Men who experience premature ejaculation may be able to improve control and extend intercourse using a smartphone app, according to preliminary results from a small randomised trial.

Premature ejaculation is considered the most common sexual dysfunction among men, estimated to 1 in 3 men. An array of treatment options including drugs such as topical anaesthetics or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can delay ejaculation but must be taken repeatedly and may cause side effects. The pills also have to be taken some time before sex, which takes away from the spontaneity of the act. “The existing medical treatments are not curing the situation,” says at Heidelberg University in Germany.

The app, Melonga, offers men a curriculum designed by psychologists and urologists that combines arousal-awareness training, pelvic floor exercises, mindfulness techniques and cognitive behavioural strategies. Users are taught to recognise the “point of no return” before ejaculation and use breathing, relaxation and start-stop techniques to reduce arousal. Modules also encourage communication with partners and challenge negative thought patterns through cognitive behavioural therapy.

In the , 80 men were randomised to either use the app or receive no structured intervention over an initial 12 weeks. Among the 66 participants who completed the study, those using the app increased their intravaginal ejaculation latency time from an average of 61 seconds to 125 seconds, with results seen after four weeks of use. The control group saw virtually no change.

Men who used the app reported that the benefits extended to a reduced impact on their relationship and improvement in the enjoyment of sex, tied to its longer duration. Premature ejaculation can be caused by prostate or thyroid issues, while it can also overlap with depression, but the inclusion criteria for the study ensured only healthy participants were selected.

Groeben presented the at the European Association of Urology congress in London today.

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“Doctors prescribe pills much more than simple solutions,” says at the University of Catania, Italy, who was not involved in the research. “In 10 or 15 minutes [for an appointment], pills are the easiest solution for the doctor, but not for the patient.” The app, he says, “is like having a doctor on your phone” – giving men and their partners the opportunity to privately “understand their premature ejaculation issue”.

Russo describes the effects of the app, which was developed by Netherlands-based health start-up Prognoix, as “dramatic” – with 22 per cent of participants no longer qualifying for the definition of premature ejaculation after using it. “Improving just 1 or 2 minutes is a big result,” he says.

“One of the reasons patients have premature ejaculation is anxiety,” Russo adds. “Kegel [pelvic floor] exercises and muscle control can help them manage that anxiety and control the reflex.”

A slew of similar apps to combat premature ejaculation already exist, but none have been tested in a controlled study. One advantage of a digital approach is discretion. “A lot of patients don’t go to see their doctor about this condition because they feel a stigmatising effect when they sit in the waiting room with other patients,” says Groeben.

Sex, or even just intimate touch, could help speed up wound healing – but perhaps only if combined with a nasal oxytocin spray.

Often called the “love hormone” or “cuddle chemical”, oxytocin stimulates uterine contractions during childbirth, and then lactation, but has also been associated with social bonding and sex. Previous research suggests it also speeds up the healing of , possibly due to its anti-inflammatory effect.

What’s more, has been linked to the slower healing of blisters, which prompted at the University of Zurich in Switzerland and her colleagues to wonder if a lack of oxytocin during these interactions could at least be partly mediating this effect.

To learn more, the team conducted a trial with 80 healthy heterosexual couples, whose average age was 27, who all received four small wounds on their forearms from a suction device.

The couples were then split into four groups, all of which experienced different interventions over the following week. The first group took a twice-daily oxytocin nasal spray and completed a 10-minute Partner Appreciation Task (PAT) – a structured discussion where they expressed gratitude for each other and paid each other compliments – up to three times a week.

The second group took the oxytocin spray twice a day, but didn’t participate in the PAT intervention, while the third group used a placebo spray and did the PAT, and the fourth used the placebo spray with no PAT intervention.

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Taking the oxytocin spray alone, or doing the PAT with a placebo spray, didn’t heal the wounds any faster than the rate seen in the no-spray, no-PAT group. Combining oxytocin and PAT helped a little – in terms of things like reducing the size and depth of the wounds – but the effects were most pronounced among the couples who also reported touching or having any sexual activity with each other during that week. This was also linked to lower levels of cortisol, the stress hormone that can suppress immune function, in their saliva.

“We see improved wound healing in that group that combines the [PAT] interaction and oxytocin, but that effect is much less strong than the effect for those who combine oxytocin with a naturally occurring touch behaviour, and even sexual or intimate behaviour,” says Ditzen. “Now we know we have a really strong indication that oxytocin seems to be an underlying mechanism mediating these effects of positive couple interaction.”

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“What makes the findings particularly exciting is that they suggest combining oxytocin administration with positive relational behaviours may enhance physical recovery – a promising direction for future psychosocial interventions in healthcare settings,” says at the University of Leeds, UK.

at the University of Stirling in the UK says that administering a higher dose of oxytocin could bring about similar benefits, perhaps particularly for older adults, who tend to have suppressed immunity.