Updated 16.34 | Published 16.34
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full screen Regular erections are important to maintain potency. Photo: Colorbox
Are you missing a stake?
Nothing to worry about!
It’s just a matter of lying in it – because training brings skill, new research shows.
Cardio training makes you durable, strength training makes you strong.
Erection training makes you… well, you get the idea.
Regular erections may be more important than previously thought to maintain potency. This is stated by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Uppsala University in a new study which DN reports on.
The researchers have studied the connective tissue cells of the penis and seen a relationship where more erections produce more connective tissue cells, and vice versa.
– These connective tissue cells increase blood flow. But they are not static in number, but can be influenced, says Christian Göritz, senior researcher at the Karolinska Institutet, to DN.
Examined mice erection
In the study, which was published in the journal Science, has been researched on mice. But the mechanism of erection is very similar for all mammals, says Görlitz.
– It works much like a sponge. When stimulated, the blood vessels dilate. The blood rushes in and fills the sponge with blood, making the penis bigger. How much blood enters and how long it stays is absolutely decisive. Around the blood vessels are smooth muscle cells, which widen the blood vessels, but there are also connective tissue cells or fibroblasts. And the more fibroblasts, the greater the blood flow.
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full screenMany erections improve blood flow. Photo: Colorbox
The researchers could see that when they reduced the number of fibroblasts in mice, blood flow decreased. And when the mice, on the contrary, received too many fibroblasts, they got an erection for several hours.
When the researchers manipulated the mice to get more erections, blood flow improved. Something that normally means that it is both easier to get and maintain an erection.
Other measures may be needed
The conclusion is that training brings skill – also when it comes to erection.
That training comes more naturally to young men, who have regular erections several times a night. For the elderly, the nocturnal erections decrease, while the risk of impotence increases.
But it should therefore be possible to compensate with exercise, according to the researchers.
However, how the training should go, especially for those who are impotent, is unclear.
– But you can imagine that it is like the rest of the body. When you reach a certain age, you need to move and stay physically active, in order not to lose functions. But if you’ve already lost a function, it’s much harder to get it back. Then other measures are needed, says Christian Görlitz.