Erectile Dysfunction: Often the First Warning Light for Your Heart

Summary

New-onset erectile dysfunction in a man over roughly 40 is most usefully read as a **free, early vascular diagnostic** rather than a bedroom problem: the penile arteries are small and clog before the larger coronary arteries, so ED is an independent predictor of heart disease, heart attack, stroke, and all-cause mortality that often arrives years ahead of any chest symptom, which makes the highest-value move a cardiometabolic workup (blood pressure, lipids, glucose/HbA1c, weight, smoking, sleep-apnoea screen), with **exercise the strongest lifestyle lever** and **PDE5 inhibitors the evidenced