Kevin Billups, MD, an associate professor of urology at the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, says that the close relationship between heart health and sexual function “hasn’t become the public health message that it should be.”
Doctors and other experts need to do a better of job of informing the public that a healthier heart often means better erections, adds Billups, who studies the link between heart health and erectile function but did not participate in the new research.
“That’s the first thing I talk about with all the guys that come in now,” he says, referring to the ED patients he sees in his urology practice. “‘Are you watching your diet? What kind of exercise program are you on?’ Just putting these men on the ED medications…probably isn’t enough to get optimal results.”
Even if they’re told that it may improve their ED, getting men to change their lifestyle and lose weight is no easy task, Kopecky says. He stresses, however, that even small and simple lifestyle changes—such as eating at least five servings of fruits and veggies daily—can make a big difference.
But the “real key” is exercise, Kopecky says. Just 10 minutes of vigorous exercise three times a week “does a whole lot to improve your heart function [and] blood vessel function,” he says.
