Frequent sex ‘prevents erectile dysfunction’: Study

New York, July 3: Men who have sex at least thrice a week are less likely to develop erectile dysfunction later in life, a new study has revealed.

Researchers in Finland have carried out the study and found that frequent sexual intercourse helps protect men from becoming impotent as they age, which, in turn, impacts general health and quality of life.

“Regular sexual intercourse has an important role in preserving erectile function. Continued sexual activity decreases the incidence of erectile dysfunction in direct proportion to coital frequency,” said lead researcher Juha Koskimki of Tampere University Hospital.

In their study of 989 men aged 55 to 75 years, the researchers observed that the rate of erectile dysfunction is lower in those who had sexual intercourse more often with their partners, the ‘scienceDaily’ reported.

In fact the study found that men reporting intercourse less than once per week at baseline had twice the incidence of erectile dysfunction compared with those reporting intercourse once per week.

Further, the risk of erectile dysfunction was inversely related to the frequency of intercourse.

Other factors that may affect the incidence of ED, such as age, chronic medical conditions like diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and cerebrovascular disease, body mass index and smoking were included in the analysis.

Erectile dysfunction incidence was 79 cases per 1,000 in men who had reported sexual intercourse less than once per week, dropping to 32 cases per 1,000 in men reporting sex once per week and falling further to 16 per 1000 in those reporting intercourse three or more times per week, the study found.

In addition, the frequency of morning erections predicted the development of complete erectile dysfunction, with an approximate 2.5-fold risk among those with less than one morning erection per week compared with two to three morning erections per week.