How to Maintain Erections Naturally

Though prescription medication is typically a first-line treatment for erectile dysfunction (ED), you can learn how to maintain erections naturally through a combination of healthy habits and lifestyle tweaks.

After all, your body weight, diet, blood pressure, cardiovascular health, and nerve function all contribute to your ability to maintain an erection, as do psychological factors like stress. Therefore, making healthy lifestyle choices can promote better erections and your overall health.  

The list below outlines some of the best natural ways to stay hard, including dietary best practices and aerobic exercise. But what you won't find are any of those “herbal Viagra” supplements you see online. 

Instead, we outline how healthy tweaks to your diet, sleep, drinking habits, and more, have scientific evidence for improving erectile health. We’ve also shared how other factors like your weight, potential drug use, and mental state may also impact your erections.

Although there’s no natural simple trick to cure ED, your habits and lifestyle both play a major role in your sexual health and erectile function. So, if you’re wondering how to maintain an erection without pills, those are the places you’ll want to start.

By prioritizing healthy habits and limiting those that are less-healthy, you may be able to reduce the severity of erectile dysfunction (if you already have it) or limit your risk of developing it (if you don’t).

Below, you’ll find 15 techniques for maintaining an erection naturally, from making strategic diet modifications to prioritizing regular exercise, healthy sleep habits, avoiding harmful substances, and more.

Many of these changes also stand to improve your general well-being and lower your risk of dealing with related health problems, such as high cholesterol or cardiovascular disease.

All of these strategies are also relatively easy to implement and align well with a healthy lifestyle, making them worth trying before turning to a prescription ED medication.

1. Maintain a Healthy Body Weight

Whether you want to know how to maintain an erection for 30 minutes or 30 years, the key is staying healthy enough to get an erection in the first place. One component of that is maintaining a healthy weight. Being overweight or obese can negatively affect your ability to develop and maintain a healthy erection during sex.

According to 2023 research, men with an obese body mass index (BMI)(30 or higher) have an increased risk of ED 1.3 times higher than men who have a BMI classified as normal (between 18.5 and 24.9).

This increased risk of ED is partially because obesity is closely correlated with serious health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, which can damage the nerves in your pelvis and genital area and stop you from being able to get or maintain an erection.

Erectile dysfunction from diabetes is particularly worrying because common ED treatments, like Viagra and Cialis, may not be totally effective in people with erectile dysfunction from diabetes.

In fact, one older study published in 1999 showed that only 56 percent of men with diabetes-induced ED saw improvements after using sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra.

The best solution is to pay attention to your weight, and aim to stay within the healthy range for your body type, which typically means a BMI of between 18.5 and 24.9.

Since staying at a healthy body weight is also important for your general health, maintaining a weight that’s in the healthy range is worth doing even if you don’t suffer from erectile dysfunction.

It’s worth noting that although BMI is useful, it’s far from perfect at an individual level, meaning you may want to talk with your healthcare provider about a healthy body weight range if you’re very muscular, tall, or have a body type that’s not necessarily average. Your healthcare provider may suggest an alternative method of assessing your weight, such as measuring around your waist or checking your body fat percentage.

2. Pay Attention to Your Blood Pressure

The key to how to keep an erection without meds may also hinge on prioritizing other tenets of health, like minimizing the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure.

Healthy, consistent erections are all about penile blood flow. Because of this, any condition that affects your heart, vascular system, and blood circulation in general can potentially get in the way of you getting and maintaining erections.

High blood pressure is closely linked to ED because of the negative effects it can have on the health of your heart and blood vessels.

While there’s no need to obsess over your blood pressure if you’re otherwise healthy, it’s best to check it regularly.

If your blood pressure is above the normal range, discussing your options with your healthcare provider is important.

Mildly high blood pressure (such as that in the prehypertension range) is often treatable by making small changes to one's diet and lifestyle.

To reduce your blood pressure, your healthcare provider may recommend adjusting your diet to contain less sodium, increasing your exercise level, or improving your sleep.

Since healthy erections are so dependent on blood flow, many of these changes can also help to improve your sexual performance.

In addition to lifestyle changes, several medications can reduce blood pressure and improve cardiovascular health.

3. Keep an Eye on Your Cholesterol Levels

Heart disease is a major risk factor for erectile dysfunction. In fact, research suggests that many men at risk of heart disease also have erectile dysfunction, making ED a common early warning sign that healthcare providers look for when judging a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease.

One early sign that you may be at risk of developing heart disease is a high level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or “bad cholesterol,” in your blood.

High LDL cholesterol isn’t something you can feel on your own, so it's important to have your cholesterol levels checked on a regular basis.

If you have a family history of heart disease, heart attacks, or other medical conditions, or if you’re simply concerned about your cholesterol levels, you can talk to your healthcare provider to get your cholesterol levels checked.

If appropriate, they’ll take a small sample of your blood to check for low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or “good cholesterol''), as well as other substances that can provide helpful information about your cardiovascular health.

If your cholesterol levels are high, your healthcare provider might recommend making changes to your diet and lifestyle or using medication, like statins, to bring them back down to the healthy range.

Here are some foods that may help with your cholesterol level: tamarind, garlic, lecithin, ashwagandha, and cinnamon. These foods and supplements aren’t actual treatments, though, so don’t rely on them as the only thing you do for your cholesterol levels.

4. Eat a Healthy Diet Rich in Fruits, Vegetables, and Nutritious Foods

Erections are dependent on strong, reliable blood flow. With this in mind, it makes sense that the same types of food that can clog your arteries and affect your cardiovascular health can also have a negative effect on your erections and sexual performance.

For the most part, the same foods that increase your risk of heart disease can also contribute to problems with your erections and sexual health.

High-fat, high-sugar, and high-calorie meals like hamburgers, pizza, and fried chicken are all best avoided or eaten in moderation if you’re concerned about ED.

Instead of eating foods that can affect your cardiovascular health, it’s better to focus on eating a mix of different nutritious, healthy foods.

A study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine concluded that the Mediterranean diet, rich in whole grains, fish, fruit, nuts, and fresh vegetables but low in red meat, might be linked to a lower incidence rate of erectile dysfunction in men.

Our complete guide to foods that may help with erectile dysfunction lists readily available foods that you can add to your diet to improve your health and sexual function.

5. Take Stress and Your Mental Health Seriously

Erectile dysfunction treatment may include a more inclusive plan. Mental health plays a major role in almost every aspect of your sex life and sexual performance, including your ability to get and maintain an erection.

Erections begin with mental stimulation. As your nervous system communicates with the nerves around your penis, blood flows into your erectile tissue, helping you become hard and stay hard during sex.

Some mental health conditions, such as major depression and sexual performance anxiety, can affect this process and make it more difficult for you to get an erection.

Techniques used to treat sexual performance anxiety include mindfulness meditation training, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and medications, such as ED drugs and antidepressants.

If you have a mental health issue that’s contributing to ED or affecting your sex life in other ways, it’s important to seek treatment.

While some mental health issues require medication, many can be solved through options like individual or group therapy. Talk with your healthcare provider to land on the best course of action for you.

6. Make Aerobic Exercise Part of Your Daily Routine

Aerobic exercise, such as running, cycling, rowing, or playing most sports, can improve your heart health and reduce the severity of erectile dysfunction.

A 2011 article published in the Ethiopian Journal of Health Science looked at evidence from five studies on the effects of aerobic exercise in men with ED. The authors found that some of the studies showed a clear improvement in the symptoms of ED as men exercised, particularly over the long term. It concluded that aerobic training "can successfully treat ED in selected patients with arteriogenic ED" -- a form of erectile dysfunction that’s caused by poor blood flow to the tissues of the penis.

However, the researchers also noted that more research is needed on the link between regular physical activity and ED.

If you have erectile dysfunction, it’s usually possible to improve your cardiovascular health with a relatively mild exercise routine. Put more simply, there’s no need to spend countless hours of your day exercising just to reduce your risk of dealing with erectile dysfunction.

For most men, a 15- to 60-minute daily session of moderate-intensity cardiovascular exercise (for example, jogging, cycling, or walking on an incline) is enough to support  heart health and reduce the risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, and other chronic health issues.

Wondering if too much exercise can cause erectile dysfunction? There’s currently no evidence to suggest that exercising frequently may cause poor functioning downstairs, meaning you can work out without any anxiety about your sexual performance.

7. Try Kegel Exercises to Strengthen Your Pelvic Floor

Your pelvic floor muscles, the group of muscles located beneath your penis, bladder, intestines, and rectum, play a key role in several essential bodily functions, including your ability to hold in urine.

There’s also some evidence to support that weak pelvic floor muscles might contribute to weaker erections that are more difficult to maintain during sex. According to research, pelvic floor exercises like Kegels may help to improve your natural erectile function and prevent erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation (PE) symptoms.

You can perform Kegel exercises by tightening your pelvic floor muscles, counting up to three to five, and then relaxing them again. You can repeat this process 10 times in the morning, noon, and night over the course of several weeks.

Over time, you may notice that you feel more in control of your erections and that you’re better able to avoid feeling excessively stimulated during sex.

Our guide to pelvic floor exercises for men goes into more detail about how you can use pelvic floor training to strengthen your erections and sexual function.

8. Avoid Using Anabolic Steroids

Many steroids, including testosterone, can reduce your body’s ability to produce hormones that are critical for your sexual health and function. This can increase your risk of developing sexual performance issues such as erectile dysfunction.

In a study published in the journal Translational Andrology and Urology, experts surveyed users of anabolic steroids to assess the potential impact of steroid use on male sexual health.

They found that many steroid users reported decreased libido and erectile dysfunction after they stopped using artificial testosterone.

These issues were more likely when steroids were used for the long term, as well as among the men who used steroids frequently.

If you’re concerned about your erectile function, try to avoid testosterone and other steroids that can affect your body’s natural hormone production. Instead, try using natural techniques to raise your testosterone levels and improve your physical performance. That is unless you have low testosterone and are using steroids for treatment. In that case, taking testosterone can actually improve your erectile function. Wondering if you can take Viagra on steroids? This guide covers the information you need to know about ED medication and steroid interactions.

9. Check for Lower-Than-Normal Testosterone Levels

Low levels of testosterone may affect your level of interest in sex and have an impact on your ability to get and keep an erection during sex.

Your testosterone levels fluctuate naturally based on several factors, from your diet and activity level to your sleep habits.

They also decline with age, with research indicating a progressive decline in serum testosterone levels as men get older.

Common symptoms of low testosterone include loss of muscle mass, an increase in your level of body fat, changes in your mood, memory issues, and a lethargic, fatigued feeling.

If you’re worried about having low testosterone, it’s best to talk to your healthcare provider or schedule an appointment with a urologist. It’s easy to check your testosterone levels with a blood test.

If you do have low testosterone, your healthcare provider may prescribe medication (referred to as testosterone replacement therapy or TRT) or recommend that you make certain changes to your habits and lifestyle. There are other medication options besides TRT, as well.

Using testosterone therapeutically is very different from the type of steroid use we mentioned in the section above. If you’re prescribed testosterone, your healthcare provider will work with you to make sure your levels stay within the normal testosterone range for men of your age.

Simple habits, such as exercising often, reducing stress, and getting a good night’s sleep, can all help to increase your testosterone levels. Many of these habits are also ideal for improving and preserving your general health, sexual performance, and well-being as a man.

10. Improve Your Sleep Habits

The quality of your sleep has a huge impact on just about every aspect of your health, including your erections and general sexual performance.

In fact, research shows that common sleep disorders such as insomnia, shift work disorder, and obstructive sleep apnea can all be linked with erectile dysfunction and other urological disorders in men.

Other research has found that just one week of low-quality sleep can result in a significant drop in your body’s production of testosterone -- a vital hormone for maintaining a strong and healthy sex drive.

Put simply, not only are you less likely to have reliable erections when you don’t sleep well, but you may also be less likely to feel interested in sex in the first place.

While science hasn’t yet revealed the perfect amount of sleep for an optimal sex drive, it’s best to aim for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recommendation of seven or more hours per night.

If you find it difficult to doze off at a normal time or have issues staying asleep at night, making a few simple changes to your lifestyle can often help you maintain good sleep habits.

These include following a regular bedtime, limiting alcohol consumption, exercising regularly, and switching off phones, tablets, and other bright devices an hour or two before bedtime.

11. Avoid Smoking Cigarettes and Consuming Nicotine

Because smoking damages the blood vessels that supply blood to your penis—and strong erections rely on healthy blood flow—the habit stands to increase your risk of developing ED.

Research into the relationship between smoking and ED has found that regular smoking can elevate the risk of ED, and that quitting the habit may improve their erectile function and sexual performance.

If you’re a smoker, kicking the habit might seem like a daunting task. However, it can offer real benefits both for your sexual function and for your general quality of life.

Beyond sex, quitting smoking has numerous other benefits, from reducing your risk of cancer and heart disease to improving your blood flow and reproductive health and lowering your risk of respiratory issues such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

These health benefits mean that quitting smoking is worth trying, even if you don’t have erectile dysfunction.

Interestingly, nicotine itself is closely associated with ED, meaning that alternative methods of ingesting nicotine, such as vaping or using nicotine patches, may not result in full improvements in your erectile health.

One study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, for example, found that nicotine lowers the erectile response to stimulation and decreases sexual arousal.

This means that the best approach to ED treatment for smokers isn’t just to quit smoking but to quit nicotine altogether.

Our guide to smoking and erectile dysfunction goes into more detail about the close relationship between nicotine and ED, as well as other sex and reproduction-related health risks associated with smoking.

12. Reduce Your Alcohol Intake

If you’re wondering how to keep an erection for the whole night, you may want to consider what else you do all night. Do you drink alcohol at night or on the weekend? Reducing the amount of alcohol you drink is a straightforward way to improve your erections and your general health and well-being.

While alcohol isn’t directly linked to erectile dysfunction, people with alcohol dependence are far more likely to display one or more signs of sexual dysfunction.

In one study from 2007, researchers found that the amount of alcohol people with alcohol dependence consume is the most significant predictor of developing sexual dysfunction out of the things the study was looking at.

The most common forms of sexual dysfunction observed in the study were erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, and low sexual desire.

Although there’s no need to quit drinking entirely, limiting your alcohol consumption can improve your sexual performance and overall health.

Try to stick to the CDC’s guidelines and limit your alcohol intake to a maximum of two servings a day (for example, two standard-sized glasses of wine or 12-ounce beers) to reduce your risk of dealing with alcohol-induced ED.

13. Limit Your Consumption of Porn

While the link between porn and erectile dysfunction isn’t crystal clear, some research suggests that watching too much porn may contribute to lower levels of sexual satisfaction.

For example, research from the Naval Medical Center of San Diego concluded that regularly watching porn could potentially impact arousal in real-life situations.

The link between porn consumption and ED appears to be psychological rather than physical -- possibly a result of porn’s novelty and potential for easy escalation changing the way men (and women, who obviously aren’t affected by ED) view sexual activity.

Current research on the link between porn consumption and ED suggests that engaging with less porn may improve symptoms. In one study, men who abstained from porn for three weeks expressed a greater ability to delay gratification, resulting in healthier sexual function and arousal patterns.

In short, reducing the amount of time you spend watching porn could be a potential way to solve erection problems, especially if you find yourself less interested in real sexual activity as a result of watching too much porn.

14. Communicate With Your Partner

Another way to reduce your risk of ED and maintain stronger erections is to talk openly with your sexual partner.

Communicating with your partner can help to reduce anxiety in your relationship, which may be a factor in erectile dysfunction. It’s also a great way to work together to overcome problems that can affect your connection and sexual response.

If you occasionally get weak erections or struggle to remain hard at all, letting your partner know about what’s going on and why you think it’s happening may also make it easier for them to help you feel comfortable during sex.

Put simply, talking openly with each other can help you to get rid of feelings of anxiety and make it easier to maintain a normal sex life.

Our guide to dealing with erectile dysfunction in a relationship shares a few techniques that you can use to bring up the topic of ED with your partner, all without any awkward moments.

Learning how to make an erection last longer takes a little self-assessment about your health, your body, your brain, and how you’re caring for them all.

Although erections might seem simple, your body does some serious work behind the scenes to help you get and stay hard during a sexual encounter.

If you find it tough to get and maintain a full erection during sex, the habits listed above can help you improve your overall health, maintain harder erections, and reduce your risk of developing erectile dysfunction over time.

If you have persistent ED or find that lifestyle changes alone aren’t quite enough to prevent you from dealing with weaker erections than you’d like, you may want to consider taking medication to improve your erections.

If you and your healthcare provider decide that treatment is right for you, you can consider accessing evidence-based medications through Hims online, including PDE5 inhibitors like sildenafil (Viagra^®) and tadalafil (generic Cialis^®).

These medications can make a real difference in the strength and reliability of your erections, as well as your general sexual performance.

If you think you might be a candidate for ED medication, get advice from a healthcare professional online today.