Refractory period (sex) for treating sexual dysfunction. Sildenafil, used in the treatment of erectile dysfunction, was found in one scientific study to have caused "a decreased postejaculatory erectile refractory time (3.2 ± 0.7 vs. 6.4 ± 0.7 minutes)" in men diagnosed with premature ejaculation. It is additionally proposed that the gonadotropin inhibitory hormone (GnIH), which is considered to inhibit the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and sexual functions causes refractoriness of the post-ejaculatory refractory period. This hypothesis also supports the increase of oxytocin and prolactin after orgasm in accordance with the previous studies. One alternative theory explains the male refractory period in terms of a peripheral
Refractory period (physiology) Refractory period (physiology) Refractoriness is the fundamental property of any object of autowave nature (especially excitable medium) not to respond on stimuli, if the object stays in the specific "refractory state". In common sense, refractory period is the characteristic recovery time, a period of time that is associated with the motion of the image point on the left branch of the isocline formula_1 (for more details, see also Reaction-diffusion and Parabolic partial differential equation). In physiology, a refractory period is a period of time during which an organ or cell is incapable of repeating a particular action, or (more precisely)