Use it or lose it - doctors warn about chastity - Should i lose it?

Use it or lose it

By Siril Herseth at 05.10.2008. 12:48 Source: VG

Warning: Men may lose the ability to get an erection if they go long without sex. Men should get more action in bed: Norwegian men are generally getting to little sex, and should begin to exercise more “down there!” says the doctor.

Sexologist Esben Esther Pirelli Benestad says:

- If you do not have the opportunity to get an erection and this progress over time, your penis loses its ability to get an erection permanently.

He explains that the penis is one of the most sensitive organs and will easily start to malfunction.

- If it is not used, it stops working. I usually say use it or lose it, "said Benestad.

Although young men usually do not have issues with their erection, the penis is damaged by long periods without erection, according to Benestad.

Urologist Raymond Mortensen supports Benestad initiative.

- Missing erections will cause you to become permanently impotent. Norwegian men have too little sex in general and will profit from getting more action in the bed," said Mortensen.

He said many people choose TV-watching rather than fun in bed and that this applies particularly to fat people.

Normally men have an average of three erections relax per night, which is enough to sustain erection capability.

But if, for example, you go to relax on medicine, heart-medication or anti-depressive agents, the nocturnal erections will vanish.

The relax will not be deep enough, according to Mortensen. The same applies to prostate operated, neurological ill, substance users and men with diabetes.

- For these men, it is even more important to have regular erections, preferably daily," said Mortensen.

Urologist Ken Purvis confirms that the penis is weakened by little use, but he does not entirely agree with the term "use it or lose it".

- You can get the penis to work again by pumping it up with a vacuum pump three times a week, but this is a painstaking process.

The penis consists of delicate sponge bodies that need oxygen supply. This is available through the erection. Without oxygen the elastic fibres of the penis are converted into connective tissue, according to Purvis.

- Connective tissue makes the penis limp. You can compare it with a punctured tire," says Purvis.

Kjell-Olav Svendsen, a physician of sexual medicine, says that most bodily functions must be kept in regular operation and that the male erection is vulnerable.

- If you are denied for a long time, half a year, for example, there is a danger that the erection disappears. If you do not use the penis, it goes to relax," says Smith.

He and several other doctors performed a comprehensive study of Norwegian men's erection problems in 2002.

This states that 28 percent of men over 40 years so severe erectile failure that they need treatment for it.

(VG 05.10.2008 at. 12:48, last updated at 05.10.2008. 13:11)