THE POSTAGE STAMP TRICK

HEALTHY men get an erection six to eight times a night and usually don’t even notice.

This is important because if a man only gets an erection when he needs one for sex, the mechanism may fail just when it is needed.

Night-time erections reflect circulatory health. If you no longer get them, it’s time to see a cardiologist. To check, we used to ask a man to secure a strip of postage stamps around his penis before going to sleep. If the strip was broken in the morning, he’d had a night-time erection.

Night erections also maintain penis length — think of it as a form of stretching. In impotent men, the penis may shorten.