Page 5 - IAV Digital Magazine #429

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Pilot Study Finds Gamers Have Lower Levels of Premature Ejaculation
By Eric W. Dolan
Italian scientists have found a link between gaming and lower levels of premature ejacula- tion.
The preliminary study, published online June 1 in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, examined the relationship between playing video games and sexual health in adult men.
“I am interested in this topic as I’ve always been a gamer,” explained the study’s corre- sponding author, Andrea Sansone of Sapienza University of Rome. “Since I graduated from medical school and during my residency I’ve tried to merge my passion for video games and my inter- est in male sexual health – so when I figured out a pilot study on the effects of gaming on prema-
ture ejaculation and erectile dysfunction I was the happiest man on Earth!”
Sansone and his colleagues found that gamers were less likely to report premature ejacula- tion compared to non-gamers. But gamers also report- ed lower levels of sexual desire on average.
There was no differ- ence between gamers and non-
gamers when it came to erectile function and orgas- mic function in gen- eral.
Playing videos games could reduce premature ejacula- tion by altering the brain’s reward sys- tem, the researchers explained in their study. Or the reduced sex drive could make prema- ture ejaculation less likely. “We could suppose a relation between less inter- est toward sexual activities in men who mostly use videogames and positive psychologi- cal effects on ejacu- latory control,” they wrote. But the researchers were not able to directly examine this.
“I’d like my col- leagues to consider assessing video game use (and abuse) during evalu- ations of male sexu- al dysfunctions,” Sansone told PsyPost. “For the general population, I’d like everybody to understand that while video games
are fun, an exces- sive use of them might actually have consequences on the most intimate aspects of their life.”
The findings are based on 396 Italian men between the ages of 18 and 50 who completed a survey that assessed their sexu- al functioning and other factors. Most of the men, 287 of them, reported play- ing video games while the remaining 109 did not.
Sansone said his study had some limi- tations, particularly the lack of medical history of the partici- pants and the use of anonymous self- reported question- naires to collect data. “However, there is also another aspect to be careful- ly considered: Are all games equal? Is an hour of MiniMetro as stressful as a 60- minutes match of League of Legends? And is that going to cause any differ- ence?”
The study also used
a cross-sectional design, preventing the researchers from making any infer- ences about cause and effect.
“I think this is an exciting new field of research, and besides being proud for the academic result I’m also very happy as a nerd!” Sansone said. “I’d also like to thank my professors and col- leagues, especially Professor Romanelli and Professor Jannini for their invaluable help in the last few years and Professor Lenzi for being the awe- some boss that he is.”
The study, “Relationship Between Use of Videogames and Sexual Health in Adult Males“, was also co-authored by Massimiliano Sansone, Marco Proietti, Giacomo Ciocca, Andrea Lenzi, Emmanuele A. Jannini, and Francesco Romanelli.
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