At what age does male sexual function decline?

As boys age, their sexual function begins to decline. We need to understand the reasons and not be too anxious if abnormalities occur. So at what age does male sexual function decline occur in boys?

1. Age-related changes in male testicular function

Human decline is closely related to the action of human sex hormones. Although the time when each person begins to decline is different, it will occur sooner or later. Between the ages of 40 and 55, men will undergo a process of changes in sex hormone function from high to low, which will show changes in various aspects such as mentality, psychological state, interest, energy, appetite and sexual desire.

Before the decline of other internal organs, the male testicular tissue first undergoes degenerative changes, which is mainly manifested as the slow development of idiopathic atrophy of the male testicles. This degenerative change of the tissue can be confirmed in testicular biopsy. The age and rate of physiological decline of male testicular tissue generally vary from person to person and have physical differences. The general trend is that these changes increase with age.

The recession makes the original membrane and basement membrane of the seminiferous tubules thicker, and then the spermatogenic epithelial cells become softer, the diameter of the seminiferous tubules decreases, and the lumen becomes blocked. Local fibrous lesions gradually formed in the interstitium around the cells, causing some of the adjacent seminiferous tubules to undergo complete fibrosis, while others remained normal. Degenerative changes in male testicles are often accompanied by a decrease in blood circulation, resulting in a decrease in the number and quantity of sperm, an increase in the percentage of unattractive and abnormal sperm, and a certain decrease in the quality of seminal plasma.

The decrease in the weight and volume of male testicles, the decrease in androgen specificity, and the low function of the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, adrenal glands, and sex hormones are all related to the decline of male testicles. The rapid growth of male testicles has brought many wonderful changes to the body, but now its slow decline will also have an important impact on the whole body. This kind of morphological and physiological changes will not become obvious until after the age of 50, and the subjective feeling of female sexual function decline during menopause seems to be about 10 years earlier.

2. Age-related changes in men’s accessory reproductive organs

The number of seminal vesicle mucosal folds in elderly men decreases, and the thick muscle layer shrinks and is replaced by connective tissue. The secretion volume of seminal vesicles is 1.8ml in teenagers, rises to 5ml in adolescence, and drops to about 2.3ml after menopause. After female menopause, male prostate squamous epithelial cells gradually change color from columnar to cubic, the muscle tissue within the tissue disappears and is replaced by high-density fibroblasts, and some lobules show significant shrinkage and brittleness. In addition, acinar hypertrophy and glandular epithelium lose metabolic specificity. All in all, due to the gradual degradation of accessory sex hormones, sperm density will decrease, and male sexual function will also show a significant downward trend.

3. Age-related changes in male genitalia

The length and diameter of the penis of elderly men become slightly smaller, which is inevitable during the aging process. There are two types of penis atrophy and shrinkage. One is that normal softening is smaller than in youth. This is one of the main manifestations of systemic decline and is the cause of the softening of male genital skin and subcutaneous tissue. This situation does not necessarily affect sexual function; the second is that when erection occurs, the size of the male genitals is smaller than that of young people. This may be the reason why the elderly have arteriosclerosis and blood cannot fully enter the male genitals. This situation will always affect the ability to have an erection and requires medical treatment in severe cases.