Hormone May Help Anxiety and Erectile Dysfunction in the Future

For some men, sexual dysfunction—which can include erectile dysfunction (ED), premature ejaculation and decreased libido—can be triggered by anxiety.

The link between anxiety an erectile dysfunction

The anxiety may be caused by money woes, health problems or stress at work. It could also be due to sexual performance anxiety, a fear that they’ll develop erectile dysfunction in the bedroom (which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy). It may also be caused by body image issues—a fear that they’re penis is too small or they’re body is too unappealing.

Whatever the cause of the anxiety-induced erectile dysfunction, researchers may have a new cure.

How kisspeptin works

A hormone called kisspeptin, (named after Hershey’s chocolate Kisses because the first gene for kisspeptin was discovered by scientists in Hershey, Pennsylvania) appears to help both anxiety and erectile dysfunction.

Known for its roles in fertility and puberty, kisspeptin is produced in the hypothalamus and interacts with receptors in the pituitary gland. This interaction sparks the production of testosterone and estradiol.

Researchers theorized that if they activated the kisspeptin-responsive neurons, anxiety would decrease and sexual function would increase. They tried out their theory on male mice and it worked. The male mice “socialized” more and paid more attention to the females.

As the study’s coauthor, King’s College London’s Dr. Daniel Adekunbi explains, “In men, anxiety-related disorders occur in tandem with sexual dysfunction.”

In the meantime

More research needs to be done to confirm the findings before kisspeptin can be marketed as any kind of treatment for anxiety and erectile dysfunction.

Until then, men with anxiety-induced erectile dysfunction may want to try one of several FDA-regulated ED drugs, including Cialis. These will likely be very effective if the anxiety is caused by sexual performance issues because most men will have a guaranteed erection.