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For the roughly one in three men who complain of premature ejaculation, these exercises may help.
A regimen of tensing and relaxing the pelvic floor muscles, known as kegel exercises, has been shown to help a man ‘last’ up to two minutes longer during sexual intercourse.
These muscles become engaged when a man stops urinating mid-stream or when tightens the ring of muscle around the anus as if to control flatulence.
While kegels are nothing new to women, who may perform the exercise to address incontinence and tighten the vagina post-childbirth, they may be new to men who are taking greater notice of instructional videos online billing themselves as ‘100% effective’ at eliminating the issue of premature ejaculation in as little as two weeks.
Any medical advice that purports to be 100 percent effective should typically be met with some skepticism, but with one video gaining nearly 10 million views, kegels for men merits serious consideration.
One video making the rounds on Twitter lays out a series of exercises that work muscles in the torso. But one exercise, the kegel, is considered the ‘gold standard’ for strengthening one’s pelvic floor.
Kegels can be done discreetly, do not require specialist equipment, or even a dedicated space.
The ideal technique is by tightening the pelvic floor muscles and holding the contraction for two to three seconds. After that, relax for three seconds and repeat it a few times back to back.
While a person can reasonably perform the exercise anywhere, how long he needs to continue doing it remains an open question. They can be done sitting down, standing up or on your side.
One study, published in 2014, that detailed the benefits of kegels for men dealing with lifelong premature ejaculation compelled the male subjects to perform the exercises for about an hour three times a week for 12 weeks in order to see improvement.
In the study from the journal Therapeutic Advances in Urology, Italian doctors considered 40 men who had dealt with premature ejaculation for much of their lives.
By the end of the study, 83 percent of the patients – 33 out of 40 – had gained control of their ejaculatory reflex and were able to ‘last’ about two minutes and forty seconds as opposed to the average duration at the start of the study, about 39 seconds.
In addition to gaining popularity online through instructional videos and anecdotal reports from men who have seen results, related Google searches have exploded.
The search terms “kegel exercises for men to last longer” have exploded by more than 250 percent in the past 90 days while “benefits of kegels for men” shot up 90 percent in that time, according to Google Trends, an online tool that analyzes the popularity of search terms using real-time data.
Kegels are a mainstay treatment for premature ejaculation as well as erectile dysfunction. By working out the pelvic floor muscles, men can strengthen the muscle that support erections and improve blood flow to the penis.
Dr Brian L. Steixner, director of the Institute for Men’s Health at Jersey Urology Group told GQ: “There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t teach Kegels to at least five guys for various conditions.”
Pelvic floor exercises strengthen the ischiocavernosus and bulbospongiosus muscles which play key roles in forming and maintaining an erection as well as expelling semen during ejaculation. Kegels can, over time, help a man gain the ability to contract the muscles responsible for ejaculation on command.
The exact definition of premature ejaculation varies by study with some experts defining it as occurring when male orgasm occurs within one minute of vaginal penetration, while others suggest that anything less than four minutes is premature.
Regardless of the duration, premature ejaculation occurs sooner than the man and his partner would like.
The problem is exceedingly common, affecting between 30 to 40 percent of men. The exact cause is not yet clear but the condition is believed to be at least partially psychological.
A variety of psychological factors come into play in a case of a man with lifelong premature ejaculation, including anxiety, severe stress, depression and low self-esteem.
And while it can be harmful to a man’s emotional wellbeing and self-esteem, as well as those of his partner with whom he is physically intimate, most men never seek treatment for it.
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