Why Does Erectile Dysfunction Develop?

About 152 million men worldwide suffer from erectile dysfunction and this number stands only for those who applied for medical help. Much more erectile dysfunction cases go untreated or taken as an unavoidable consequence of normal aging. However erectile dysfunction is not a normal thing at whatever age it happens. Having erection is natural for males even when you are in your 80s. Erectile dysfunction in elderly people is usually caused by other diseases. But impotence treatment is not a problem today since a lot of ways to treat erectile dysfunction were introduced.

But what causes erectile dysfunction? In most cases erectile dysfunction signalize you have major health problems that need to be examines. The great majority of all erectile dysfunction cases are a result of other disease and unsatisfactory physical condition of the body.

The major physical causes of erectile dysfunction are:

• Poor health conditions: diseases, damages during surgeries and injuries
• Taking medicines to treat other diseases
• Habits and lifestyle

To diagnose erectile dysfunction and identify the cause you will need to undergo several tests and health examination. These are performed to determine whether the following disease and health problems influence your erectile function:
Diabetes. Men who suffer from diabetes are thrice as likely to develop erectile dysfunction as men with good health condition.
High blood pressure. High blood pressure may restrict the blood flow to the penis and therefore erectile dysfunction develops.
Heart diseases. Heart disease are also one of the main causes of impotence as heart is responsible for blood pumping and for blood circulation that is essential to provide good and firm erection.
High cholesterol. High level of cholesterol affects you blood vessels and can stiffen and block them, which also prevents the blood from circulating throughout the body sufficiently. Surgeries. During surgeries nerves and arteries important for erection may be damaged.

Medicines that you take to treat other diseases can affect your ability to get and maintain erection. Erectile dysfunction is often caused by drugs used to treat:

• High blood pressure
• Different cancers
• Antidepressants
• Antipsychotics

Other medicines can cause erectile dysfunction too so once you have noticed any changes in your erectile function after you started to take any medicines consult your doctor.

Erectile dysfunction is often caused by the life you lead and your habits such as smoking, alcohol and drug abuse.