For a considerable time, scientists have suspected that there may be a link between sleep apnoea and erectile dysfunction. Now a study published in the September edition of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine has gone a long way towards proving it.
Sleep apnoea is a condition where there are pauses or shallow breathing as someone sleeps. The pauses can last from a few seconds to minutes, and typically occur between 5 and 30 times an hour. The condition can seriously disrupt the sleep patterns of those who suffer from it and therefore impact on their daily lives, but the new information indicates that it can also be a major problem for their sex lives.
Research done at the University of Louisianna has shown that when mice suffered from chronic intermittent hypoxia - the same lack of oxygen those who have sleep apnoea experience - it resulted in a decrease in their daily spontaneous erections of 55%. After five weeks, there was a sixty-fold decrease in the number of times the mice attempted to mate. The mice responded well to two treatments, firstly when their oxygen levels were returned to normal and secondly when they were given Cialis, the erectile dysfunction medication, which increases the availability of nitric oxide.
The study has implications for the diagnosis and treatment of some forms of erectile dysfunction. Writing on the website of Urology Today, researchers from Seoul, who have also just completed a study into the links between the two conditions, recommended that “male patients with OSAS (obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome) should be screened for erectile dysfunction”. This would seem to work both ways, in that by testing patients with erectile dysfunction for sleep apnoea, doctors could gain a better understanding of the cause of their condition. As we discover more about the relationship between sleep patterns and erectile function, the hope is that better treatments for condition will follow.