A podcast/YouTube episode by Dr. Anne Truong explaining how untreated sleep apnea can contribute to erectile dysfunction (ED). She describes two main mechanisms: intermittent hypoxia (low oxygen) reducing penile blood/oxygenation, and fragmented sleep reducing nocturnal testosterone production and the frequency of nighttime erections that physiologically 'exercise' penile tissue. The episode also covers diagnosis (overnight sleep study) and typical treatment (CPAP), plus lifestyle advice (weight loss, Mediterranean diet, oral hygiene) to reduce risk and improve sexual function.
Questions this video answers
From about 10pm to 3–4am.
About three to six times per night.
About 10 to 30 minutes each (may be partial or full).
About 40 times more blood flow when erect versus flaccid.
Chapters
In today's episode, I'm going to talk about why sleep apnea is related to ED and how it affects your erection. So stay tuned.
This podcast is for you.
The modern man.
I'm Dr. Anne Truong, your host. I'm an intimate health medical doctor and best selling author of the book Erectile Dysfunction Fix. I'll do a deep dive into sexual health and performance and how it affects men of all ages and backgrounds. So let's get started and be sure to visit my website@sexualhealthformenpodcast.com for more information and resources from the show. See you on the inside.
Hello there modern Man. We're going to talk about sleep apnea today, which is something that more common than not and how it affect ed. So sleep apnea is a symptom where when you go to sleep you snore a lot. And then when you're sleeping you go and then you wake yourself up. So what happens is that your trachea or tube where you get oxygen that goes to your lung. When you have sleep apnea, you're not getting enough oxygen to your brain and you're getting a little bit of what called hypoxia, low oxygen, you wake yourself up. So what happens when you have sleep apnea that is not treated? You're, you're not getting enough oxygen and then you're not getting enough thorough night's sleep. So you get two negative factors that affect erection when you're not getting enough oxygen. Well, what happened when you're not getting enough oxygen? The penis muscle is affected because the penis muscle when this erect has 40 times blood flow in it than is not erect. So when you're not getting enough oxygen, it's going to affect how it gets an erection. So that's one thing. And when you're not getting a third night's sleep, you're not making enough testosterone at night because testosterone is being produced from 10pm to 3 to 4am so that's why you have the morning erection, right? Because you're a testosterone level is the highest in the morning. But if you're not getting a thorough night's sleep because of sleep apnea, then you're, you're not going to able to get nighttime erection. When you don't get nighttime erection, your penis is not getting exercise. Remember, an average man gets erection at nighttime about three to six times and lasting about 10 minutes to about 30 minutes. And it may not be a full erection, it could be a partial erection. But when you're actually getting the nighttime erection you're exercising your penis. When you're sleeping, you have good, thorough night's sleep. You're exercising your penis. It gets erect and then it goes down. It gets erect and it goes down. It's like doing a biceps curl, right? You're flexing the muscle. You're relaxing the muscle. When you're doing that, you actually bring in good oxygen to the penis. But when you're not getting the nighttime erection like you normally do, because you have sleep apnea, you get interrupted sleep. Well, you're not getting the exercises to the muscle, and then you got a double whammy because you're also getting less oxygen. All right? So that's how sleep apnea affect erection, because you get less oxygen. And you're also, because of interrupted sleep, you're not making enough testosterone, and you're not making enough testosterone. It's going to affect your nighttime erection and you're not getting exercises to your penis. So men, when you're not getting the usual morning erection or nighttime erection that you normally have, it's a sign that you know you're not exercising your penis. You probably have to look at doing, look at the root cause. Maybe your testosterone level is low. Maybe you're not sleeping enough. Maybe you should get checked out for sleep apnea, and maybe you should get checked out your cholesterol level, your high blood pressure or maybe even diabetes, other causes of decreasing blood flow. The point I'm trying to say today is that sleep apnea is actually common, especially when you're overweight or especially if you don't exercise. You know, get evaluated for you go to the doctor and the doctor order a sleep study test, and then you go there, you stay overnight, they have a camera and they also, you measure your oxygen level and they see how you sleep. And depending on the numbers that they see, you get a diagnosed sleep apnea or not. And most sleep apnea, you know, you get a machine called CPAP or continuous positive airway pressure machine that pushes oxygen into your nose. And so that way you get adequate oxygenation because you don't have adequate oxygenation. You know, your brain, your heart, all that will be affected. And you're not getting thorough night's sleep and you're not having good memory as well. So getting good oxygen is very important. But also consider exercising to lose some weight, because when you lose some weight, there's less weight on in the throat here that will compress your trachea or your breathing tube. And always try to eat a Mediterranean diet and decrease the red meat and decrease the fatty meal and the simple carbohydrate fried food and pastry. All that goes a long way. In my last episode I talk about even just good oral hygiene can actually decrease your chances of getting ED as well, because bad oral hygiene causes inflammation and food can cause inflammation as well too. So bottom line, if you're not getting a thorough night's sleep and you're tired the next day, get evaluated for sleep apnea because that will contribute to how you're performing and definitely contribute to your erection is decreasing your ability to exercise your your penis at night time. So having said that, I hope this was useful for you. I would really appreciate if you leave me a review on whatever platform you're listening on this podcast for. And I'd love to hear your comment if you're watching this on YouTube to see what your thoughts are as well. Or have you been diagnosed of sleep apnea or not? Or if not, maybe you should get evaluated and I love to hear from you. Hope to see you next time.
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