Study: Snoring Linked to Erectile Dysfunction

According to a scientific study by the German Sleep Society, snoring and flaccid penises are directly related.

“Seventy percent of sleep apnea patients have erectile dysfunction,” project leader Martin Konermann said while presenting the group's findings over the weekend in Kassel.

With both snoring and erectile dysfunction, the same regulatory functions are at work in the veins, Konermann said. The same blood flow mechanism that creates an erection also ensures that the airway remains clear during sleep. “When that doesn’t function, people snore and the blood flow to the penis or labia doesn’t occur.”

Every healthy man has erections in his sleep, which sometimes last up to an hour. It is simply the body’s way of regularly testing circulation “the way cars need a regular brake test,” Konermann said.

"Glad to see you? No Ma'am, just testing the brakes."

On the serious side, one has to assume that solving the snoring problem would also promote successful brake tests.

Fortunately, the British National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has been made aware of the adverse health effects of snoring and has taken the issue under advisement with one proposed solution having received some media attention in the recent past.

Continuous positive airways pressure (CPAP) devices (example pictured), costing from $800 to $1,200, have been presented as remedies for sufferers of sleep apnea and snoring. Of course, correcting the snoring problem would also presumably help men with erectile dysfunction.

Frankly, though, if a man attempted to wear one of the remarkably unromantic devices while making use of an erection, he would probably be flying solo.