now, this makes it harder to get and keep an erection.
So prioritize an evening’s rest, aiming for six to eight hours a night. You know the point: put your devices to sleep an hour before you do, avoid caffeine in the afternoon, consider melatonin as a supplement, and try to go to bed / wake up around the same time each day so your body gets used to the rate of alertness versus fatigue. Try a VIIA Dreams gummy (use code EMILY for 15% off your entire order).
6. Reduce your stress
The insidious thing about erectile dysfunction is that it works in a feedback loop: failing to get hard or stay hard is stressful, so when you finally try again, you’re anxious about your most recent attempt. This hinders the arousal process, making it more difficult to enjoy the erections you want (or any). Fun!
Except, no. Because in addition to erectile stress, modern life is fast-paced, complex, and has too many stress management options that exacerbate the existing problem: booze, overeating, Netflix, and too much chill. However, none of this helps your circulation, which is what a strong erection needs.
So find ways to manage stress that support your top goal. Go for walks. Talk to friends. Newspaper. Think. Try to work something funny and enjoyable (like stand-up comedy) into your schedule. The key is to be ritualistic about it, rather than reactive, and engage in these stress-reducing activities so often that they become a daily, calming habit (rather than a quick fix in the moment).
7. Cut back on nicotine and alcohol, but don’t hesitate to indulge in caffeine
Nicotine damages blood vessels and alcohol interferes with the messengers in the brain that tell the penis to fill with blood. Alcohol can also reduce testosterone production – key to the arousal process – so in reality, none of these vices help your erection.
The everyday treat you can definitely keep, though? Your morning cup of coffee or tea: caffeine can improve blood flow, encouraging swelling in your genitals during the arousal process. As always, keep it in moderation: too much caffeine can lead to anxiety, and when it comes to erections, we want to reduce anxiety as much as possible.
Are you empowered by this information? I hope so! Try these training tactics and see if they help you get and keep the erection you want. Come talk to me on Instagramand let me know which strategy worked best for you.
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