Why Hypertension Often Leads to Erectile Dysfunction (ED)

Ever wonder why high blood pressure cause ed? Stay tuned to find out.

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 you on the inside.

High blood pressure can lead to erectile dysfunction or ED through several interconnected mechanism that affect the blood flow, the vascular, the nerve, as well as the hormone that is necessary to achieve an erection. So we're going to go through that in a little bit more detail. Number one, what is defined as high blood pressure nowadays? High blood pressure is the top number, which is the systolic number. That anything is over 145 is actually considered now high blood pressure. And the bottom number, which is the diastolic number, is anything over 85. So the number is now lower than what it used to be. The top number, called the systolic, is essentially the pressure that is in the blood vessel or the arteries when the heart pump the blood out into the arteries. And the bottom number, which is the diastolic number, is the number where the heart is filling before it pumps out. Therefore you need to stay within the range that I had mentioned. But how high blood pressure affect the blood vessel? Remember I keep been telling you the endothelium, the endothelium, the lining of the blood vessels. Well, when you have blood pressure that is high, it damages the endothelium or the endothelial lining of the blood vessel. When this happens, you produce less nitric oxide. When you produce less nitric oxide, therefore you have impaired blood flow and you need more blood flow to the penis to have an erection. That's number one. Number two is that high blood pressure can cause the blood vessel, especially the artery, to become stiff. It doesn't expand as much anymore, it just resistant to expansion or being flexible. So the increased stiffness and the development of a condition called atherosclerosis or plaque buildup, which imagine plaqueless, like dirt that gets stuck on the pipe and it's caused mainly by increasing high cholesterol and calcium deposit. And what this does is that it restricts the flexibility of the blood vessel, again raising the blood pressure. When you have decreased flexibility of the blood vessels and plaque buildup, again impaired blood flow. Number three High blood pressure can affect your nerve, so especially your autonomic nervous system. Your parasympathetic and sympathetic are both sides of your autonomic nervous system. You need the parasympathetic to be active in order for you to get an erection. And when your sympathetic nervous system, which is a fight or flight mechanism, is higher than your parasympathetic, it's hard for you to get an erection. So high blood pressure affect the balance between the sympathetic and, and parasympathetic affecting and impaired blood flow. So essentially when you have more sympathetic than parasympathetic, it will actually affect direction. You want more parasympathetic number four, how does it help hormone high blood pressure actually lower testosterone? In my last video that I did, I talked about that as when you get older, after the age of 35, your testosterone level dropped by 1%. And well on top of that, when you have high blood pressure will accelerate also the drop in your testosterone because high blood pressure causes a dysregulation of the hormone as well. And on top of that, you can also have medication side effects because when you have high blood pressure, you end up taking antihypertensive or medication for your high blood pressure medication like beta blockers like labetalol, atenolol or diuretics such as Lasiks. Well, those will interfere with your erection as well too. So that's something to note. Now how do you treat high blood pressure? Well, the one way to treat high blood pressure is actually exercise. When you exercise, your heart rate goes faster. And when your heart rate goes faster, it actually help expand the blood vessel, making it more flexible. And, and when you exercise, you lose a little bit of weight because your metabolism start picking up. And if you watch what you eat and follow a diet like a Mediterranean diet that lowers your cholesterol level, lowers your blood sugar level. And so when you just combine Mediterranean diet along with just 30 minutes of walking or even high interval intensive exercise and just do some weight training, that alone will actually lower your blood pressure. Studies have shown if you lose 10% of your weight, you can actually reverse the effect of high blood pressure and also diabetes. I want to mention this, that if you have high blood pressure and then you're taking Viagra or Cialis, you may have more side effects from that as well as marked effect in the blood pressure changes as well too. So something to note. Now you can lower your blood pressure with diet and exercise and meditation. So it's not a part of aging, is really a part of managing your diet, your exercise and stress and sleep. Again the four pillars of erection health. So I hope you find this useful and just know that there are solutions for your blood pressure and also for your sexual health as well. So I hope you like and let me know what you find useful and push the subscribe and notification button and I want to tell you about finding out more in depth information and be able to work with me. Live where in my Modern Man Club where I coach you to get out of ED with natural solution and you get access to me twice a month to ask me any question that you may have. You you can find out more about the Modern man club@noedman.com again noedman.com I hope to see you in there and in the next episode. Take care. Are you struggling and frustrated in finding a solution for ed? Well I have just the thing for you. It's called the Modern Man Club led by yours truly Dr. Anne. Together we're redefining male sexuality and and embracing a holistic approach to overcoming ED without medication or surgery. I will provide a protective environment for community and proven strategy to overcoming ed. It is a safe place. Expert coaching by me and my team. We provide holistic approach to overcoming ED and an empowering community of men with ED supporting one another and lots and lots of educational resources. Visit mensexualityclub.com at the link here on my right and connect with us and reclaim control over your sexual health. I'll see you there.

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