This Yoga Pose May Help With Premature Ejaculation
A very good reason to say ‘om.’
A very good reason to say ‘om.’
LeBron does yoga to gain focus. David Beckham bent it to relax and build strength and flexibility. Chris Hemsworth has been know to strike a yoga pose to warm up before catching waves. Now researchers have identified another perk of practicing yoga: it can help you last longer in bed.
New research in Trends in Urology & Men’s Health suggests that yoga may be just as effective in treating premature ejaculation (PE) as medications like sildenafil (Viagra). And with no negative side effects.
The reasearchers from Anglia Rusking University in the United Kingdom, poured through 54 studies that included 3,485 men. Among their findings: men more than tripled the amount of time they lasted duering sex—from an average of just under 26 seconds to almost a minute and a half—after 12 weeks of yoga.
They found that men who suffer from premature ejaculation could benefit from doing one common yoga pose inparticular: downward facing dog. The study authors discovered that yoga also improved reproductive functions, helped regulate hormones, and strengthened pelvic floor muscles.
Prefer cardio? Another study the authors reviewed found that men who ran for 30 minutes a day for five days a week went from lasting an average of 39 seconds during sex to more than 30 minutes. That spike was similar to the results of men who were given dapoxetine (Priligy), a medication commonly prescribed for PE.
Doing pelvic floor exercises (male kegels) were also effective. Performing the movements three times per day for three months increased the time taken to ejaculate from a median of one minute to three minutes.
PE is a common sexual dysfunction, effecting up to 50% of men. “Given that drugs often have side effects, it appears that after all, the best medicine for avoiding premature ejaculation may well lie in exercise,” the new review’s lead author Lee Smith, a public health professor at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), said. Though he also stressed that the tantalizing possibility “requires larger studies and further investigation.”
Emotional factors like stress, depression, and performance anxiety can cause premature ejaculation, as can erectile dysfunction, having an extra-sensitive penis, and low serotonin or dopamine levels, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Hormone problems, including having too little—or too much—testosterone can also contribute to PE, according to a 2022 study in Androgens.
A 2020 study in Andrologia found that men with secondary premature ejaculation “have significantly lower testosterone concentration compared to the other groups.” (Secondary PE is the kind that is acquired, as opposed to primary PE, which has always existed.) And UCLA Health observed that men with low T levels can have more trouble ejaculating.
For men with low T levels, testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) can help combat PE. The Andrologia study noted that “recipients of testosterone replacement demonstrated a 4.8-fold increase in mean intravaginal ejaculation latency time, while dapoxetine recipients had a 1.8-fold increase,” suggesting that TRT could be significantly more powerful than drugs in counteracting PE.
If you have symptoms of low T, consider getting your levels checked. Hone’s at-home assessment can be completed in the privacy of your own home. And if you’re approved for treatment, it can be sent right for your door.