The exercises were found to help men with erectile dysfunction as much as taking in Viagra.

The researchers say the findings mean men have an impotence solution to drug therapy.

For around 50 years, women have been advised to perform pelvic floor exercises to strengthen their muscles for childbirth.

The pelvic floor is a “hammock” of muscles which support the bowel and bladder.

Pelvic floor, or Kegel, exercises involve clenching the muscles you would use to prevent yourself urinating.

This latest research indicates it is also important for men to maintain the muscle tone and function of their pelvic floor muscles with the exercises.

Home exercises

The team from the University of the West of England in Bristol studied 55 men with an average age of 59 who had experienced erectile dysfunction for at least six months.

The men, all patients at the Somerset Nuffield Hospital, Taunton, Somerset, were given five weekly sessions of pelvic floor exercises and assessed at three and six months, and asked to practise the exercises daily at home.

It was found 40% of the men regained normal erectile function - some of who had severe erectile dysfunction, and another 35% showed some improvement.

Two thirds of the men had said they also had problems with urination. These improved significantly after they began the exercises.

Dr Grace Dorey, a specialist continence physiotherapist who carried out the research, told BBC News Online: “The exercises were found to be equally as effective as taking Viagra.

“Pelvic floor exercises improve function in a physical way, in a more natural way.

“Men should be doing preventative exercise. It really is use it or lose it.”

She said men should be exercising their pelvic floor exercises from puberty onwards.

Strength

A spokesperson for the Impotence Association said: “The value and effectiveness of pelvic floor exercises should not be underestimated when penis problem the management of sexual problems such as impotence and premature ejaculation.

“The exercises are thought to strengthen the muscles that surround the penis and improve the blood supply in the pelvis, which is an important factor in relation to erectile dysfunction.”

The Impotence Association helpline number is 0208 767 7791.

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PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Monday for a halt to early prison release for some pedophiles after a 5-year-old boy was allegedly raped by a repeat sex offender who had been prescribed Viagra while behind bars.

The boy was kidnapped from his home in the northern town of Roubaix on Wednesday and allegedly molested by convicted pedophile Francis Evrard. The 61-year-old, convicted three times, was released from prison in July.

Sarkozy, on his first day back from a two-week vacation in the United States, drew attention to the case Monday by hosting the boy’s father and meeting with ministers about amending prison laws to prevent early release for some convicted pedophiles.

Sarkozy said the French were “very shocked” at the case and expressed his own anger.

“Everything must be put in place to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” he told reporters.

“What happened? A person who over his career committed several rapes of minors was sentenced to 27 years in prison — he served 18,” said Sarkozy, referring to Evrard. “I don’t understand why.”

Working off a new kidnapping alert system that quickly went into effect, authorities found Evrard and the boy in a Roubaix garage about 12 hours after the child went missing, officials said.

Police and prison officials in the Normandy city of Caen, where Evrard served his sentence, said a prison doctor had acknowledged generic viagra bulk him Viagra a month before his release, but that the doctor did not know why he was behind bars.

The doctor turned himself in to Caen police Sunday and was being held for questioning, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

Evrard faces dosage tadalafil charges related to the kidnap and rape of a minor.

France’s justice minister said Sunday that a judicial investigation had been opened into how Evrard had obtained the erectile dysfunction erectile symptom drug.

Sarkozy said sex offenders who could still be considered dangerous should not benefit from early release.

After his meeting with several top ministers, the president said he had asked Justice Minister Rachida Dati to include a measure preventing early release of some pedophiles in a set of prisons laws to be presented in parliament in November.

Sarkozy also said the new bill should include funds for the construction of prison hospitals where sex offenders such as Evrard could be held. Panels of medical experts would examine how dangerous outgoing sex offenders were before they would be granted release.

The conservative Sarkozy, a former interior minister, has made cracking down on repeat offenders a priority since taking office in May.

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Associated Press writer Frederic Veille in Caen contributed to this report.