Mens Health (cont.)

Sexual health and function are important parts of a healthy lifestyle. The ability to participate in sexual intercourse depends upon the brain, hormones, nerves, and blood vessels that supply the penis. A variety of mechanisms and feedback loops need to work for an erection to occur. There are numerous causes of erectile dysfunction (ED, impotence) including:

• diabetes,
  
  
• peripheral vascular disease,
  
  
• spinal cord injury, and
  
  
• multiple sclerosis.

Impotence is also a complication of prostate cancer treatment including surgery and radiation.

Smoking is an independent risk factor for developing impotence.

Treatment of erectile dysfunction depends upon the cause but may include medications (for example, tadalafil [Cialis], sildenafil [Viagra], and vardenafil [Levitra, Staxyn], testosterone replacement therapy and, for some men, prosthetic devices surgically inserted into the penis.

Testosterone levels that are required for puberty, muscle, and bone development in young adulthood gradually decrease over a man's lifetime (sometimes referred to as Low T). Testosterone levels need to be at a certain level to maintain body and brain function. Numerous theories exist about the use of testosterone therapy routinely in older men, but these theories have not been widely accepted. There are however, a few health care practitioners that use testosterone to "prevent aging."

Source: MedicineNet.com
http://www.medicinenet.com/mens_health/article.htm