Why cycling and hay fever pills can be bad news for a man’s love life
... but flossing keeps it perky!
As a keen cyclist I read with interest — and some alarm — research from Poland this week suggesting that male cyclists are at risk of erectile problems and possibly infertility.
The problem is that riding a bike can put pressure on the alcock canal (yes, that really is its name), a part of the male anatomy that contains nerves and arteries that feed the genital area, causing loss of sensation and other problems.
Riding a bike can also lead to local atherosclerosis, a thickening of the arteries that could, in the long term, reduce the blood supply to this precious organ, according to the Boston school of sexual Medicine.
This is no small issue — the number of people who cycle is rising. according to the charity Cycling UK, in 2018, 11 per cent of UK adults cycled at least once a week, rising to 20 per cent (nearly 11 million) in 2020. and surveys suggest the great majority of them are men, although this gap is narrowing.
so how real are the risks? Well, there is good news and bad news.
When researchers from the New England Research Institutes asked more than 1,700 american men about their cycling habits, they found that men who cycled for less than three hours a week (that’s me), not only didn’t have a problem, but that modest levels of cycling seemed to be positively good for their sex lives, with 40 per cent less chance of suffering from erectile dysfunction than those who never cycle. Hurrah!
The news wasn’t so great for keen cyclists, who were 70 per cent more likely than noncyclists to have moderate or severe erectile dysfunction.
It’s not just men — with women, there is some evidence that lots of time spent in the saddle can lead to problems such as urinary tract infections, though not any obvious negative impact on their sex lives.
(In the meantime, my middleaged male friends who are enthusiastic cyclists all recommend switching to saddles with a shorter ‘nose’, or preferably none at all.)
To be fair, although erectile dysfunction is a common and distressing condition for men, cycling is not up there as a leading cause.
Nor is wearing tight trousers, despite the popular belief that it is.
Yes, if you wear very tight trousers for long periods of time then you might reduce the blood supply to your essential parts, but I can’t find any specific research on this, and it doesn’t seem to have slowed down sir Mick Jagger. Most cases of erectile dysfunction are actually caused by smoking (which doubles your risk), high blood pressure (which also doubles your risk), excessive drinking, being overweight and stress — all in some way affecting blood flow, nerve sensitivity and or hormones such as testosterone.
So THE obvious answer, if you have erectile problems (or wish to prevent them) is to stop smoking, lose weight, drink less, reduce your blood pressure and try to manage your stress.
other things that help include eating a Mediterranean-style diet, flossing your teeth and avoiding certain medications, such as antihistamines (for allergies) and nasal decongestants (especially those that contain pseudoephedrine). Evidence for the benefits of the Mediterranean- style diet comes from a study of 250 Greek men with high blood pressure, carried out by the University of athens in 2021. They showed that the men who ate a diet rich in fish, nuts, fruit, vegetables and olive oil, not only had higher testosterone levels and healthier blood vessels but also better erectile performance (the latter assessed using the sexual Health Inventory for Men, essentially a questionnaire).
The researchers think a Mediterranean-style diet improves blood flow and maintains healthy testosterone levels.
as for flossing, according to a 2018 study by Jinan University in China, men with gum disease are nearly three times as likely to suffer from impotence as those with healthier gums. one theory is that gum disease can lead to widespread inflammation which damages blood vessels throughout your body, including your brain.
and drugs that contain antihistamines or pseudoephedrine? These medicines are popular at this time of year for people with hay fever or blocked up noses, but they can also have a short-term impact on male sex drive.
That is because antihistamines work by blocking the action of histamine, a chemical found in the cells that causes allergy symptoms — but histamine is also important for healthy erections; while pseudoephedrine can cause blood vessel constriction.
These are just some of a long list of medicines that can cause impotence problems; if you are concerned, discuss this with your GP.
Meanwhile another thing male cyclists should note: cycling can
cause your levels of prostatespecific antigen (Psa) to rise in the immediate short term.
Checking Psa levels is a way of detecting prostate cancer and a study in the journal PLos one in 2013 found that cyclists’ Psa levels rose by nearly 10 per cent after a long-distance ride. The researchers, from the Victorian Institute of sport in australia, suggest avoiding cycling for 24 to 48 hours before a Psa test to avoid skewing results.