Premature Ejaculation

Premature Ejaculation

For men who experience premature ejaculation, lovemaking can be bad news. The good news, though, is that premature ejaculation--the most common sexual problem among men--is also the easiest to cure.

"With the right treatment, the cure rate for premature ejaculation is near 100 percent," says Sheldon Burman, M.D., founder and director of the Male Sexual Dysfunction Institute in Chicago, the country's largest treatment center for male sexual problems. More good news: The right treatment is usually painless, inexpensive and relatively easy.

Premature ejaculation is usually easy to identify: It means that a man reaches orgasm too soon. "If you and your wife think you're too fast, then you're a premature ejaculator," says Dr. Burman. Here's how to delay ejaculation for more satisfying lovemaking.

Practice makes perfect. "The simplest thing to do if you're a premature ejaculator is to have sex more often," says J. Francois Eid, M.D., director of the Erectile Dysfunction Unit at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in New York City. "For one thing, you're more likely to ejaculate prematurely if there's a long gap between sexual sessions. Besides, most men find they perform better with practice. You learn more about your body and your limitations."

Try the "stop-start" approach. This technique involves stimulating the penis almost to the point of ejaculation, then stopping; stimulating it again, then stopping; and repeating this until you learn to control your ejaculations, says Oakland, California, psychologist Bernie Zilbergeld, Ph.D., author of The New Male Sexuality.

Do Kegel exercises. The same pelvic muscle strengthening that women practice to hold their urine after childbirth can help men delay ejaculation, reports Dr. Zilbergeld. To perform Kegel exercises, simply contract your buttocks for one second as though you were trying to delay a bowel movement. Do this 15 times in a row, working up to 60 to 75 contractions twice a day. The purpose of Kegels is to strengthen your pelvic muscles so that you can contract or relax as you near orgasm, delaying ejaculation. (Some men last longer when squeezing the muscles, and others, when relaxing them.)

Do your bodybuilding later. While exercise is part of a total healthy lifestyle that can prevent or reverse premature ejaculation, it's unwise to exercise just before sex, according to Dr. Burman. "Whenever you exercise, the body directs blood to that group of muscles. For instance, if you do bicep curls, blood will be directed to your arm muscles--and away from your penis. So save your exercise for another time."

Reverse position. "Men are most easily aroused when they are on top in the missionary position, so it might be best for her to be on top," says Dr. Burman. "When a woman is on top, you can control her motion by guiding her hips. That way, if you become too aroused, you can guide her to slow down or stop her movements."

Diet for better sex. Premature ejaculation is often due to physical changes in the body. Men over age 30 may begin to have problems with premature ejaculation even though their sex lives were fine when they were younger.

"The problem is often an inadequate blood supply in the penis," according to Dr. Burman. When the arteries in the penis become partially clogged with fat and cholesterol, maintaining an erection becomes more difficult. "When this occurs, your brain tells your body that you'd better ejaculate before you lose your erection, and a pattern for premature ejaculation is developed," says Dr. Burman.

His recommendation: Live a healthy lifestyle in order to maintain good arterial health. "Your potency will be prolonged if you eat a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet, exercise regularly, don't smoke and keep your stress managed," says Dr. Burman.