According to mayo clinic, Erectile dysfunction is a direct reflection of one’s quality of health. Sure, the occasional erectile dysfunction may be normal due to being anxious or feeling stressed out occasionally, but if you constantly find yourself struggling to get or stay hard, there may be an underlying cause lurking that’s preventing you from having a strong, rock hard erection.

Here are some of the bad habits causing erectile dysfunction:

1. Smoking

Smoking is something you need to give up today! Smoking is the number one bad habits causing erectile dysfunction. Not only it is horrible for your general health and loaded with cancer-causing chemicals and yellowing of the teeth, but it also one of the major cause of your erectile dysfunction. How does this happen? Smoking as we know builds up plaque in the arteries. While we may call erections “boners”, there’s no bone there – the hardness is all from blood flow. So when your blood flow is full of gunk inside, it has an impact on your entire body – including your penis.

here: Imagine regaining – and enjoying – all of the confidence, control and satisfaction in bed that most men can only be dreamed of… and never having to feel embarrassed, apologetic, or “less of a man” in front of your lover… (It’s like “tricking” your mind and body into believing that you just popped one of those little blue pills, to get you going stronger, longer and harder!) Test drive it 100% risk-free

2. Excessive Alcohol Consumption

Drinking a little here and there can, in fact, help your sex life. Whether you’re drinking a glass of wine with your partner, a beer or two, etc. it can be a great way to relax and take the edge off. However, too much of a good thing is never a good thing. If you find yourself drinking daily in excess, you’re probably finding it hard to get hard down there. This is because alcohol is excess kills erections in the short term and long term.

Drinking in excess decreases blood flow to the penis and acts as a depressant, and in the long term, “studies show that men who are dependent on alcohol have a 60 to 70 percent chance of suffering from sexual problems” according to Everyday Health.

3. Illicit Drug Use

Drugs are bad news. You may think certain “sex” or party drugs can liven up the mood and make things much more exciting and feel better, but that’s not really the case.

Doing illicit drugs may add a bit of spice to your sex life and make you feel like you’re in ecstasy, however, it’s short-lived – illicit drugs take a hefty toll on the body and end up reducing blood flow to the penis in the long run and this bad habits causing erectile dysfunction need to stop asap.

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4. Lack of Sleep or Insomnia

As a general rule, you should be getting at least eight hours of sleep per day. Anything less, your entire body will suffer. Lack of sleep causes health problems that range from problems remembering, to slower reaction times, and yes – you guessed it – erectile dysfunction.

According to Dr. Patrick Ijewere, Chief Medical Director, Caribbean Health, cited that the lack of sleep or insomnia causes erectile dysfunction among his male patients. He stated:

“When a person lacks sleep, there is high level of free radical damage inside those cells, and they produce less nitrous oxide over time, so cell walls lose their ability to respond to pressure from heart pumping, which hardens them and subsequently increasing the pressure.” “There have been well-studied connection between lack of sleep, oxidative stress, hormonal dysfunctions, cell dysfunctions and disease appearance,” he added.

Not only will you be mentally sleepy, but your penis will be sleepy as well and hard to get up. One of the main culprits is due to the body’s excess levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) when you skip out on sleep. Evolutionarily, when we’re feeling stressed it’s never a good time to have sex, so our body tries to prevent us from getting into it. Also, lack of sleep leads to lower energy and decreased libido – things that will definitely keep you from getting in the mood.

Related: How a Good Night’s Sleep Boosts Testosterone Levels in Men

5. Eating Too Much Sugar

If you want stronger erection on command and to end your erectile dysfunction, one thing you may need to do is cut back on sugar. Sugar is found in nearly every product these days in the supermarket, and it can seem difficult to avoid.

The best way to reduce your sugar level is buying whole foods and cooking more often – this way, you know what exactly is going into your food. If you find cooking too much of a hassle, consider doing it all at once and meal prepping for the entire week. Sugar can be healthy when found in fruits and paired with fibre, but you’ll definitely need to cut back on sugary snacks and drinks in order to ensure your body’s functioning optimally.

6. Bad Habits Causing Erectile Dysfunction is Porn Addiction

Porn-Induced Erectile Dysfunction (PIED) is one of the bad habits causing erectile dysfunction, and if you find yourself looking at porn daily and needing to get your “fix”, chances are, you’re hurting your little friend down there.

It may be counterintuitive – you are getting hard after all and may even achieving an orgasm. But, porn tricks the brain in a couple ways. Firstly, it makes you think the porn actors are your sexual partners. Normally, before our modern era, humans would only have a handful and this can be problematic. Also, masturbating to an image or videos can really take a blow to your sex life. When it comes to having sex in person, your brain will be hardwired to find the feeling of your hand and the stimuli from the images and video more pleasurable.

Psychosexual therapist Angela Gregory, based at Nottingham University Hospital, has seen a surge in erectile dysfunction in younger men in their late teens and early 20’s due to unrestricted to porn sites, said:

“One of the first assessment questions I’d ask now is about pornography, because that can be the cause. Over the last 16 years, particularly the last five, I’ve seen an increase in younger men being referred.”

If you want to regain a solid, harder, and more sensational erection on command, you’ve got to break that habits causing erectile dysfunction before it’s too late.

7. Laziness, Sedentary Lifestyle

Another habit causing erectile dysfunction is being lazy or a couch potato. This should come as no surprise – having a sedentary lifestyle is directly linked to erectile dysfunction. Why? This is because when you don’t get your body moving and are constantly sitting at your desk, on the couch, etc, it restricts blood flow. Some ways to counteract this? Go to the gym. It will get your heart pumping and also boost testosterone levels naturally. Also Consider a standing desk, going for a walk each day and making it a point to walk the recommended 10,000 steps per day.

Make it a point to counteract these unproductive lifestyle choices. Erectile dysfunction doesn’t have to be forever. By simply making healthier choices and committing to a productive lifestyle, full of exercise and healthy eating habits, as well as reducing or cutting out porn from your life entirely, then you will be able to get back to having strong erections in no time.

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