Breathing pure oxygen is ‘as effective as Viagra’

Breathing pure oxygen for 90 minutes a day could be as effective as Viagra for treating impotence – without the side effects and potentially longer-lasting results, new research shows.

Men who underwent the treatment had an average of 50 percent improvement in their erectile function. And the effects of one month of treatment lasted up to 18 months in some cases.

Erectile dysfunction (ED), the inability to get or maintain an erection, is experienced by about half of men between the ages of 40 and 70, according to the British Association of Urological Surgeons.

Nine out of ten men with erectile dysfunction have at least one underlying physical cause, such as heart disease, diabetes or the use of certain medications, including high blood pressure and depression (which can constrict the blood vessels supplying the penis, resulting in inadequate blood circulation ). for an erection).

ED is usually treated with phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) inhibitors, including sildenafil (Viagra) and tadalafil (Cialis), which increase blood flow to the penis.

They can be very effective but are not suitable for all men, including those taking nitrate medications for angina and those with a serious heart or liver problem.

ED drugs and nitrates both cause blood vessels to dilate – so combined this can cause a sharp drop in blood pressure, increasing the risk of heart attack or stroke.

Possible side effects of PDE5 include indigestion, nasal congestion, back pain, and muscle pain. Research shows that a third of men do not respond to the medication.

The new study, conducted by urologists at Izmir Bozyaka Training and Research Hospital in Turkey, published in the journal International Urology and Nephrology, involved 100 men. One group was treated with oxygen; another group received tadalafil daily for a month; and a third group received no treatment.

Men in the oxygen group sat in hyperbaric chambers (similar to those used to treat divers with decompression sickness) and breathed pure oxygen for 90 minutes a day. (Normal air is 21 percent oxygen, 78 percent nitrogen, and small amounts of other gases.)

The increased pressure in hyperbaric chambers (2.4 times that of atmospheric pressure) allows the lungs and tissues to absorb more oxygen than normal.

The oxygen and tadalafil groups showed the same improvement: about 50 percent.

Oxygen worked regardless of age or how long the men had experienced ED. The effects lasted an average of two months.

This is in contrast to medications like Viagra, which are used on demand with effects that last up to four hours (or 36 hours with tadalafil) and have side effects that last longer.

It’s not clear how hyperbaric oxygen therapy helps ED. One theory is that extra oxygen stimulates the growth of new blood vessels, supplying the penis with more blood.

Men in the oxygen group sat in hyperbaric chambers and breathed pure oxygen for 90 minutes a day. The increased pressure in hyperbaric chambers allows the lungs and tissues to take in more oxygen than normal (file image)

Another is that it could lead to an increase in nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessels, allowing more blood to flow into the penile tissue.

Professor Raj Persad, consultant urologist at Bristol Urology, described the study as ‘a basis for future research’.

He said: ‘With diabetes and other conditions, blood flow to sensitive tissues can be reduced, reducing oxygen supply. This can be temporarily improved by breathing hyperbaric oxygen.’

He warned that it is “not a permanent solution” and that “too much can lead to oxygen poisoning.”

Treating insomnia can lower the risk of erectile dysfunction (ED), according to a study from Macau University of Science and Technology, which found that men with insomnia were 3.4 times more likely to experience erectile dysfunction.

Published in the journal Andrology, it also found that stress increased the risk by about 80 percent. It is thought that insomnia leads to a drop in testosterone because production peaks during sleep. High levels of stress can also affect sleep.