Did you know ?

Less than a teaspoon is usually produced although long periods of sexual abstinence may result in larger volumes.

Semen is composed of many different substances including many of the body’s chemicals. Even the breakdown of food products makes its way into semen. For example, asparagus drastically changes the odor of semen.

Semen is composed predominantly of secretions from the prostate and seminal vesicles and minimally sperm (which accounts for approximately 5-10% of seminal fluid).

The erection artery is only 0.5 mm in diameter when the penis is not erect. It increases to 1-1.2 mm in diameter during erection to dramatically increase blood flow into the penis.

The blood vessel size change is due to the release of a chemical during sexual arousal (nitric oxide). Conditions that limit nitric oxide release (diabetes, prostate surgery, cholesterol problems) can lead to erection problems.

Medical conditions associated with blood vessel narrowing, high blood pressure and heart attacks for example, are also associated with erection artery narrowing as well.

Nocturnal erections occur during dream (rapid eye movement) sleep. The average healthy male gets 3-6 erections every night. The average rigidity is 60-70% and they typically last on 10-15 minutes. However, younger men get harder, longer-lasting erections at night. It is common for men to wake up with erections and this is due (not to bladder fullness as is often thought) to the fact the man has awoken during or at the end of dream sleep.

Numerous factors interfere with nocturnal erections including alcohol, medications, depression, testosterone deficiency and sleep disorders.

Erection tissue is a muscle …

The spongy tissue within the 2 cigar-shaped erectile bodies (corpus cavernosum, plural corpora cavernosa) is composed predominantly of muscle similar to that in bladder and bowel. The muscle is fashioned into a sponge with tiny spaces (known as sinusoids). As a man becomes aroused the muscle relaxes and the spaces enlarge (think Swiss cheese) and blood flows into these spaces, which leads to an erection.

Its true, men with diabetes are 4 times more likely to develop ED compared to the general population. In order of risk, the other conditions associated with ED (other than pelvic surgery) are prostate enlargement, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and the vascular diseases (coronary artery disease, stroke, peripheral vascular disease)

The 2 groups of medications most often associated with ED are blood pressure and depression medications. The most common blood pressure pills associated with ED are known as diuretics and beta-blockers. Besides ED, SSRI anti-depressants are also associated with reduced sex drive and delayed orgasm. Other medications associated with erection problems include digoxin (used for arrythmias and heart failure), anti-androgens (drugs that lower testosterone levels), estrogen, and certain drugs used for prostate disease (known as 5 alpha-reductase inhibitors).

If you have Peyronie's disease, a scarring condition that causes your penis to bend, there is a chance that the deformity will resolve spontaneously. However, in contrast to previous reports more recent evidence indicates that no more than 12% of men have spontaneous curvature improvement. In a recent study, 485 of men had worsening of their penile curvature over the 12 months after being diagnosed, while 40% had the same amount of curvature at the 12 month follow-up mark.