How to keep an erection without medication

Wondering how to keep an erection without medication? There are quite a few things you can do on a daily basis that will make it easier to get (and keep) an erection while improving your overall health at the same time. After all, your physical health and erectile function go hand-in-hand. 

Read on to learn what steps you can take to get harder and longer-lasting erections naturally — and what to do if all else fails.  

When it comes to getting harder and longer-lasting erections, long-term lifestyle changes are a great choice. Exercise and diet, among other ways to get an erection sans meds, may be easier next steps than you think. (And, at the end of the day, there’s no shame in getting a little help from medications, too.)

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Since your blood vessels need to deliver blood to your penis to create a firm erection, any disruption in blood flow to your penis can make it hard to get…hard. 

If you have a personal or family history of heart disease, getting a regular check-up with your primary care provider or getting seen by a specialist might be the first step in determining if you have an underlying issue. 

Your healthcare provider will also be able to evaluate you for any conditions that can affect nerve function, such as diabetes. Diabetes and prediabetes are very common and frequently underdiagnosed. They can result in high levels of sugar in your bloodstream, which can damage the nerves and blood vessels that play an outsized role in getting an erection. 

Finally, if you have overweight or obesity, you’re more likely to have erectile dysfunction (ED). So weight management, in addition to its benefits for your heart and other systems, can offer the added benefit of a better time in the bedroom. 

In the long term, heavy alcohol use damages the blood vessels, boosting the chances of ED. In the short term, it depresses your central nervous system, which can sometimes help decrease inhibition, but you can also run the risk of potentially decreasing overall arousal. 

For most men, having one drink won't significantly impact sexual performance. However, it’s a good idea to limit yourself to a max of two drinks before sexual activity, especially if you’ve experienced ED in the past. Plus, drinking heavily while taking ED medication is not advised because of the increased risk of low blood pressure and headaches. 

While the exact connection between marijuana and tobacco use and erectile dysfunction remains unclear, there have been multiple studies that indicate that ED is more common among people who use marijuana regularly. Plus, there’s good evidence that smoking cigarettes decreases sexual function. So if you’re having trouble getting it up, scaling back in the smoking department might help. With tobacco in particular, extensive blood vessel damage is a known effect of chronic smoking, and without proper blood flow, erectile strength can be curbed.

You've likely heard this one before: Exercise is good for you. And while it may seem like boring medical advice to tell you to exercise regularly, cardiovascular health and erections are intimately linked, and exercise can help both. 

The blood vessels in your penis are smaller and narrower than the arteries in other parts of your body. What that means is that they’ll be among the first to clog. The first sign of high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol, and clogged arteries may not be a stroke or a heart attack. It could be erectile dysfunction. 

Studies link atherosclerosis — the buildup of fat, cholesterol, and calcium plaques in your blood vessels — to erectile dysfunction. Diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and high cholesterol increase the risk for atherosclerosis and erectile dysfunction. 

The good news is that regular physical activity reduces your risk for cardiovascular disease and for ED. Talk about a good reason to sweat through a spin class! 

When it comes to erections, you are what you eat. (Maybe that eggplant emoji is secretly genius.) To be fair, no food can fix erectile dysfunction. Still, a healthy diet can help manage risk factors for atherosclerosis, obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes, which may also help stave off erection problems. 

Some research has shown that a Mediterranean diet, including fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats, is associated with a lower risk of ED. The added bonus about eating a healthy diet is that you don't necessarily have to lose weight to get better erections. You just have to improve the quality of the food you eat.

Several large, peer-reviewed studies have linked a healthy diet to reduced risk for ED — not to mention other conditions, such as type 2 diabetes and obesity. Everyone is different, so not every diet will work for you. You can experiment with plans like the Mediterranean diet, or just follow these guidelines to find a hybrid eating plan that works for you. 

But remember, start small. Don't try to change everything about your habits in one huge overhaul.

Eat more of these:

• Fruits

• Vegetables

• Whole grains

• Legumes

Eat less of these:

• Red meat (processed and unprocessed)

• Processed foods

• High-sugar drinks (like soda)

If you haven’t been prioritizing getting a good night’s sleep, now’s the time to change that. Research suggests that poor sleep and ED go hand in hand. Sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome have both been linked to ED. 

Even if you don’t have a sleep disorder, poor sleep may be contributing to your ED. One study found that men with ED were more likely to score lower on several measures related to sleep health, including:

• How long it took them to fall asleep

• Total sleep time

• Total time spent in deep sleep

• Total time spent in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep

A growing body of evidence suggests short sleep (regularly getting 6 or fewer hours of sleep) in general may be a risk factor for ED. It’s also linked to many of the health issues that can contribute to ED, such as heart disease and obesity. 

Getting better sleep may not only improve your erections, but your overall health as well. So, do what you can to get a healthy 7–9 hours of sleep per night, starting with going to bed early enough to get that much sleep. Other sleep hygiene tips include:

• Avoiding naps during the day

• Limiting your caffeine intake in the evening

• Exercising regularly

• Getting enough sunlight during the day

• Limiting your screen time before bed

ED on its own is stressful enough, but here’s one more thing to stress about: the more stressed out you are, the harder it may be to get hard. Stress and mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety, have a strong overlap with ED. One small study even found a correlation between burnout and sexual dysfunction in men. 

Men with anxiety disorders have a higher likelihood of developing more severe ED, in part due to the medications they may take to manage their anxiety. 

If your stress is disrupting your daily life, get help. Cognitive behavioral therapy can help you better manage your stress, anxiety, and depression. At home, you can also practice stress management techniques to ease your mind and help you relax. These may include:

• Deep breathing exercises

• Mindfulness exercises

• Progressive muscle relaxation

• Guided imagery or visualization

• Meditation 

Pelvic floor exercises, sometimes referred to simply as kegels, may also help you get harder erections without medication, according to a meta-review of 10 studies. 

In one study, 87% of men with ED experienced harder erections after 20 sessions of pelvic floor exercises coupled with electrical stimulation, though different studies of similar interventions showed varying results.

Here’s a sample technique for how to perform pelvic floor exercises, though guidance sometimes varies:

• Tense up as if you were trying to stop yourself from peeing or passing gas. The muscles you’re contracting are your pelvic floor.

• Hold the contraction for three seconds.

• Release and relax for three seconds.

• Repeat for 10–15 reps.

Experts recommend performing kegels three times a day, for about 5 minutes each session.

While we wish we could wave a magic wand and help you get and maintain an erection for 30 minutes (or however long you and your partner would like for satisfying sex), the natural path to hard erections takes a bit of work. 

That’s because fixing your erections from the inside out is really all about taking care of your health. You can never go wrong with a healthy diet, exercise, stress management, and better sleep hygiene — but it’s no secret these efforts take, well, effort. 

If you need some extra help with your erections while you tackle your underlying health, medications like Viagra (sildenafil) and Cialis (tadalafil) work very well for most men. Both drugs fall under a category of medications called PDE5 inhibitors, which relax blood vessels and increase blood to the penis, helping you get and maintain an erection. 

You can also find the active ingredients of Viagra and Cialis in other formulations. For example, Ro Sparks is a lozenge containing both sildenafil and tadalafil that dissolves under your tongue for quick, long-lasting effects. And Daily Rise Gummies are fruit-flavored gummies with a daily dose of tadalafil, so you can be ready for sex 24/7.*

There’s no shame in getting some extra help, and Ro makes it easy to get that help discreetly and safely from the comfort of your own home. 

*While these last two options are not specifically approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), their active ingredients (tadalafil and/or sildenafil) are individually FDA-approved for treating ED.

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Your overall health and your ability to get and maintain erections are very closely linked. By tending to your physical and mental health, you can improve your sexual functioning. As for how to keep an erection naturally? Here’s what to keep in mind: 

• Practicing overall healthy habits, such as eating a balanced diet, exercising regularly, and getting enough high-quality sleep, can help you get and keep better erections naturally. 

• Tending to your mental health — i.e. managing stress, trying psychotherapy, and addressing underlying mental health conditions — can also positively impact your erectile function — and often naturally. 

• Lifestyle changes, such as quitting smoking and limiting alcohol intake, can also help you combat ED and naturally promote better, stronger erections.

• If lifestyle changes and improved overall health aren’t making a difference for your erections, consult a healthcare provider. They may prescribe a medication like Viagra to help you get and stay hard.