Performance Anxiety and Erectile Dysfunction: Understanding the Link

Anxiety comes in many different forms, and it’s a normal thing to experience. You may feel anxious about work, major life changes, or the future. And while you may not realize it, anytime you experience an anxiety-triggering situation, your body feels the effects in multiple ways. 

Sexual performance anxiety affects your body the same way any other type of anxiety does. In reaction to the increased stress levels, your body ramps up cortisol production and lowers testosterone levels. Because of this, sexual performance anxiety often leads to issues with erectile dysfunction (ED).

ED and sexual performance anxiety have a complex relationship, and if your sex life is suffering due to either ED or sexual performance anxiety, you might be feeling frustrated. 

So, our team at Atlas Health Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada, wants to review the relationship between performance anxiety and ED to help you better understand what’s causing your less-than-satisfactory sex life and provide solutions for improved sexual health in this month’s blog.

What is performance anxiety?

General performance anxiety refers to a fear that you won’t be able to do something in the way that you would like. You can experience performance anxiety before giving a big presentation or playing at a major sporting event. 

When related to sex, performance anxiety causes intense feelings of fear or worry about your body image, the other person’s sexual expectations, or your sexual performance, and can occur before or during sex. While it’s not uncommon to feel self-conscious before or during sex, performance anxiety can be debilitating. 

Many things can trigger sexual performance anxiety, including poor body image, social pressures, negative sexual experiences, and relationship stress. Performance anxiety can cause symptoms such as a rapid heart rate, sweating, and an inability to achieve or maintain an erection (ED). 

What is ED?

While performance anxiety is directly related to negative thought patterns, ED is much more complicated, and it has a wide range of causes. 

ED is defined as the inability to achieve or maintain an erection that’s satisfactory for sex. Anything that prevents ample blood flow from reaching your penis can trigger ED, but these are some of the more common causes:

• Blood vessel disorders
• Nerve disorders
• Hormone imbalances
• Chronic illnesses
• Taking certain medications
• Smoking
• Substance use disorders

In addition to physical causes, ED can often be triggered by mental health conditions or sexual performance anxiety. 

Is it performance anxiety or ED?

Sexual performance anxiety and ED can both cause the same thing: poor sexual health and unsatisfactory sexual performance. However, it can sometimes be difficult to understand the true root cause.

If you’re feeling nervous about your sexual performance, you can’t get ample blood flow for a satisfactory erection, triggering ED. However, if you have ED because of an underlying health condition, you might be feeling self-conscious, exacerbating the ED. 

When the root cause is unclear, you might need to do a little digging into your overall health. Getting your hormone levels tested or reviewing any medications you’re taking might shed light on why your sex life isn’t where you want it to be. 

Our team can partner with you to either discover what’s causing your ED or treat the underlying cause with lifestyle changes, nutrient supplementation, or hormone therapy. 

To get started with expert-level sexual healthcare, schedule an appointment with our team by calling our office or using our online booking feature today.