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Ten-hut! The Grindr Guide on How to Get Hard

For a lot of people with penises, when we become consciously aware of our hard-ons once we’re out of diapers, they’re like a new best friend. They're always around, even when you don't want them to be. They pop up unexpectedly here, there, and everywhere: in the middle of Spanish class, at a family dinner, and whenever your first crush looks in your general direction. Getting hard sounds like a simple equation. Think about sex, and voilà! But boners are a complex, biological process. Stiffies always begin in the brain. Arousal occurs when sexual stimulation hits your senses, like spotting a caked-up cutie doing hip thrusts or feeling your partner's hands graze your body. Your brain thinks, "Sex!"…

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 Stress, sleep and supplements: We asked doctors how to (actually) make your erection stronger

For all the myths out there about drink and diet, there are ways you can help using your body and mind.

Articles of Interest

Boner 101 - The Top 8 Types of Erections That Men Experience

If you are someone who has a penis, chances are you have experienced a boner (whether welcomed or not). While an erection is defined by the dictionary as an enlarged and rigid state of the penis, typically caused by sexual excitement, there are plenty of other reasons for getting hard.

ED 101: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Your Hard On (Or Lack Thereof)

As someone who works in the sexual health space, I get asked about erections and erectile dysfunction more than anything else. It’s amazing how little men know about their hard-ons. Erections are something that, when things are working right, we take for granted and don’t appreciate the dynamic environment at work during sexual arousal. Men also tend to be equally misinformed about erectile dysfunction (ED).

Erection Changes After 50: The Facts

Based on junk email and ads for erection drugs, you'd think that every man over 50 has erectile dysfunction (ED). No way. But the news media have done a poor job of elucidating what happens to the erections of older men. Here's what men—and the women who love them—need to know:

Erections and staying hard

An erection is when the spongy tissue of the penis fills with blood and becomes hard. Erections can happen if you are thinking about or experiencing something arousing, and also if erogenous zones are stimulated.

Erections: what we learned from mice could help with sexual health in men

Our research unveils a mechanism for controlling penile erections, opening the door for further exploration to understand and improve sexual health.

Health Check: why men wake up with erections

The morning penile erection, or as it is medically known, “nocturnal penile tumescence”, is not only an interesting physiological phenomenon, it can also tell us a lot about a patient’s sexual function. Morning penile erections affect all males, even males in the womb and male children. It also has a female counterpart in the less frequently discussed nocturnal clitoral erection.

How long can the average person stay erect?

Erections most often occur during sexual arousal but can sometimes also happen randomly. Often, an erection lasts from a few minutes to half an hour, but this varies between individuals, as many factors can affect it.

Nocturnal Penile Tumescence: Why Do Men Wake Up with an Erection?

How many times have you wondered why men wake up with an erection? Popularly known in slang as morning wood – there are many misconceptions about how these could be due to being in a state of sexual arousal. But we are here to drop some scientific truth bombs. Guess what? Getting morning wood or penile erection is perfectly normal and natural. And no, it is not necessarily caused by sexual arousal or wet dreams.

Penile erection and cardiovascular function: effects and pathophysiology

Penile erection (PE) is a haemodynamic event [Citation1] that results from a neuroendocrine process, involving the stimulation of elevated arterial blood flow and restricted venous return to the corpus cavernosum that culminates in the depolarization of the corpus cavernosum smooth muscle and erection. This process is influenced by and may also influence cardiovascular function.

Physiology of Penile Erection—A Brief History of the Scientific Understanding up till the Eighties of the 20th Century

Today, we know that penile erection is a complex physiologic process that occurs through a cascade of neurologic, vascular, and humoral events. This cascade is initiated by auditory, visual, and olfactory signals and local stimuli of the penis. Erection begins with an increased flow in the pudendal arteries and dilatation of the cavernous arteries and helicine arterioles in association with relaxation of the smooth muscles of the trabecular network causing engorgement of blood in the corpora. This leads to compression of subtunical venules by the resistant tunica albuginea. This knowledge is common sense in the 21st century, but one should realize that current understanding of penile physiology has gone through a long evolutionary process.

The Science and Practise of Erection Physiology...

The science of penile erection was advanced significantly in the 1980s, commencing with the recognition that physical causes associated with cardiovascular and other health comorbidity states substantially account for the pathophysiology of erectile dysfunction (2,3). Before that time, erectile function was largely related to psychological factors, and erectile dysfunction was believed to be primarily a psychologically based disorder.

The Secrets of a Good Erection

An erection is a surprisingly complex process. It begins in the brain, which sends chemical messages to the nerves in the penis. The blood vessels relax, blood flows in and then, high pressure traps the blood within the corpora cavernosa. It all occurs within seconds and then, voila, an erection! Unfortunately, that process can be complicated by all kinds of factors, including anatomy, illness, or something as simple as the wrong vibe. This infographic looks at some of the key factors that affect the ability to get - and stay - hard, and provides some handy tips on what men can do to ensure they're always ready to perform at their best.

What are erections?

Remember those two sponge-like tissues, or corpora, that make up the interior of the penis? When someone with a penis is sexually stimulated, blood will flow to the penis and fill up those erectile tissues, causing them to expand and become firm — in other words, causing the penis to go from flaccid (soft) to erect (hard). “In a penis, when a person becomes aroused, the corpora fill with blood, filling up most of the shaft,” Dr. Horwitz says, adding that this helps the penis stay firm enough for penetrative sex. But just because erections happen when you’re turned on doesn’t mean they can’t happen for other reasons too.

Why Morning Erections Are Good For You

There’s no need to be embarrassed about morning erections. They’re completely normal and a sign of health in various areas of the body. The medical name for morning erections is nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT). Your morning erection is the last in a series of nocturnal erections that occurred while you were sleeping. They’re caused by regular functioning of the male reproductive system combined with REM sleep.

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StatPearls

The physiology of an erection can break down into arterial dilation and venous occlusion. In most cases, tumescence occurs following sexual stimulation. This process triggers sympathetic inhibition, parasympathetic activation, and release of pro-erectogenic neurotransmitters from cavernous nerves. The activation of the parasympathetic nerves leads to reduced intracellular calcium levels, causing cavernosal and arterial smooth muscle relaxation. This effect increases blood flow by approximately 20 to 40 times the expanding sinusoids of the corpora cavernosa. As these sinusoids enlarge, the outer portions of corpora near the tunica albuginea start to occlude venous outflow. The emissary veins get compressed between the sinusoids and the inelastic portion of tunica albuginea and help maintain tumescence.