Use It or Lose it: Yes, it's True

A new study out of Finland reported by the Los Angeles Times suggests that in order to be sexually potent, males needs to have sex regular - bad news obviously for the supposedly celibate Roman Catholic priests and sexually repressed Baptists - just as athletes need to practice their sport. Specifically, oxygen molecules summoned to particular parts of the penis by erections appear to be the elixir that results in better sexual health. Here are some story highlights (I'll leave you to make your own decisions of what to do with this information):

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Urology clinics have a saying: "Erections make erections."In other words, sex is not unlike sports. If you want to be a good tennis player, play lots of tennis; if you want to be a good lover, make lots of love. This maxim springs more from anecdotal observations than from scientific studies: Men who have erection problems tend not to have much sex, urologists noticed. And those who don't, have plenty.

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Results support the use-it-or-lose-it hunch. Having sex once a week halved men's chances of developing erectile dysfunction, compared with a less-than-once-a-week schedule. (The study also hinted that the more often men had sex, the better they fared.) In their analyses, the researchers made sure that other health factors -- such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity and depression -- did not explain the differences among men.

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Why does having more sex keep the male organ in trim instead of wearing it out? The likely elixir is oxygen, says study lead author Dr. Juha Koskimäki, consulting urologist at Tampere University Hospital -- specifically, oxygen molecules summoned to particular parts of the penis by erections.

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More blood flows into the penis. In the two flexible tubes of spongy tissue that extend the length of the shaft (the corpora cavernosa, or "cave-like bodies"), muscle tissue slackens. Their tiny caverns swell with blood, straining against the surrounding membranes. Blood gets trapped in the organ. The result is a longer, stiffer penis -- and also, because blood brings oxygen with it, a thoroughly oxygenated one.Penile tissue is like other tissue: Oxygen is good for it.

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Some scientists even wonder if the unconscious erections that occur during sleep might be the body's way of making sure oxygen levels in the corpora cavernosa stay high. And perhaps that's why even 12-week-old fetuses can have erections in the womb -- because periodic oxygenation is important.