Morning wood – ever think you’d miss it? If you are one of the eighteen million Americans with sleep apnea, there is a good chance you might be missing it right now. Sleep apnea, which comes from the ancient Greek word for “want of breath,” might as well mean, “want of erection.” According to multiple studies and questionnaires, doctors are finding a direct link between sleep apnea and not being able to get it up, which is one of the more disheartening symptoms of the mysterious sleep disorder. The bright side, however, is that a recent study has found that use of a CPAP machine to treat sleep apnea can resolve and improve erectile dysfunction and thus sexual libido – some men are even saying it has changed their sex lives for the better.
The results were staggering; with regular nightly CPAP use a whopping 41% of men said that their erectile dysfunction had disappeared completely.
Indeed, men are happily reporting occurrences of “morning wood” for the first time to their doctors after regular, nightly CPAP treatment to increase airflow and breathing. Currently, there is no consensus as to why sleep apnea causes impotence and erectile dysfunction in men, but there are two leading theories. One of the theories is that because sleep apnea causes cessations in crucial resting states, levels of testosterone – a man’s mojo – dip to levels too low for the magic to happen. Another theory is that sleep apnea affects the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for bodily functions like digestion, crying, and sexual arousal. I guess when you’re constantly fighting for air in your sleep, it doesn’t really put you in the mood – the same as fighting off a mortal enemy wouldn’t either.
But can a machine that makes you look like a cybernetic organism and sound like every villain in every movie ever actually put you in the mood? – Apparently, it does. Everyone knows that it’s hard to talk about erections, but Dr. Joseph Dombrowsky had to do it. Dr. Dombrowsky, an army captain and doctor at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland and a team of researchers led the way on a study to find out if a CPAP machine improved the sexual functions of men with sleep apnea. The staggering results showed that a whopping 41% of men said that their erectile dysfunction had disappeared completely.
Dr. Dombrowsky and his team gathered and recruited 92 men for their study. The average age of the men was 46 – and most of the men were overweight. Out of the 92, 42% had erectile dysfunction and the others experienced a decreased libido –otherwise a rather unhappy bunch as you can imagine. The men were then organized based on the severity of their erectile dysfunction and libido issues and were observed over a six-month period. With regular use of increased airflow throughout the night as provided by a CPAP machine, a little over half of the men – about 54% – described improved sexual functions. Some of the men said they were basically cured and probably thanked the heavens and ran home to tell their significant others the good news.
When it comes down to it, we may never know exactly why sleep apnea causes erectile dysfunction in some men – it could be a combination of a number of different factors – but what we do know is that CPAP treatments can save your life and possibly your sex life too. And if you are worried about how the CPAP machine might affect your chances in bed – you shouldn’t, because if you are rearing to go, she won’t be thinking of anything else, especially if it’s been a while.
