Well, thanks to Roosevelt Sykes, we have the immortal line, "Because night time is the right time to be with the one you love". As with anything connected with sexual activity, this is one of the most covered songs, appearing regularly in different ads over the years. But it does rather beg the question about when the right time might be. Everyone has their own circadian rhythms. Some are better in the morning. Others come to life at night. Some are lucky in being able to produce the same strong erection whenever the opportunity is presented. Others find their activities more limited even when the opportunity is presented to them. Worse, this can slowly change as people age and sleeping patterns alter. It would be so easy if everyone was the same, but life never makes things easy. All of which helps to explain why the research into erectile dysfunction continues. As men, it would have been tempting to assume all problems solved with the introduction of the little blue pills. We have more than ten years of postmarketing experience. What else can there be to research?

Well, at the latest Congress of the European Society for Sexual Medicine (ESSM), the results of the latest clinical trials were reported. Apart from the usual congratulatory news that the drugs continued to prove safe and effective was a new study from Canada which looked at a slightly different question. The assumption has usually been made that the embarrassment factor means most men will delay seeking treatment until the problem has become undeniably serious. This has a benefit in that, when the treatment works, the results are a dramatic return to form, which has an immediate effect in boosting self-confidence. The Canadians speculated there could be clinically significant benefits from taking the pills at an early stage when the erectile dysfunction was only mild. So they designed a fourteen-week trial. The first eight weeks adopted the usual double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled methodology with 150 men suffering only a minor loss of hardness in the erections. Yet, this was a sufficient loss of hardness to prompt a loss of satisfaction. Hence, the men were seeking treatment. The second six weeks allowed the men to decide which erectile dysfunction medication to take. The researchers then compared the results from both parts of the trial to assess the men’s overall level of satisfaction.

The conclusions are interesting. The majority of men taking viagra in the first part of the study reported a real level of improvement in the hardness of their erections. When the men could decide which of the three major drugs they could take, they all reported even further improvements in their erections. This confirms that the confidence felt by men is improved and their erections become significantly harder when they know which drug they are taking. So, to answer the opening question, the Canadians confirm there is a real clinical benefit from taking the little blue pill sooner rather than later. The quality of erections is definitely improved even though the previous symptoms were mild. So whether it’s the day time or the night time for you, it should be viagra time to be with the one you love.