Will Cialis Help with Performance Anxiety?

Cialis pills for performance anxiety

Cialis is one of the ED medications that can help performance anxiety, but only if the anxiety is not too severe. If you worry about getting or maintaining an erection, you are not alone. Nearly one-quarter of men admit to sexual performance anxiety. Luckily, there are excellent options for overcoming performance anxiety.

In this article, we’ll talk about Cialis, how it can help treat sexual performance anxiety, as well as why it may not always work for performance anxiety.

How can Cialis help performance anxiety?

To have an erection, men need to increase blood flow to the penis.  Cialis and other phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors (PDE5 inhibitors) increase the chemical, nitric oxide, which widens penis blood vessels, effectively flooding the penis with blood.

Cialis is longer acting than other PDE5 inhibitors and is a good choice for men who want more spontaneity with sex. 

While Cialis can help men get hard, it is not sufficient. Men have to first be sexually aroused to have an erection. For example, if a man takes Cialis but is working on his taxes, he probably will not get an erection because he is neither aroused nor ready for sex.

Cialis makes a man more likely to get hard – when he is aroused. If men can focus on their partner or on pleasure, Cialis springs into action to make the penis erect. This can really help performance anxiety, as Cialis helps boost men’s confidence that they will be able to have an erection. So, the next time the man has sex, he will be more confident, more aroused and more likely to get hard.

Why may Cialis not work for performance anxiety?

Similar to being stressed about taxes, performance anxiety effectively blocks a man’s arousal. When men have anxious thoughts that distract them from the pleasures of sex, they struggle to get sexually aroused. If these anxious thoughts are overwhelming, no amount of Cialis will be able to overcome the worry to allow the man to get hard.

In this case, men must first address the performance anxiety to get back to having great sex.

How can you overcome performance anxiety if Cialis doesn’t work?

Since the first step to an erection is arousal, the key to overcoming performance anxiety is breaking the cycle of worry and distraction that blocks arousal. To do this, men must address the anxiety. One effective method is to use relaxation techniques such as mindfulness meditation.

Mindfulness meditation focus on the “now,” rather than the future or the past- where distractions and anxiety exist. That’s how mindfulness allows men to ditch distracting thoughts and get caught up in pleasure and arousal. 

A recent study of 10 men with performance anxiety indicates that mindfulness can work. After a month-long mindfulness training, they felt that their erections, sexual satisfaction, and non-judgment around sex improved. And, they continued to see results up to 6 months after the training.

Summary

Performance anxiety blocks arousal by distracting men from the pleasures of sex. While Cialis can help by making erections more likely, it doesn’t directly address the worry and anxiety. Rather, mindfulness and other relaxation techniques address performance anxiety and may be a long-lasting solution to having great sex.

About Oreoluwa Ogunyemi, MD

Urologist and Health and Wellness Coach

Dr. Ogunyemi is a medical doctor, trained urologist and a health and wellness coach. She received her medical degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Her professional background and love of writing, allow her to efficiently synthesize complex and detailed research, making it accessible to a broader audience.

She serves as a medical writer for the Between Us Clinic.