Ben Greenfield spent a year testing methods to improve sexual performance, from ancient practices to shockwave therapy and stem cells. Nitric oxide is key for erections and vascular health. He recommends nitrate-rich foods and specific supplements, and warns that mouthwash, nicotine, and THC can harm sexual function.
I graced Men's Health magazine with their New Year article entitled New Year, New Dick. My name is Ben Greenfield. I'm a biohacker, celebrity trainer, nutritionist, New York Times best selling author and world renowned speaker. I'm on a constant quest to uncover powerful and practical health hacks to awaken, unlock and unleash the full potential of the human body, mind and spirit.
I spent 12 months on an immersive journalistic foray to discover everything that a man could do to enhance his sexual health. I engaged in ancient ayurvedic practices like reduced ejaculation frequency. I went off and did crazy medical treatments like a gainswave shockwave treatment. I did platelet rich plasma injections. The article culminated in a stem cell injection, you know, where I even went to different facilities and purchased so called gas station dick pills to see what happens when you overdose on essentially the equivalent of Viagra and ephedra at the same times for the sweaty palms and the near heart attack feeling that you get from different sexual supplements out there. And just basically did everything one could do to enhance sexual health. And it turns out there is a lot of. You can go to physical therapy clinics now and use something called an M sculptor, an M wave which delivers mild electrical sensations to the crotch to wake up blood flow. You can get the shockwave therapy which is essentially a acoustic sound wave delivered to either the penis or the clitoris. And what it does is it breaks open old blood vessels, opens up new vessels and restores youthfulness to your genitals. You can of course go as far as, you know, a couple of things that I've done and my wife has done also platelet rich plasma injections, stem cell injections, the same type of things you would do to maintain youthfulness and blood flow in joints. You can also do for sexual health and the sexual organs. But frankly, even though there's tons of expensive technologies and hacks that you can use, there's a few tried and true methods that can enhance your sexual health and allow you to have amazing orgasms and great sex late into life.
First is nitric oxide. Nitric oxide, Nitric oxide. You must know about this gas because it is responsible for vasodilating the vasculature in your body. You can think of it as like a full, full body Viagra. When you enhance your nitric oxide levels. There are foods that you can regularly eat that will do this, that should be included in your diet. I'm talking about things like the dark reds and purples of the plant kingdom. Beets, pomegranates, cherries, black walnuts, purple cabbage, kimchi, sauerkraut. These are a lot of the things that naturally increase your nitric oxide production. There are even done for you blend like this is one made by a company called Organifi. It's called called Red Juice. It's a red juice powder that specifically improves blood flow. And if you look at the label, it's got a lot of these things that I talked about in it, Red beet. It's also got cordyceps and reishi mushroom extracts, which can help out with blood flow. You can also have a salad with extra virgin olive oil and arugula and pumpkin seeds. Three other foods that enhance nitric oxide production. There are other companies that develop heart health supplements. This is one called Cowroy. They make something called Vascanox. It's designed for the heart. But it turns out that supporting the heart via nitric oxide production also supports both male and female sexual health. As a matter of fact, the so called canary in the coal mine, especially for men who are beginning to experience onset of early heart disease, is erectile dysfunction. Because nitric oxide, the same nitric oxide required for a healthy erection, is also required for healthy heart function. And, and typically you get erectile dysfunction prior to getting heart disease. So it's just something to think about, supporting your nitric oxide levels. In addition to that, you want to make sure you're not doing things that constrict the arteries or reduce nitric oxide levels. What are some of those things? Mouthwash and fluoride. Mouthwash and fluoridated toothpaste both knock out the bacteria responsible for converting nitrates into nitric oxide. So you don't want to have a mouth that's full of fluoride or regularly used commercial mouthwash. Other things that can cause what's called vasop constriction would be excess use of energy compounds, energy drinks, coffee, and one of the worst culprits, nicotine. And then finally vaping. Particularly not just nicotine, but also weed or THC that causes a drop in testosterone and a drop in some of the hormones that are responsible for allowing for optimized sexual function.
Next, I want to talk with you about a study that recently was conducted by one of my friends who's a men's sexual health physician named Jud Brandes. He put men on nitric oxide support. Nitric oxide supporting diet, nitric oxide supporting supplements. The shockwave therapy that I talked to you about, and then also, and this is commonly used alongside Shockwave therapy and nitric oxide supplements. A penis pump. That's right. They make fancy Cadillac style digital penis pumps these days. And the participants in the study used nitric oxide support, shockwave therapy and a penis pump for a series of weeks and restored their sexual function. Basically, the layperson's interpretations of the study is back to the level that they would have been at if they were 18 years old. Right. So that's an example of a medically proven strategy to assist with sexual function. There's all sorts of other things we could talk about when it comes to sex, but the last thing that I want to tell you is that a big part of a healthy sexual life with your partner includes being on the same page about your sex life. For this reason, my wife and I have weekly marriage meetings where we express gratitude to one another. We talk about the chores and contributions we each have for the household. We talk about upcoming family dates and calendared events, and then we talk about blockers or challenges that we each have. And that can include talking about sex, about challenges that we have with sex, about our libido, about our hormones, about the way that we're feeling. We calendar sex, meaning we know that life happens, it gets busy. Sure, that might seem like it sucks all the romance out of sex, but knowing, hey, this week we're shooting for Tuesday and Saturday night. The kids are going to bed earlier, we're getting to the bedroom earlier, we're finishing cleaning the kitchen earlier. We're just making sure we have an extra pan. Who you are, 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, a half hour in the bedroom at night to be able to enjoy each other. And then finally, I highly recommend that with your wife or with your husband, you schedule or calendar some sort of regular one on one retreat we like to do two to four times a year where it's just my wife and I going off on some adventure that will include date nights, dinners, adventures, tennis, pickleball, hiking, chatting, one on one. We even have these chairs called backjack chairs that we put in our bed that allow us to sit legs straddled with each other and just talk face to face for hours on end while we're sipping a glass of wine and just enjoying each other's company. You have to calendar it. You have to be intentional about it. And this is not just stuff for young googly eyed newlyweds, right? This is the stuff that keeps a couple together for life. At the time of this video, I've been married happily for 21 years. There's many more valuable years to come. And those are just a few of the tactics that I use to maintain romance and maintain a healthy sexual life in my own relationship.
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