Premature ejaculation, according to some estimates, affects a staggering 30% of men. Yet, the situation is likely worse than that, because even though estimates admit that premature ejaculation is likely under-reported.
On top of its prevalence, it’s also under-treated, and without clear assessments for diagnosis.
We’ve written a lot about sexual health in performance, and yoga’s role in our libido and bedroom performance came in our articles on how working out affects sex drive. Today we’re specifically talking about why yoga may be an effective tool to eliminate premature ejaculation, and how to use yoga to lengthen your bedroom performances.
This topic arose in popularity thanks to this 2008 study in Nature, where all 38 participants who did yoga for eight weeks saw improvements in ejaculatory latency.
Since then, the research has continued, and the most in-depth study, published in the World’s Journal of Men Health in 2020, went even deeper, and proposed more specifics such as what types of yoga support this, and by what mechanisms.
After all, not every study showed that yoga magically improved this. This study from 2013 showed only 7% improvements after weeks of daily, 1-hour yoga. If we can understand why yoga may support premature ejaculation, we can get the benefits by targeting the mechanisms.
As outlined in the study, there many mechanisms by which yoga can improve premature ejaculation.
Photo from the World’s Journal of Men’s Health.
At the core, these come down to a few factors.
1) Strengthening of the Pelvic Floor Muscles
Muscles like the perineum and the lower abdominals are often called the “pelvic floor” muscles. The more you use the muscles, the greater control you’ll have over them, as is the case with training any muscle.
Therefore, if you’re not doing a well-rounded core-strengthening program right now, then that’s a good place to start, and will have a host of other health benefits.
You can also perform the simple cat-cow pose, which requires you to move your pelvis.
2) Improve Breath Control
Adjacent to pelvis control is breath control, and they go hand in hand. When we exhale deeply, these pelvis muscles contract because of the way they interact with the diaphragm. Having control over our breath, which yoga emphasizes,
Whether you’re doing yoga or not, then, notice your breath while you exercise. In particular, notice how your pelvic muscles contract on exhales. Over time, this control over your breath will strengthen your pelvis muslces. This will then improve your breath control, so it becomes a positive feedback loop.
You can also work on this during a simple sitting meditation. It doesn’t have to be a 1-hour yoga class. You can simply sit and aim to take ten deep breaths, focused on deep exhales and activating the pelvic floor muscles.
3) More Bodily Self-Awareness
Almost all yoga practices have an intentional focus on the present moment, and often use the breath to demonstrate and support that.
Preventing premature ejaculation is not as simple as stronger muscles. As the researchers mention, there are a lot of factors at play.
Yoga helps you stay present while noticing the different parts of your body. And you can take this skill into the bedroom. Premature ejaculation can occur because, as the saying goes, you get “in your head.” If you’re not present in your body, you won’t be aware when it’s close to ejaculation.
With improved bodily awareness, you can pause when you notice that you’re close to the “point of no return.” Then you can come back to our second factor, breathing. Slow down your breathing, slow down your motion, and stay in the present moment.
4) Reduce Stress and Anxiety
Most broadly and least specific to yoga, if you’re just plain nervous and stressed, that can cause PE. It’s a mental battle. And then it creates the bad kind of feedback loop, where you get nervous, which causes PE, then you get more nervous for next time.
Yoga can be part of a routine to reduce your stress and anxiety. But of course, it’s not the only way. You may need to work on getting better sleep, or find something that gives you confidence. That way you won’t already be a wound-up ball of stress before sex has even started.
This cocktail of benefits seems to make yoga particularly effective for premature ejaculation. However, it is a relatively slow process, and there are safe short-term tools as well. For example, kratom seems to fend off PE in just a few hours, as we examined in this article on kratom and sexual performance.
But don’t let short-term fixes become long-term solutions. Health Habits is about just that: habits. So even if you go the short-term route, choose one of these four categories to improve on so that as the months go back, you can eliminate premature ejaculation once and for all.
September 16, 2022 at 9:26 pm
Spot on with this write-up, I really believe that this site needs much more attention. I’ll probably be returning to read more, thanks for the advice!