At first glance, the penis is an uncomplicated organ. Biologically, it really only has two jobs: to facilitate urination – whether the user is sitting or standing – and to perform the sexual act. Pushed into action by thought or sight, or simply by virtue of it being the morning, the penis fills with blood and becomes erect.
As ever in biology, however, the truth behind the action is much more complicated. Though the external result appears simple, the internal mechanism behind engorgement is a complicated dance of neuronal firing and about a dozen different capillaries and arteries successfully filling with blood.
Failure at any one point in these processes can lead to erectile dysfunction (ED), which may, in turn, act as a barometer for much wider male health problems.
“Because the penis requires a number of things [to operate] – hormones, neural stimulation, and healthy vasculature – it can depict a more holistic view of a man’s health,” explains Dr Michael Carroll, a reader in reproductive health at Manchester Metropolitan University.
A barometer of male health
