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DR MICHAEL MOSLEY: Why cycling and hayfever pills can be bad news for a man's love life... but flossing keeps it perky!

By Dr Michael Mosley for the Daily Mail

Published: 00:44 BST, 9 July 2022 | Updated: 00:48 BST, 9 July 2022

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As a keen cyclist I read with interest — and some alarm — research from Poland this week suggesting that male cyclists are at risk of erectile problems and possibly infertility.

The problem is that riding a bike can put pressure on the Alcock canal (yes, that really is its name), a part of the male anatomy that contains nerves and arteries that feed the genital area, causing loss of sensation and other problems.

Riding a bike can also lead to local atherosclerosis, a thickening of the arteries that could, in the long term, reduce the blood supply to this precious organ, according to the Boston School of Sexual Medicine.

This is no small issue — the number of people who cycle is rising. According to the charity Cycling UK, in 2018, 11 per cent of UK adults cycled at least once a week, rising to 20 per cent (nearly 11 million) in 2020. And surveys suggest the great majority of them are men, although this gap is narrowing.

So how real are the risks? Well, there is good news and bad news.
The problem is that riding a bike can put pressure on the Alcock canal (yes, that really is its name), a part of the male anatomy that contains nerves and arteries that feed the genital area, causing loss of sensation and other problems

The problem is that riding a bike can put pressure on the Alcock canal (yes, that really is its name), a part of the male anatomy that contains nerves and arteries that feed the genital area, causing loss of sensation and other problems

When researchers from the New England Research Institutes asked more than 1,700 American men about their cycling habits, they found that men who cycled for less than three hours a week (that’s me), not only didn’t have a problem, but that modest levels of cycling seemed to be positively good for their sex lives, with 40 per cent less chance of suffering from erectile dysfunction than those who never cycle. Hurrah!

The news wasn’t so great for keen cyclists, who were 70 per cent more likely than non-cyclists to have moderate or severe erectile dysfunction.

It’s not just men — with women, there is some evidence that lots of time spent in the saddle can lead to problems such as urinary tract infections, though not any obvious negative impact on their sex lives.

(In the meantime, my middle-aged male friends who are enthusiastic cyclists all recommend switching to saddles with a shorter ‘nose’, or preferably none at all.)

To be fair, although erectile dysfunction is a common and distressing condition for men, cycling is not up there as a leading cause.

Nor is wearing tight trousers, despite the popular belief that it is. Yes, if you wear very tight trousers for long periods of time then you might reduce the blood supply to your essential parts, but I can’t find any specific research on this, and it doesn’t seem to have slowed down Sir Mick Jagger.

Most cases of erectile dysfunction are actually caused by smoking (which doubles your risk), high blood pressure (which also doubles your risk), excessive drinking, being overweight and stress — all in some way affecting blood flow, nerve sensitivity and or hormones such as testosterone.

So the obvious answer, if you have erectile problems (or wish to prevent them) is to stop smoking, lose weight, drink less, reduce your blood pressure and try to manage your stress.

Other things that help include eating a Mediterranean-style diet, flossing your teeth and avoiding certain medications, such as antihistamines (for allergies) and nasal decongestants (especially those that contain pseudoephedrine). Evidence for the benefits of the Mediterranean-style diet comes from a study of 250 Greek men with high blood pressure, carried out by the University of Athens in 2021.