Not only lifestyle, but the ecological situation on Earth is changing rapidly as a result of scientific and technological progress. Development of civilization has brought the invention of effective treatment methods for diseases that horrified the humanity in the past, but on the other hand, its large-scale exploitation of natural resources leaves a significant negative impact on the environment and causes a growing number of sicknesses. The depth of health effects caused by human industrial activities is not genuinely understood by the majority of people.
The discussion on current health problems is often focused on lack of physical activity and unhealthy eating habits, which have led to increased mortality from cardiovascular diseases and the spread of other dangerous illnesses. However, the solution of these lifestyle problems still lies in our hands and is a matter of personal choice to be healthy. However, scientists provide us with convincing information that environmental pollution caused by humans also has a serious negative impact, which is difficult to avoid.
At present the chemical pollution of water can be considered the most dangerous as this process became global with the increasing number of pollutants. Among them there are many so called xenobiotics, substances that are alien to aquatic ecosystems. According to WHO, the cause of 30% of human diseases can be associated with the water factor, or with the consumption of substandard drinking water.
Erectile dysfunction: caused by water pollution?
The term “impotence” was coined in 1655, but the problem itself, undoubtedly, was known even in the ancient times. Nowadays, the term erectile dysfunction is used in reference to the same condition. The risk of developing this disorder increases with age: in men over 60, impotence is four times more likely than in patients from 40 to 60 years. According to medical statistics, over 30% of men 18–40 years of age suffer from ED to some extent. High ED incidence is associated with different factors such as increased life expectancy, lack of physical activity, chronic stress, unhealthy nutrition, and other lifestyle habits. Water pollution also affects men’s health, research shows, as it affects most of our body systems.
Types of ED
There are two types of erectile dysfunction, organic and psychogenic. Environmental pollution adversely affects both our physical and mental health, which means it can contribute to both ED types.
Organic impotence is a physiological disorder, it can be caused by urological, endocrine, vascular diseases. Usually this type of ED progresses slowly: first, erection does not occur from time to time, but gradually failure becomes more common. With organic impotence, sexual attraction to a partner, relative erection and ejaculation in sexual intercourse are sometimes preserved. Research data shows that water contamination with heavy metals leads to a rapid increase in cardiovascular diseases, which are a common cause of organic impotence.
Psychogenic erectile dysfunction is a mental disorder manifested as a neurosis or depression with a concomitant neurotic state. Such a disease occurs suddenly and shows itself occasionally. Drinking water containing high concentrations of manganese has shown to cause mental disorders responsible for erectile dysfunction. In many cases, impotence occurs as a result of emotional and physiological factors combined. For example, man who experiences some changes in sexual reactions, e.g. due to vascular insufficiency, can be very frightened by this circumstance.
How is the water contaminated?
Global pollution is a feature of our time. In developed countries, almost all water sources are subject to human influence, and in most, water quality does not meet safety requirements.
Sources of pollutants are numerous, and the nature of their impact on the biosphere is diverse. Industry, agriculture, mining and processing of fossil fuels, energy production, transport — these are some of the main sources of water pollution. No industrial enterprise can function without using water from natural sources. Industrial and municipal wastewater carries, in addition to chemical pollutants, microorganisms of pathogenic nature.
Metal manufacture pollutes water with salts of heavy metals, cyanides, thiocyanates, sulfides, hydrogen sulfide and arsenic, making the water unsuitable for drinking. Chemical industry enterprises are responsible for the emission of organic solvents, aldehydes, chlorine, sulfur compounds, phosphorus, mercury. Not to mention agriculture, which in its current state causes great harm to the environment and contaminates water with pesticides and harmful organic compounds.
A great danger poses water pollution with radioactive substances. A number of radionuclides enter the water from the atmosphere or when radioactive waste is dumped into the ocean. Some of them tend to accumulate in bones and other body tissues. Fish can accumulate certain radionuclides: Zn and Fe isotopes, for example, were found in tuna liver.
Obviously, these pollutants affect not only the inhabitants of the aquatic environment with all the animals and birds associated with it; they also have an adverse effect on human health. The number of diseases caused by water pollution is growing, and this is facilitated by the fact that low-quality water comes to the waterworks treatment facilities. A surge in disease occurrence is caused by chemicals dissolved in lakes and rivers. Iron provokes cardiovascular diseases, cadmium destroys the structure of DNA, nickel affects the skin, zinc destroys the kidneys, aluminum paralyzes the central nervous system and immunity, especially in children. The problem of water contamination is one of the most important problems of environmental protection, however, it is a matter of national concern, which is little affected by our personal choice. Water pollution has reached a scale when even moving to another part of the globe we still have to face its consequences.
What kind of water do we drink?
Water treatment technologies help the modern population in many ways. Tap water coming from protected reservoirs and undergoing purification processes is certainly much cleaner and safer than water from most open water sources. However, external waters are becoming more polluted and it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain sufficiently purified tap water. Meltwater is considered to be the safest, but of course it has to come from clean ice or snow. Some promote meltwater as a means of prolonging life, but putting aside such exaggerations of its capabilities, meltwater certainly helps to get a cleaner water source. In addition, some stress that mineral water, which contains healthy amounts of minerals necessary for our body, should be preferred over water that is chemically pure. In this regard, unpolluted natural water sources are perfect but not accessible to most people. Bottled drinking water as well as home water filters and purifiers remain an optimal choice for most, although with growing environmental pollution even modern water processing technologies cannot offer results that would be truly satisfying.
Treatment and prevention of erectile dysfunction
Since monitoring water quality that we drink daily is a complex task, healthy nutrition, exercise and stress management are the main factors in the prevention of sexual diseases in men. Living in an urban environment, we often have to put up with the deep consequences of water and air pollution, which leave an imprint on our physical and mental health, contributing to sexual dysfunctions. However, as erectile dysfunction is becoming less taboo, more and more men are turning to medicine for solving the problem. During the last 20 years, three drugs were discovered to offer a quick and easy (albeit temporary) elimination of ED symptoms. Available through our online pharmacy, generic versions of Viagra, Levitra and Cialis have shown 80% effectiveness in ED treatment and became affordable alternatives for overpriced brand-name drugs worldwide.
