healthmedicinet

For about one in three men who complain of premature ejaculation, these exercises can 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 intercourse.

These muscles become involved when a man stops urinating midstream or when the ring of muscle around the anus tightens, as if to control flatulence.

While kegels are nothing new to women, who may be doing the exercise to deal with incontinence and tighten the vagina after childbirth, they may be new to men who pay more attention to how-to videos online in eliminating the problem of premature ejaculation in just two weeks.

Any medical advice claiming to be 100 percent effective should typically be met with some skepticism, but with one video having nearly 10 million views, kegels for men deserve serious consideration.

A video doing the rounds on Twitter shows a series of exercises that work the muscles in the trunk. But one exercise, the kegel, is considered the “gold standard” for strengthening the pelvic floor.

Kegels can be done discreetly, don’t require specialized equipment or even a dedicated room.

The ideal technique is to tighten the pelvic floor muscles and hold the contraction for two to three seconds. Then relax for three seconds and repeat back to back a few times.

While a person can reasonably perform the exercise anywhere, it remains an open question how long to continue it. They can be done sitting, standing, or on your side.

A study published in 2014 detailing the benefits of kegels for men dealing with lifelong premature ejaculation forced male subjects to perform the exercises for about an hour three times a week for 12 weeks to see improvement .

In the study from the journal Therapeutic advances in urologyItalian doctors considered 40 men who had experienced premature ejaculation for much of their lives.

At the end of the study, 83 percent of the patients?33 out of 40?had gotten their ejaculatory reflex under control and could “last it” for 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 how-to videos and anecdotal reports of men seeing results, related Google searches have exploded.

The search terms “kegel exercises for men to last longer” are up more than 250 percent in the past 90 days, while “benefits of kegels for men” are 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 for treating premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction. By training the pelvic floor muscles, men can strengthen the muscles 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: “Not a day goes by that I don’t teach Kegels to at least five boys for various ailments.”

Pelvic floor exercises strengthen the ischiocavernosus and bulbospongiosus muscles, which play a key role in forming and maintaining an erection and expelling sperm 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 some experts define it as occurring when a male orgasm occurs within a minute of vaginal penetration, while others suggest 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 extremely common, affecting between 30 and 40 percent of men. The exact cause is not yet clear, but it is believed that the condition is at least partly psychological.

A variety of psychological factors come into play in a man with lifelong premature ejaculation, including anxiety, severe stress, depression, and low self-esteem.

And while it can be detrimental to a man’s emotional well-being and self-esteem, as well as that of his partner with whom he is physically intimate, most men never seek treatment for it.