Our Ultimate Guide To Performance Anxiety: How To Overcome It

It is not uncommon for men to experience performance anxiety in the bedroom. In fact, performance anxiety affects men of all ages resulting in erectile dysfunction (ED) or premature ejaculation (PE) during or even before the beginning of any sexual activity.

Why does it happen? Why do men struggle with it?  The most common answer to both these questions stems from a range of physical and psychological factors. Whether it be negative thoughts regarding your sexual performance, self-esteem or body issues and even nervousness about engaging in sexual activity, which is completely normal. Everyone gets nervous, and that’s ok.

What is the scientific term for it?

Performance Anxiety.

How Bad Is It?

When you become anxious, your body gets an adrenaline rush which might cause shortness of breath or increased heart rate. This is the body's physical reaction, so you respond to the situation in the best way possible.  Anxiety can become a concern when it starts affecting your performance.

For instance, anxiety can manifest into sexual performance anxiety, in which you find it more difficult to maintain an erection or even enjoy simple sexual activities with your partner. Some of the most common side effects of this anxiety are erectile dysfunction or premature ejaculation.

Other Problems Caused By Performance Anxiety

Erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation are not the only issues performance anxiety can cause. Performance anxiety may also cause low sex drives and psychological issues such as low confidence, stress and depression, which in effect can lower quality of life.

Everyone has sexual fantasies they want to experiment in the bedroom. It’s a great way to spice things up in the bedroom and keep the relationship new and exciting. However, when we focus on making the night as perfect as possible, our mind is not in the moment. This might be stressful as you'll be worried about how well you are able to perform. This may also affect your relationship with your intimate partner as you’ll be hesitant to initiate something new in the bedroom, which could dull your sex life.

As mentioned above, the cause of performance anxiety can be linked to our psychological thoughts. This can manifest in our physical life and affect how well we perform during sex, ultimately leading to erectile dysfunction or premature ejaculation. This might also make one feel sexually inadequate, which could take a toll on their mental health.

Symptoms Of Performance Anxiety

If you find yourself feeling anxious or nervous before sexual activity for a long period of time, you may be suffering from performance anxiety. Some of the following symptoms include:

• Continuous palpation and restlessness
• Fast heartbeats and fatigue
• No concentration and focus
• Being grumpy and irritable
• Muscular contraction and tension
• Overwhelmed and no control over emotions
• Sleep disorder, such as insomnia or lack of a good night's sleep

How To Overcome Performance Anxiety

You can overcome performance anxiety by seeking the advice of a psychologist or sexologist  for cognitive behavioural disorder or sex therapy.

A psychologist can provide you with professional help and order tests such as an anxiety test to help you further understand your anxiety and assist you with cognitive behaviour therapies.

Whereas, sexologists specialise in sex therapy and can further guide and assist you in your journey to better understanding intimacy and physical difficulties, sexual connection, performance anxiety and more.

They are authorised to provide expert advice and work with Doctors, such as ours at Men’s Health Clinic to help facilitate prescribing medicine to improve sexual performance while at the same time advocating holistic therapies, exercises and diets for performance anxiety through concentrated knowledge and education.

• Get Sex Education

Getting formal sex education can help create mental and sexual consciousness. It addresses many unanswered issues in the field of sexual health and helps people solve their sexual problems for both men and women.

Sex education also eliminates stereotypes and stigmas that could have been an issue in past relationships. Instead, being educated about sex alters the way you think about sex so when sexual dysfunction does occur in the bedroom, you are equipped with the knowledge to know when to reach out for help.

• Assessments For Anxiety Analysis

Getting anxiety analysis helps men learn how sexual fantasies differ from reality. By means of some simple tests, it helps you understand their basic cause of fears during sex and the link to performance anxiety in the bedroom.

These assessments provide professionals with the information to help you regain trust in yourself and address your concerns.

Eventually, remedies are suggested to patients based on their assessments. The recommended solution can help regain your trust and confidence in yourself, resulting in you being more attentive to your partner’s sexual needs.

• Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)

CBT helps a patient to focus on the symptoms that are the major sources of stress. As discussed above, stress is one of the major sources of performance anxiety that gives rise to ED and PE problems. CBT not only helps you to mitigate performance anxiety, but it also helps you to find a suitable solution to overcome it.

• Exercise, Exercise, Exercise!

Exercise not only keeps you fit and productive but also helps you boost your game in the bedroom. Exercises like pilates, kegeling, pelvic flooring and cardio can be a game-changer when it comes to your sex life.

However, it is recommended that you see a doctor before starting these exercises. Doctors can assess your current health condition and advise accordingly, keeping in view the problems at hand: ED and PE. Men’s Health Clinic has the best sex experts and trained doctors in the country when it comes to sexual health, so don’t hesitate to reach out!

• Eat Healthy

A good and healthy diet is directly related to the well being of a person’s mental and physical health. This automatically increases the chances of having a healthy sex drive. 

The following foods are recommended to keep yourself physically, mentally and sexually sound.

• Fruits: Avocados, watermelon, raspberries and strawberries.
• Almonds and walnut: walnuts are proven to be the most effective in increasing sex drive and also for improving sperm motility and quality.
• Green vegetables and broccoli are great libido boosters.
• Meat products
• Oysters as the highest level of mineral Zinc is present in them, which improves sexual desires.
  

An Easy Way Forward

All it takes is your will. The will to fight the stigma, the stereotypes, and most importantly, your fears surrounding sexual anxiety. If you let it consume you, it will not only have a negative impact on yourself but also on your partner and relationship as well. 

Always think positively and look for remedies and therapies that might help you overcome performance anxiety.

If you suspect that you might be suffering from Erectile Dysfunction or Premature Ejaculation, we recommend you to take our quiz on this which is developed by leading sexual health experts.