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Men's Sexual Health

Research Finds Connection Between Sleep Apnea and ED

According to a new study, men who suffer from sleep apnea are most susceptible to erectile dysfunction problems. Sleep apnea is a condition in which there is an obstruction during respiration, which causes a temporary stoppage of breathing. This interruption in breathing can last for ten seconds or more, and there can be more than 10 episode of sleep apnea each hour. When the person does not have air entering into his lungs during sleep, the brain automatically wakes him up, so he can resume breathing again. People who suffer from sleep apnea experience constant oxygen deprivation in their sleep, causing them to feel tired and drowsy the next day.

Researchers now believe that this deprivation of oxygen causes erectile dysfunction in men. These findings have been published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The study was conducted on mice. Scientists found that when mice were exposed to short but constant episodes of chronic intermittent hypoxia - which is the lack of oxygen that sleep apnea results in -, they were likely to show decreased sexual activity. The mice were exposed to just a week of oxygen deprivation during sleep, but the rate of decreased spontaneous and natural erections observed was as high as 55%. As the study progressed, it was also found that the length of time between the sexual activities in the mice also increased. In fact, after 5 weeks the increase in the interval between sexual activity episodes was as high as 60 times.

Another interesting finding from the study has to do with the erectile dysfunction medication Cialis, and its effect on oxygen deprivation. The researchers mixed founded Cialis pills, and fed it to the mice. It was found that the mice began showing better sexual activity than before. However, the increase in sexual activity was not the same as it was at the beginning of the study. This suggests that there is a connection between erectile medication and the effects of oxygen deprivation during sleep.

The researchers are puzzled about the connection between Cialis and better sexual activity after sleep apnea. Cialis couldn't have increased testosterone levels in the mice that are exposed to hypoxia, because there was no change in the testosterone levels from the sleep apnea. Sleep apnea also didn't seem to cause any changes in the mice's anatomy, so Cialis couldn't have worked on the anatomy either.

However, the mice in the experiment did show decreased levels of an enzyme that is necessary to produce nitric oxide. Erection depends considerably on the availability of nitric oxide in the blood. Therefore, there is a possibility that Cialis was able to boost the nitric oxide levels in the blood needed to produce an erection.

As of now researchers at the University of Louisville, who conducted the experiment, don't recommend erectile dysfunction medication outright for the treatment of sleep apnea. But they do believe that using CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure), apparatus that helps treat the condition, can also be used to treat erectile dysfunction.