Impotence Among College Students Attributed to Drinking, Stress
May 9, 2006
College clinics are hearing more reports of young men with impotence problems, and alcohol and other drug use plus a dose of performance anxiety are seen as culprits, the Washington Post reported May 7.
Problem drinking and drug use on campus are nothing new, but the new variable may be the forward attitude of many young women, who are increasingly likely to initiate sex. "I know lots of girls for whom nothing is off limits," said college junior Helen Czapary of the University of Maryland. "The pressure on the guys is a huge deal."
Anecdotally, health counselors at schools like Duke, Tulane, the University of New Hampshire, and MIT Medical Center said that reports of impotence have increased in recent years. Urologist Jon Pryor of the University of Minnesota said that 30 percent of his patients with erectile dysfunction are under age 30.
Causes can include diabetes or cardiovascular disease, but lifestyle is the root of impotence among many young men. More college students are taking antidepressants, which can reduce sexual function. Alcohol, smoking, and lack of exercise all can contribute to the problem.
"We get reports of increased stress levels starting at younger ages," said Thomas Jarrett, chief urologist at the George Washington University Medical Center. "These are kids living on the extreme, drinking caffeinated Red Bull and beer and working very hard."
Sometimes, a failure in bed can lead to reflection on other parts of a young man's life. GW sophomore Peter Schneider was "torn up inside" after a string of disappointments with his girlfriend during his freshman year. Then he began looking at his lifestyle, which included use of marijuana, cigarettes, alcohol and Adderall, with little or no exercise. With the counsel of a close friend and an understanding girlfriend, Schneider got his libido back.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Soft Drinks
I get regular E-mails from an organization called jointogether.org which include various drug and alcohol prevention news and resources. I have been staring at this article included in today's edition all day and I can't figure out what to make of it. Any thoughts?
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9 comments:
Boy am I a dummy. I read your post twice and I said to myself, "but what about the soda in the title?"
Doh!
I was pretty proud of that title. It took me a while to come up with it.
Well, if that isn't the cleverest title I've ever read . . .
I have never experience the pains of erectile disfunction, seeing as I don't have a penis...but it would seem to me that if I did have one (there's a nasty thought) I would want to make sure my plumbing worked.
Let me see...hummmmmmmmmmmm..... Holy Urinal Cakes Batman! If I sit around all day smoking weed, drinking beer and eating junk food, things might not work right! Who cares about the diabetics, alcoholics and junkies!
Sometimes people are just stupid.
Alcohol, schmalcohol. In my day...we could drink 17 kamikazes and everybody'd perform just fine!
It's the darn cell phones and computers that are making life more stressful.
I suggest the key word is "stress".
Alcohol and street drugs do not cause erectile dysfunction, especially in the young. Performance while inebriated is often affected, but sober--no way.
I think I agree that the more important issue is stress. We are seeing that as an increasingly larger concern among high school students and a primary reason why they report using drugs and alcohol.
What threw me off was the seeming non-sequitur about "the forward attitude of many young women". I would think that would cause a relief not pressure.
FrankenGirl:
You're exactly right. It seems like a topic for a completely different article.
I'd blame it on stress, too.
Poor guys.
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