Premature ejaculation (also known as PE, early ejaculation, rapid ejaculation, rapid climax, and ejaculatio praecoxdoes) is the most common sexual disorder impacting men.

According to several comprehensive studies including one conducted by the world-renowned Mayo Clinic, premature ejaculation affects more than 30% of males regardless of age, ethnicity, or socio-economic condition. Other experts put the number as high as 50% of males.

While the results are staggering, the good news is that you can treat premature ejaculation safely and naturally—many times with simple home remedies.  There's often no need for costly medical treatments or the negative side effects of medically-reviewed prescription drugs.

What Is Premature Ejaculation (PE)?

Like many male sexual disorders, premature ejaculation doesn't have a singular definition. Broadly speaking, premature ejaculation occurs during sex when males ejaculate sooner than they or their partners would like. Many medical experts, however, define early climax as the inability to have penetrable and pleasurable intercourse for more than one minute.

Symptoms & Types of Premature Ejaculation

Premature ejaculation may cause symptoms and types of rapid climax can vary just as much as the definition. While the primary symptom of premature ejaculation is to climax within less than one minute of penetration, some men experience a far more pervasive form of rapid climaxing that can occur in other intimate situations, including while simply kissing, touching, or masturbating.

According to the Mayo Clinic, there are two types of premature ejaculation:

1. Lifelong PE - premature climax that occurs throughout a man's life starting with his first sexual experience.
2. Acquired PE -premature climax that develops after a man's first sexual experience.

In addition, there are other men that complain of side effects of early climax which do not meet the typical diagnostic criteria for premature ejaculation previously described. Rather, these men may simply experience what is referred to as natural variable PE, which includes periods of rapid climax along with periods of normal ejaculation.

What Causes Premature Ejaculation?

Rapid climaxing can be caused by physical, emotional, and psychological factors including overly sensitive penile nerves, hyperactive reflexes, weak pelvic muscles, extreme arousal, infrequent sexual activity, performance anxiety, inflammation or infection of the prostate, depression, anxiety, ED, and side-effect issues with medically-reviewed prescription medications such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors used to treat depression.

Rapid climax can also be related to erectile dysfunction (ED) with fast ejaculation brought on by the desire to climax while maintaining stiffness.

Regardless of the causes, it's one of the most debilitating sexual disorders for men. Unfortunately, once premature ejaculation establishes itself, fear of and mental preoccupation with the disorder can actually induce the unwanted rapid ejaculation, creating a vicious cycle.

The good news, however, is that the cycle can be interrupted. You can treat early climax safely and naturally.  Take back control of your body and sexual performance.

In most cases, there is no need for medically-reviewed prescription drugs or over-the-counter medications with negative side effects.

How to Stop Premature Ejaculation

Understanding what’s needed to create and sustain a long-lasting erection is one of the most important first steps to overcome premature climax, help delay ejaculation, and treat premature ejaculation.

The following factors are important in order for your body to not only produce a rigid erection but also to prevent early ejaculation.

Strong Pelvic Floor Muscles

Your penis is controlled by a series of small muscles known as the male pelvic muscles. These are responsible for forcing blood into the penis and keeping it from flowing back out thereby creating stiff muscle tissue.

Unfortunately for men, the pelvic muscles are weak to begin with (and get weaker with age) resulting in premature ejaculation, limp erections, and reduced sexual performance.

More on this in our post on your manhood and aging.

When strengthened properly with pelvic floor exercises, also known as Kegel exercises, the male pelvic floor creates harder and longer-lasting erections. More importantly, when the pelvic muscles are dramatically strengthened, they can be engaged and contracted during intercourse which helps to short-circuit the ejaculation response and enables you to perform longer. We'll discuss this more below.

Healthy Blood Flow

Longer-lasting erections are not only created by powerful pelvic floor muscles. The penis requires forceful blood flow, high testosterone, and elevated nitric oxide levels to create rigid erections and help stop premature ejaculation.

Just like the pelvic floor, healthy and sufficient blood flow often diminishes with age, causing ED, premature ejaculation, and loss of sexual performance. Testosterone levels in men also diminish with age, which has been proven to reduce average time-to-orgasm.

Normal Penile Nerve Stimulation & Sensitivity

Healthy penile nerve stimulation is necessary to create and maintain powerful and long-lasting erections. While overly sensitive penile nerves can cause premature ejaculation, lack of nerve stimulation can inhibit proper erectile function.

Creating the right balance is necessary in order to improve time-to-ejaculation. Therefore, it's critical that the treatment used for fighting early climax reduces penile nerve sensitivity while still maintaining the ability to stay hard.

Treatment Options and Home Remedies

Now that we know what our body needs to help stop premature ejaculation and improve time-to-ejaculation, let's explore how we create these conditions safely and naturally without costly medical treatments and the side effects that may come with non-medically reviewed drugs.

1. Pelvic Floor Muscle Training

Strengthening your pelvic muscles is one of the most effective ways to fight sexual dysfunction and prevent the onset of premature ejaculation. The pelvic muscles—which support and help control the penis—have the ability to short circuit premature ejaculation when they are actively engaged immediately before ejaculation.

In fact, strong pelvic muscles not only help delay ejaculation—but also help make orgasms more intense and pleasurable.

For most men these muscles are weak and get weaker with age, increasing the likelihood of premature orgasm. A recent study found pelvic floor exercises to be more effective than medical treatment in treating a typical premature ejaculation issue.

2. Sex Techniques & Methods

How you use you engage your pelvic muscles and move your body during sexual activity can be critical to preventing early orgasm. The following are three effective behavioral techniques that can be used during penetration to improve time-to-ejaculation: downtempo, stop-start, and the pause squeeze technique.

Down-Tempo

This technique requires you to slow the pace of pelvic thrusting and varying the angle and depth of penetration before the “point of no return.” When done in conjunction with engaging and contracting your pelvic muscles, this approach can be very effective in stopping premature orgasm.

Stop-Start Technique

The stop-start technique requires you to completely stop moving or thrusting. When using stop-start, some men find it necessary to completely remove the penis from the vagina until the ejaculatory “urgency” subsides.

Once the sensation to ejaculate goes away, pelvic thrusting may be resumed. Again, squeezing and releasing the pelvic floor muscles once you’ve stopped thrusting helps to greatly reduce the ejaculatory sensation and response.

Pause-Squeeze Technique

The pause squeeze technique, originally created by Masters and Johnson, requires you to remove the penis from the vagina and firmly squeeze the head of the penis until the feeling of ejaculation passes.

While the squeeze technique an effective sex technique to reduce PE, it is even more useful when coupled with the contraction of the pelvic muscles. Combining the squeeze technique with strong pelvic muscle engagement may significantly help stop early climax.

3. Decreasing Penile Nerve Sensitivity

Maintaining normal penile nerve sensitivity and decreasing overly sensitive penile nerves is critical to preventing premature orgasm while maintaining rigidity. Using a clinically-proven desensitizing spray or lidocaine/prilocaine cream can reduce excessive penile sensitivity and create longer-lasting, more enjoyable intimacy.

Penile nerve sensitivity can also be reduced by masturbating prior to sex. Learn more about how to masturbate the right way.

Using thicker condoms can also help reduce penile stimulation and increase the amount of time it takes to orgasm.  However, some men report that thicker condoms can impede orgasm and reduce their ability to maintain hardness.

For this reason, we recommend using a thin condom along with a clinically-proven desensitizing spray that is compatible and safe to use with condoms.

Talk to your doctor if you have concerns about your penile nerve sensitivity.

4. Natural Supplements to Increase Blood Flow and Stop Early Climax

Proper natural supplements can help improve forceful blood flow, increase testosterone, and improve nitric oxide levels needed to create a rigid penile response and help prevent and stop early climax.

Just like the pelvic floor muscles, healthy and sufficient blood flow often diminishes with age causing erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, and loss of sex performance. Testosterone levels in men also diminish with age, which has been proven to reduce time-to-orgasm.

Your body needs proper natural supplements to increase sexual activity, sexual performance, and improve sexual health.  Knowing which minerals and supplements to focus on—like zinc supplements—can be the difference between being proactive and setting yourself up for success or struggling with the same issues over and over.

Numerous studies have also shown that sexual medicine supplements containing some of the following: L-citrulline, Panax ginseng, zinc supplements, Dong Quai, and Hypericum perforatum, commonly called "St. John’s Wort," can be effective in the treatment of early orgasm.

5. Talk to an Expert About Medically-Reviewed Solutions

Since premature ejaculation can often have psychological origins, talking to a doctor, mental health professional, or sexual therapist can also be extremely helpful. We encourage everyone who experiences any form of male sexual disorder to seek medical advice from a doctor or some form of sex therapy treatments. In some very severe cases, receiving medical treatment or sexual medicine may be necessary.

When it comes to mental health, speaking to a psychiatric doctor for an hour or two is the most effective way to get a better understanding of your PE. Remember, guys, there is nothing wrong with talking about our sexual health (especially with a doctor) and getting sound medical advice for the treatment of sexual disorders.

In fact, we should do more of it. Mental health professionals can prescribe the medication you can't get over-the-counter that can have a huge impact on your sexual health.

When it comes to preventing premature ejaculation, never lose hope. It may take time to explore treatments and treatment options, improve your body, strengthen your weak pelvic floor, and reduce your anxieties about sexual intercourse.

Whether it's premature ejaculation, ED, or any other sexual dysfunction, you can take an active role in fighting these impairments. If you make sexual health a priority, you'll notice improvements to your sex life much sooner than you think.