One thing that men struggle with as they get older is erectile dysfunction. This sexual disorder in men is usually linked to cardiovascular diseases and a lot of men feel as if their erectile dysfunction is a result of something they did. There has even been the release of drugs such as Viagra and Levitra to help men cope with this sexual disorder. But what if the individual male patient isn’t the problem? What if male erectile dysfunction has nothing to do with anything they personally did? What if erectile dysfunction is evolutionary?
The first thing we should go over is how erectile dysfunction could possibly be evolutionary. This article states that because erectile dysfunction negatively effects a male’s ability to reproduce, it is considered to play an evolutionary role. The article states that erectile dysfunction correlates with age which means the older you get, the more likely you are to obtain erectile dysfunction. I think this is because the older a male gets, the more weak his sperm becomes and erectile dysfunction kicks in and prevents the weak sperm from being able to fertilize an egg. Therefore, evolution has created a biological mechanism that prevents weak sperm from being able to create weak and potentially mutated offspring.
Healthy sperm vs. unhealthy sperm.
A different article says that erectile dysfunction can be caused by stress in men but I would have to disagree with that notion. First of all, there are no credible source materials that test the effect stress has on a male experiencing erectile dysfunction. This means that the article is not very legitimate and so I can not help but disagree with the theory. And second of all, there is another article that takes a different approach to my argument that helps to disprove the theory that erectile dysfunction is caused by stress. The article I am referring to says that extravagant physical traits are given to males in order for them to become an ideal mate choice. These physical traits can only be acquired through healthy and strong sperm during the fertilization process. Evolution needs a lot of males with these physical traits in order to keep the population rising steadily. The more extravagant the physical traits that a male has, the more superior they are in phenotypic quality which makes them much more attractive to the women who carry the eggs that must be fertilized. This long evolutionary process of reproduction is what our population has depended on for so long. “In particular, the preferred traits can be expressed only in individuals with superior conditions…” (pubmed.gov). These superior conditions can be defined as healthy sperm from a young male. Erectile dysfunction is the logical next step in evolution in order to keep old and sick men from being able to reproduce males (or even females) with no extravagant physical traits.
There was actually a randomized survey-based observational study conducted in Massachusetts that attempted to figure out just how normal erectile dysfunction was. The sample size was 776 respondents and they all lived in the same community. The age group of the sample size was 40 to 70 years old. The study took place from 1987 to 1989 and many third variables were accounted for such as if the participants smoked, what their medical histories were, and if they had any diseases. Another important thing that they accounted for was the participant’s sociodemographic background. This means that different demographics were represented in the study and that helps with coming to a correct conclusion. This study came to many different conclusions. But the biggest correlation they found proved that erectile dysfunction in males has a strong relationship with old age. So we can conclude that one of the major reasons for erectile dysfunction in males is old age. I will admit, however, that this study could possibly suffer from the Texas Sharp Shooter problem. This is because the study was also looking into many other causes for erectile dysfunction other than just old age. An example of the other causes being tested was heart disease. This could mean that their biggest conclusion could simply be a consequence of them looking at so many different variables at once making them bound to find something.
Different variables being tested in the Massachusetts Male Aging Study.
But, nonetheless, this conclusion (as well as many other scholarly articles) supports my theory that erectile dysfunction is evolutionary. The older a male gets, the less potent and optimal his sperm is. Erectile dysfunction helps keep aged sperm from being able to fertilize eggs and create offspring that won’t have the extravagant physical traits necessary to be an asset to the growth of the population.
Data for the Massachusetts Male Aging Study.
The take home message is that erectile dysfunction seems to not just be a random act of nature. In fact, it is a way in which nature ensures that the population stays growing by increasing the amount of strong males that can create even more strong males. It is a part of the process of evolution. Men whose sperm that is no longer able to positively effect the population experience the inability to have productive sex lives. Viagra and Levitra are ways to only temporarily fix the problem of not getting an erection. There is an actual reason as to why some men are no longer able to get erections and my theory is that it has something to do with evolution.
IMAGES:
http://sites.amarillasinternet.com/marcosrobertovasquez/disfuncion_erectil.html
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/00/slides/3602s1a/sld013.htm
http://www.herballove.com/guide/male-infertility-caused-unhealthy-sperm