A health expert and founder of Paddy Paddy Wellness, Dr. David Paddy, says over 65% of Nigerian men are at the risk of suffering from erectile dysfunction at the age of 40 and above.

Mr Paddy attributed the situation to a lack of regular exercise, continuous consumption of processed foods, and eating and resting patterns, among other unhealthy habits.

According to him, men who suffer from erectile dysfunction might be more at risk of stroke, heart disease and premature death, adding that, “It is imperative for men to take action and tackle this issue head-on before it takes a toll on their overall health and well-being.”

Dr Paddy stated this at a health sensitisation program, in Abakaliki, on Thursday.

He called for urgent measures to checkmate the issue.

He said, “The issue of erectile dysfunction is alarming because on a daily basis, I get countless questions from people asking me how they could get rid of the problem. I sent out a survey recently to know which the biggest problem men are facing currently was. And among these issues, erectile dysfunction in the form of low libido, weak erection and premature ejaculation was the highest.

“This is not surprising because in 2019, Dr. Festus from the University of Ife conducted a survey and he found out that the percentage of men suffering erectile dysfunction as of 2019 was around 44%.

” It got us thinking that if we had 44 percent of men having this issue in 2019, imagine what the number is in 2023. If you look at the statistics, you will now understand the need for us to begin to educate our men.

“Among the causes of this, we have infections, abdominal fats and low testosterone levels (which is largely attributed to age) because as you grow older your testosterone level decreases. But God has blessed us with natural herbs to take care of all these things. He has provided a lot of natural resources to increase our hormonal levels and a lot more. God knows that as you age your testosterone and hormonal level is growing low and He has provided things around us with which to increase it and thereby increase our performance. But as I said, ignorance is one of the reasons why a lot of people don’t know that these things exist, let alone use them to help themselves.

“The rate of erectile dysfunction is alarming. It’s very alarming and I can tell you this for sure. It’s increasing on a daily basis and we have to do something about it.

“Let me give you an instance as to why I said this. Clinical research or study carried out about a couple of years ago showed that the average sperm level in men was about 40 million cells. Now, a decade later it was discovered that the average number of sperm cells in men had reduced to 15 million. Can you see the huge gap? Can you see the difference? This simply tells you that there’s a problem. It should tell us that there’s a very serious silent killer on the prowl among men. This is killing men gradually, and the problem is that most men are too embarrassed to talk about it. It’s hard for men to walk up to a doctor and say I can not perform in bed. But when we put out our messages out there, it will attract them and it becomes easier for them to reach out and speak out.

“About 65% of Nigerian men are likely to suffer from the stigmatisation of having weak or no erection once they are 40 years old. This silent humiliation and suffering has given rise to an urgent need for conversation and effective solutions to address this pervasive problem,” he added.

Dr Paddy further added: “The reason why the issue of erectile dysfunction, High Blood Pressure etc. are on the rise among Nigerian men is simple. There has been a very big shift from the time of our forefathers to the time we live currently in. The lifestyle of our forefathers back then was simple. In those days, our fathers consumed chemical-free liquids. At that time they also had nothing to do with processed foods. Everything was natural for them. There were a lot of natural activities for them then-you had more people going to the farms, you had people walking kilometers and you had more people eating fresh foods, right?

“And that’s why it sounds funny when you hear people say I’m a traditional man, I’m a modern man and you also hear all these debates where some ladies say I can make fresh foods for my husband like the ancient women used to, and that if he can’t eat processed foods he can go and die. Well and of course, that’s why men are dying. This is because our mothers in those days understood these things, and even though they didn’t know the exact science, they knew the importance of having fresh foods in the body. So we are going to give credit to them as well.

“You could see that the problem is deeply rooted. Everybody is on the go. There’s no time to relax; there’s no time to meditate, there’s no time to actually work on getting rid of stress. So, all these things combined together, are the reasons why there is a serious rise in these health challenges among men.

“The new man has to go and tap into the secrets of the old man and asks, “How did the old man survive? What did the old man do differently?” Now, when we go into conversations like this, then we can start to see a new change. And if you are not fortunate to go into programs like ours, then it’s going to be a little difficult,” he said. (Daily Independent)

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