Use It Or Lose It: Does Abstinence Cause ED?

If you haven't had sex or even an erection in a long time, you might think you're giving your body a break. Here's the uncomfortable truth: long-term abstinence can weaken the exact tissue you need for erections because the penis is like any other muscle. If blood flow stops, it can start to shrink, stiffen, and scar. In this video, I'll explain what can happen over time, the simple maintenance routine I recommend twice a week, and how this also connects to prostate health and why weekly ejaculation can matter.

This podcast is for you, the modern man. I'm Dr. Anne Truong MD, your host. I'm an intimate health medical doctor and bestselling 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 at sexualhealthformenpodcast.com for more information and resources from the show. See you on the inside.

I've been abstaining for 3 years, going on 4. Is there any health or long-term consequences to go that long without sex? That's a great question, Libo. What's the reason why you're abstaining? Are you abstaining from masturbation? So the reason why I'm asking that question is if you are not having sexual activity, you just be aware that the penis atrophy if you don't use it, meaning the penis muscle can shrink and it can start having scar tissue that is in the penis muscle if you don't have an erection. So when you have an erection, it's bringing more blood flow to the penis. It expands the penis. It keeps it healthy. So if you're abstaining, then maybe you should masturbate to continue the blood flow, to the penis, keep the muscle flexible to having the sensation what it's like to have an erection. It's kind of like your muscle, your biceps muscle here, if bend your elbow, exercise to atrophy, right, start to shrink. And then when the muscle fibers gets filled up with scar tissue, and then over time, it's harder for that muscle to expand. So again, when it does expand, it gets stiff and it's hard for it to expand. So I would recommend masturbation at least once or twice a week. Not with a lot of excessive pressure. I mentioned before, just enough pressure that will feel like penetration. I would say enough pressure that you don't see any bruising on the penis. You don't see any swelling on the penis. So that's the only thing that I can see if you're not having an erection, just be careful. It may be have some atrophy. That's all. Other than that, it's the only thing that I would think of. However, you don't need to kind of masturbate with using your hand. You can actually just exercise it with just the penis pump. I don't know why I didn't think about talking about the penis pump before. You can just use the penis pump, put your penis in the cylinder, pump it up, and then it will bring blood flow to the penis. It will help the penis muscle expand. And if you do that about 2 times a week, you should be okay. No need for masturbation using your hand. Just use to penis pump and keep the penis erect in the cylinder for about 10 minutes. Don't go more than 10 millimeters of pressure. Then you should be okay. That's like maybe twice a week, once a week, but at least have some kind of erection once a week. Now, do you need to ejaculate? Well, probably ejaculation is probably not a bad thing because your prostate— I don't know how old you are, but your prostate still make semen. The testicle makes sperm and then it gets moved to the prostate and that's where semen is stored. So you still make semen, you don't stop making semen. The prostate stores the semen and then I guess your body absorbs it. But studies have shown that men have sexual activity 3 times a week have less chances of prostate cancer. What I'm trying to say is that if you're going to abstaining and you're going to use the penis pump, may not be a bad idea to also get rid of that semen as well too, to ejaculation, just to kind of clear the pipes, kind of get the semen moving along and not clamp down on the prostate because the prostate probably going to get like swollen, clamp down if you don't get rid of it. Okay. So once a week. Probably. I call it cleaning the pipes. Keep the pipes going. Maybe once a week. Because you know what? Our body is geared toward procreation because our body is made to be able to have sexual activity to carry the humankind or the DNA over the years. Believe it or not, that kind of like the primordial, the primitive way that our body is made to carry the human genes. And so the way that your body is made is to continue to always feed the reproductive system to keep it going. And that if you're not keeping it going, it may get blocked up. So what I'm trying to get at is that clear the pipe, use a penis pump to get an erection once a week or so. If you don't do what I mentioned with using a penis pump and clearing the pipe, if you don't do it, there may be a slight chance of putting yourself at risk for more enlarged prostate. I know there's a chance you're going to have atrophy if there's no erection and then scar tissue development. I guess the long-term risk is that may put yourself for harder chance to get an erection later on. Where can you get the penis pump? You can get the penis pump at ednomore.com or check the link down below this video to get the penis pump so you can start exercising your penis again. Remember, you are only one pump away. Is there a difference between ED specialist and a urologist? There is. There is no specialty that specify ED specialist. But an ED specialist could come from multiple specialty. I'm a physical medicine and rehab board-certified physician. So I come from a pain management, orthopedic medicine perspective, but my training involved comprehensive treatment and evaluation of the whole body, evaluating the nerve and the muscle and the whole complete body and hormones as a complete unit for treatment for pain, but for rehabilitation and for function. With that mindset, I look at the whole, everything that I treat holistically and comprehensively. And in order to be an ED specialist, you have to do extra training yourself, extra courses yourself in hormones, in sexual health. So what that means is that we go to get specialized training in courses for that. And we get specialized training in that. And that is really what the ED specialist is. Compare urologist. Urologists are specialists in urology, which is the bladder, the ureter, and also obviously a male and female sexual organ. So there's an overlap between urology and OB-GYN for women. It's also overlap with the kidney specialist with the urologist, but not every urologist are sexual health specialists. Some urologists just do medical management. Some sexual health specialists prefer not to because sexual health specialists really do need to have a background in hormone replacement therapy as well as a holistic understanding of sexual health. However, urologists are the leading researchers in ED because they're the one dealing with that sexual organ. And in fact, they're the one that I learned from from going to courses. Some of my mentors are urologists as well that are specialized in sexual health. However, sexual health specialists could also be your family medicine doctor. They can be an internist, your primary care doctor. They can be an OB-GYN. They can be like somebody like myself, physical medicine and rehab or a pain specialist. It can be different specialists as well. I know an emergency medicine doctor who is also sexual health. I know a surgeon who is also a sexual health doctor as well. So that is a very good question. I guess if the doctor labeled themselves as an ED specialist, then it probably means that they focus on ED. And urologists are doctors that you go see for kidneys and for prostate problems and things along the penis, along with the female. They also treat female as well too. They do medical treatment, but they also do surgery as well too. So they do the prostate surgery. They also do complex surgery to the penis, such as penile implant and other surgery as well too. However, most of what my knowledge I've learned about ED come from urologist, come from endocrinologist for hormone replacement therapy. So just depends on who you see. That's a great question, Keith. Okay, modern men, you are not alone and you don't have to suffer anymore. ED can feel isolating, frustrating, and even defeating. The endless guessing, the quiet shame, the weight of not feeling like yourself— it's exhausting. But here's the truth: you are not broken, you are not alone, and you don't have to figure this out alone anymore. The Get Wood Now Boost program is your step-by-step path to sexual confidence, and restoration. No more suffering in silence, no more trial and error, just real solution, real result, and the confidence you deserve. It's time to take back your power on your term. Let's get this journey started together. Check out the course at getwoodnow.com. I'll see you there.

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