Do you suffer from

Ejaculation can be called ‘premature’ if it happens less than 2 minutes into having penetrative sex. But, the official times for what’s classed as ‘premature’ ejaculation can change between different countries, cultures, and healthcare experts. Still, most experts agree that if sex lasts less than 2 minutes, and ejaculation occurs, then it can be called a premature ejaculation.

Whether or not you decide to look for medical treatment for premature ejaculation is a personal choice. If your ejaculation time is causing you or your partner distress, you could look into treatment or techniques to improve it.

There are no night sweats or hot flashes. The effects of decreased testosterone production, loss of muscle mass, lack of energy, decreased libido, and overall reduction in sense of well-being are real, but they are often thought to be just part of ageing and we generally accept it. 

Finally, if you’re prone to premature ejaculation, you may benefit from using condoms designed to delay ejaculation.

These are often labeled as “stamina” or “extended pleasure” condoms. They tend to be slightly thicker than regular condoms and sometimes have a mild topical anesthetic applied to the side of the condom that comes into contact with your penis.

In addition to potentially slowing down ejaculation, using condoms provides an additional layer of protection against many sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Secondary premature ejaculation is often caused by stress, anxiety, and/or depression. Psychological factors like these are all strongly linked with sexual dysfunctions, including premature ejaculation. Research has shown that in men who ejaculate prematurely, there is a strong link with depression. Other factors include relationship issues, personal conflicts, and performance-related anxiety.

There are also physical causes of secondary premature ejaculation, including:

• Thyroid problems
• High blood pressure
• Prostate disease
• Binge drinking
• Conditions like multiple sclerosis or nerve damage

Relationship issues are also seen as a common cause of premature ejaculation. Relationship causes of premature ejaculation can be a ‘vicious circle’, particularly if the partner is not supportive. This can lead to an even higher level of anxiety and fear of failure. If relationship problems are a cause of premature ejaculation, it may be due to:

• Different sexual needs
• Anxiety around sexual satisfaction
• Lack of communication
• Fear of sex

Primary premature ejaculation will happen the very first time a person has sex, and will happen every time afterwards. Psychological factors are often common causes of lifelong premature ejaculation. This is compared to men who have secondary premature ejaculation, where the causes can sometimes be physical.

Causes of primary premature ejaculation include:

• Psychological issues: some men who have experienced childhood trauma related to sex can cause them to become overly anxious about sex
• Culture: an individual’s culture can cause lifelong premature ejaculation, particularly if sex is taught to be inappropriate or shameful
• Conditioning: some men become conditioned when ejaculating, which can cause lifelong premature ejaculation. For example, some men condition themselves to ejaculate quickly during adolescence to avoid being caught, which leads to ejaculating too quickly with a partner

Sometimes, the easiest way to increase your time to ejaculation is to simply masturbate shortly before you plan to have sex.

While there’s no scientific evidence to support this method (not surprisingly, finding a group of subjects willing to participate is a challenge for researchers), many men find that masturbation shortly before sex is an effective way to delay orgasm and stop premature ejaculation.

The idea behind this approach is that during the refractory period (a recovery phase that occurs after orgasm), most men won’t be able to orgasm for a little while.

There’s some debate about the male refractory period in the sexual medicine community, and the approach is largely unproven.

Still, it’s a simple, inexpensive and low-risk method you can try to slow the process of reaching orgasm and prevent yourself from ejaculating too soon.

Sometimes changing what you think about during sex can help delay orgasm so you can avoid ejaculating prematurely.

This method is often referred to as diversionary thinking. The theory is that by thinking about things other than sex, you’re less likely to reach the level of mental stimulation required to reach orgasm and ejaculate.

Common diversionary techniques include counting backwards from 100 or thinking about boring and unarousing subjects such as filing your taxes.

While some may find diversionary thinking to be helpful, there’s no scientific research on its effectiveness.

There’s also a downside in that it can reduce the pleasure of having sex by taking you out of the moment.