Changes to your Lifestyle
The best place to start when looking at improving your erections is your lifestyle. Good general health often means good sexual health – and you can’t have the latter without the former.
Here are some ways to get stronger erections just by adjusting your lifestyle. It’ll be worth it.
Exercise
Aerobic exercise improves your cardiovascular health, upon which the working of your penis depends. Exercising regularly will get that blood flowing and it will help your levels of nitric oxide too. This chemical is crucial for your erectile function. If you’re looking at how to get stronger erections naturally, exercise is important. Avoid too much cycling, however, as this is thought to lead to penile numbness.
Sleep
ED has long been associated with men who do not sleep enough. Ensuring that you get a good night’s sleep can boost the strength of your erection – and your desire too. To help you sleep, try to cut down on your use of your phone or laptop before bed. Avoiding caffeine in the evening can help too – as can exercise. Aim for about eight hours’ sleep a night.
Find Ways to Manage Stress
Your physical and mental health are not separate concerns. Stress can be really bad for your physical health – and that includes the health of your penis.
Stress causes your brain to release cortisol and adrenaline, which interfere with your sexual hormones. This means that you often just don’t want to have sex – and it can prevent you from getting it up too. Unfortunately, experience of ED can cause further anxiety about future sexual performance.
Try meditation or mindfulness exercises to help with your stress or just find ways to enjoy yourself more. Exercise can help too, as can natural teas like chamomile.
Drink Less Alcohol
The evidence suggests that heavy drinkers are highly prone to developing ED. Alcohol, as a depressant, lowers your desire and, like smoking, reduces the blood flow to your penis. Reducing your alcohol consumption can help you to achieve stronger erections – and revive your libido too. Win-win.
Quit Smoking
There is a lot of evidence linking cigarette-smoking to erectile dysfunction (ED) – and quitting is one of the surest ways to improve your performance and the strength of your erection. Smoking causes damage to your blood vessels. And given that erections rely on healthy blood flow, this causes problems.
Does Masturbating Affect Your Erections?
It is commonly thought that masturbating can affect your erections and can ultimately cause ED. However, this is a myth. Masturbating is healthy and normal – and it can even reduce stress and help you sleep. Watching excessive porn, however, can give you unreal expectations of what sex or should be.
This can potentially affect your erections, through what is known as porn-induced erectile dysfunction. Cutting down on pornography can give you stronger erections in the long run.
Foods and Stronger Erections
The food you eat affects how your body works. And if you are looking for how to get stronger erections, thinking about what you consume can help. Here are some foods that science suggests can help.
Reduce Fatty Foods
Consuming lots of foods that are high in processed fat increases your chances of heart disease, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. All of these negatively affect your sexual health. Reducing foods that are fried, high in fat, or heavily processed can do wonders for your vascular health, upon which your erections depend.
Eat Fruits
Many different types of fruit – including blueberries, strawberries, apples, and pears – contain flavonoids. These are antioxidants that can reduce your chances of cardiovascular disease. There was something of a stir recently, when a study found that they can reduce the chance of ED too.
Eat Spinach for Folic Acids
Men with ED tend to have reduced levels of folic acid. Increasing the levels of folic acid in your body – by eating foods like spinach, nuts, and beans – can improve your erectile health and increase sperm count.
Drink Caffeine
Whilst smoking and alcohol are both known to be bad for the strength of your erection, another common vice – caffeine – has the opposite effect. Consuming caffeine – in drinks like tea and coffee – relaxes the muscles in your penis and encourages blood flow. Go get the kettle on.
Maintain a Balanced Diet
Eating in a healthy and balanced way is the best method for maintaining cardiovascular – and erectile – health. That means generally reducing your intake of high-fat foods whilst bringing up your consumption of whole grains, legumes, and fruit and veg.
Supplements for Stronger Erections
Things that are sold as supplements for stronger erections do exist. Yet, it is up to you whether you trust them or not. As a general rule, it is best to avoid anything that brands itself as some sort of “herbal” Viagra. However, there are supplements for stronger erections that have shown signs of effectiveness.
Zinc
Zinc has been shown to treat ED for men with long-term kidney disease. Studies have shown that men with a Zinc deficiency are more likely to have less-developed testicles and a lower sperm count – and it has also been linked to erectile dysfunction. Taking Zinc supplements has been shown to help in the production of sex hormones such as testosterone and prolactin, and Zinc also contributes to the body’s creation of prostatic fluid. Manual’s testosterone support supplement, available with our ED plans is Zinc-based.
L-arginine
L-arginine is an amino acid commonly consumed in red meat, fish, and dairy products. Its role in the production of nitric oxide, a chemical that widens your blood vessels, has made it famous as a potential treatment for ED. Supplements of L-arginine are sometimes used for high blood pressure. However, you need quite high doses for it to work as a supplement for stronger erections.
Ginseng
Panax ginseng is often sold as “herbal” Viagra – and it has been found to be some help in giving stronger erections. It probably doesn’t deserve the nickname, however, and has not been licensed as an ED treatment.
Exercises for Stronger Erections
We know that exercise in general can help as a long-term remedy for ED. Yet, there are also specific exercises for stronger erections that have been supported by scientific studies.
Kegels
Kegels are the name for pelvic floor exercises that are used to help ED and premature ejaculation. One study found that Kegels helped forty percent of men with ED return to normal erectile health – whilst they helped a further thirty percent to improve their erections significantly.
Pelvic exercises work on the muscle that helps you maintain an erection. When you interrupt your flow whilst urinating, it is this muscle that you will need to exercise.
To perform these exercises for stronger erections, squeeze that muscle, hold it for five seconds, and then release. Repeat this ten times – or as many as you can to begin with – a couple of times a day.
Changing Things Up in Your Sex Life
It doesn’t need to be a physical problem that is preventing you from achieving your strongest erections. It may be that your sex life isn’t satisfying you to the full. That happens both to men in relationships and those who are single, and it is completely normal.
Talk About It
Talking to your partner about how you are feeling and what is happening during sex is an important step. It is important that you are honest about these things. Sex happens between the both of you, after all. Have an honest conversation. Discuss how you are feeling – and remind your partner that it doesn’t mean that there is something wrong between the two of you.
Try Something New
Spicing things up in the bedroom may be the route to your rejuvenation. Trying different positions or experimenting with toys might bring the excitement back to your sex life that was previously missing.
You can focus less on sexual performance in the conventional sense too. Just try being together – and forget for the moment about you long you last or how strong it is. Relaxing and enjoying your partner’s touch is important in itself.
Key Takeaways…
There are many ways to get stronger erections naturally. However, they won’t show immediate results. Your health – including your cardiovascular health – is something you are going to have to build up over time. With time, however, you will ultimately see the results that you’re hoping for.
Remember: erectile dysfunction is not something you have to live with.
FAQs
Is it normal to have problems with my erection?
It is completely normal to experience problems getting hard, and is nothing to be ashamed about. Around 40% of men under 40 report experiencing some form of erectile dysfunction at some point in their life.
Why is my erection weak?
Lots of factors can contribute to a weaker erection, including poor cardiovascular health, alcohol and cigarette consumption, poor mental health, and stress.
What is the best way to improve the strength of my erections?
There is no single ‘best’ way to make your erections harder, but a combination of exercise, pelvic exercises, de-stressing, and cutting down on alcohol and cigarettes should go a long way.
What if my erectile problems are not physical?
Mental health plays a huge part in your sex life, and anxiety, stress, depression and acceptance of your sexuality can all contribute toward erectile problems. Talk about your feelings and your mental health with your friends or your partner, and maybe try changing things up in the bedroom, to see if that helps, too.
While we've ensured that everything you read on the Health Centre is medically reviewed and approved, information presented here is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. It should never be relied upon for specific medical advice. If you have any questions or concerns, please talk to your doctor.
