High Blood Pressure: A Common Cause of Erectile Dysfunction

Many physical factors conspire to cause erectile dysfunction or ED. One of those causes is high blood pressure. To understand how hypertension leads to erectile dysfunction (ED), we will have to understand how erections work which really is a complicated process.

When you get an erection, nerve signals from your brain or from the nerve endings in your penis cause the smooth muscle of the chambers to relax and arteries to dilate, or open wider. This allows a rush of blood to fill the empty spaces of the penis. The pressure of blood flow causes the sheath of tissue around the chambers to press on veins that normally drain blood out of the penis. That traps blood in the penis. As more blood flows in, the penis expands and stiffens, and you have an erection. When the excitement ends, the smooth muscle contracts again, taking pressure off the veins and allowing blood to flow back out of the penis. Then the penis returns to a flaccid state. Studies show that high blood pressure is a major cause of erection problems. A study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society in 1988 found that about 49% of men aged within 40-79 with high blood pressure had erectile dysfunction. A more recent study of men with high blood pressure, published in the Journal of Urology in 2000, found that 68% of them had some degree of erectile dysfunction. For 45% of the men, it was considered severe. There are many reasons behind why a man with high blood pressure should suffer ED. Causes are discussed below.

• High blood pressure keeps the arteries that carry blood into the penis from dilating the way they're supposed to. It also makes the smooth muscle in the penis lose its ability to relax. As a result, not enough blood flows into the penis to make it erect.

• Men with high blood pressure may also have a low testosterone level. Testosterone is the male hormone that plays a big role in sexual arousal.

• High blood pressure by itself can lead to erectile dysfunction.Some drugs for treating high blood pressure can actually be the cause as well. Diuretics or water pills and beta-blockers are the blood pressure medications most commonly linked to erectile dysfunction.

Diuretics may cause erectile dysfunction by decreasing the force of blood flow into the penis. They may also decrease the amount of zinc in the body. Your body needs zinc to make testosterone. Beta-blockers dampen nerve impulses that lead to an erection. They also make it more difficult for the arteries in the penis to widen and let in blood. What's more, they can make you feel sedated and depressed thus affecting your mind which always plays some part in sexual arousal. However, ED drugs like Levitra can undo the side-effects of diuretics and beta-blockers and give an erection strong enough for satisfactory sexual intercourse.

• Sometimes, the choices that some men with high blood pressure make can add to the problem. Smoking increases blood pressure, and damages blood vessels and reduces blood flow all around the body.

You must remember that the power to take control of your blood pressure and your sexual health is in your hands. By living a healthy lifestyle and following your doctor’s advices you can get good chance of being once again able of having normal sexual function.