Saturday, 11 March 2017

Benefits of Masturbation

Since May is officially National Masturbation Month, I thought it would be important to list some of the benefits of masturbation in this much-loved, often not-well-spoken-about activity. About 92% of women are said to take time to masturbate and about 98% of men (100%?) say they masturbate regularly, which makes sense when you think about the fact that it’s a natural activity that’s often stumbled across in childhood or the teen years.

Although masturbation can get a bad rap, especially with all the discussion on internet porn and the question of sexual addiction, masturbation can be very beneficial to a person’s health, well-being, and relationship. Of course, if used in an unbalanced way or out of harmony with your own body or your life, it could interfere with a relationship and significantly put a damper on enjoying sex with a partner.

Masturbation encourages blood flow

Masturbation helps to bring blood flow to the erectile tissue for both men and women. Since the body works on a “use it or lose it” principle, getting regular and maximal blood flow helps keep these arteries and tissues healthy and functioning well. If a person does not have a regular sexual partner, masturbation can the most important way to maintain good sexual functioning. This blood flow is especially important for people over 50 and can be one of the best ways for women to prevent the severity of vaginal symptoms after menopause.

Masturbation reduces stress and helps us feel calm

Since it helps release oxytocin and endorphins, masturbation can help people feel calm and relaxed. This relaxation is especially important for women during orgasm, since this is one of the few times that a woman can actually get her brain to relax and stop thinking about everything. Masturbation also helps in much the same way to lower our blood pressure, decrease overall stress and anxiety, and is even used by millions to help them sleep better.

Prostate health

Although most men masturbate already, many find it odd that I recommend that they continue to masturbate if they are not getting regular sexual activity. Especially now in the age of porn, masturbation can be used to avoid relationships or can prime the brain to respond more to the images on a screen than a real person. Used in a healthy fashion, however, regular masturbation with ejaculation can help maintain the health of the prostate and lowers the incidence of prostate cancer in men.

Increase pleasure with your partner

Especially for women, masturbation is an excellent way to learn about how your body feels pleasure and how to give yourself that pleasure. Once a person has a good idea of the ways that they respond to physical stimulation, they can more easily translate that into having the same pleasure with a partner. This is most important for the majority of women who receive pleasure mostly from stimulation of the clitoris externally rather than from vaginal penetration. There are about 70% of women who need to have this external stimulation during intercourse if they want to reach orgasm, and learning how to incorporate that into their sex life with a partner can make all the difference.

The perks of sex extend well beyond the bedroom...

Sex is not only pleasurable, did you know it's also good for you? It's true. The benefits of sex range from slashing stress levels to lowering your risk of cancer and heart attacks. Sex facilitates bonding and feelings of intimacy with your partner. This kind of connectedness does more than make you feel warm and fuzzy, it actually reduces anxiety and boosts your overall health.

How would you like a stronger immune system or better sleep? Action between the sheets can help you get all of this and more.

1. Get Less Colds & Boost Your Immune System

More sex equals fewer sick days. That's what the results of studies comparing sexually active people to those who are not sexually active say. Sex boosts your body's ability to make protective antibodies against bacteria, viruses, and other germs that cause common illnesses. Of course, there's more to cultivating a robust immune system than having a healthy sex life. Eating right, exercising, getting adequate sleep, and keeping up to date with vaccinations all contribute to having strong and healthy defenses against contagious illnesses.

2. Boost Your Libido

Believe it or not, the best antidote for a waning libido is to have sex! Having sex actually boosts desire. And if pain and vaginal dryness make it challenging for some women to have sex, sexual activity can help combat these problems, too. Sex boosts vaginal lubrication, blood flow to the vagina, and elasticity of the tissues, all of which make for better, more pleasurable sex and heightened libido.

3. Improve Women's Bladder Control

Urinary incontinence affects about 30% of women at some point in life. Having regular orgasms works a woman's pelvic floor muscles, strengthening and toning them. Orgasms activate the same muscles that women use when doing Kegel exercises. Having stronger pelvic muscles means there's less risk of accidents and urine leaks.

4. Lower Your Blood Pressure

Are you one of the millions of people who suffer from high blood pressure? Sex can help you lower it. Many studies have documented a link between intercourse specifically (not masturbation) and lower systolic blood pressure, the first number that appears on a blood pressure test. That's good news for individuals looking for an easy adjunct to lifestyle (diet, exercise, stress reduction) and medication strategies to get blood pressure into a healthy range. Sex sessions cannot replace blood-pressure lowering drugs to control high blood pressure, but they may be a useful addition.

5. Counts as Exercise

Like every other kind of physical activity, sex burns calories, too! Sitting and watching TV burns about 1 calorie per minute. Having sex increases your heart rate and utilizes various muscle groups, burning about 5 calories per minute. Regular sex cannot replace sessions at the gym, but a having an active, healthy sex life is a nice way to get some extra physical activity.

6. Lower Heart Attack Risk

Want a healthier heart? Have more sex. Sexual activity helps keep levels of hormones, like estrogen and testosterone, in check. When these hormones are out of balance, conditions like heart disease and osteoporosis may develop. When it comes to protecting heart health by having sex, more is better. One study in men showed that those who had sex at least 2 times a week were 50% less likely to die of heart disease than their less sexually active peers.

7. Lessen Pain

Sexual stimulation (including masturbation) and orgasm can help keep pain at bay. Both activities can reduce pain sensation and increase your pain threshold. Orgasms result in the release of hormones that can help block pain signals. Some women report that self-stimulation through masturbation can reduce symptoms of menstrual cramps, arthritis, and even headache.

8. May Reduce Prostate Cancer Risk

There are male-specific health benefits of sex, too. One study showed that men who had frequent ejaculations (defined as 21 times a month or more) were less likely to develop prostate cancer than those who had fewer ejaculations. It did not matter if the ejaculations occurred through intercourse, masturbation, or nocturnal emissions. Of course, there's more to prostate cancer risk than frequency of ejaculations, but this was one interesting finding.

9. Improve Sleep

Sex can help you sleep better. That's because orgasm simulates the release of a hormone called prolactin, a natural sleep aide. Prolactin promotes feelings of relaxation and sleepiness. This is just one of the reasons you may notice that you have an easier time falling asleep after having sex.

10. Relieve Stress

Sex is a great stress reliever. That's because touching, hugging, sexual intimacy, and emotional attachment stimulate the release of “feel good” substances that promote bonding and calmness. Sexual arousal also releases substances that stimulate the reward and pleasure system in the brain. Fostering intimacy and closeness can help relieve anxiety and boost overall health.

11. Burn Calories

Add sex to the list of activities that burns calories. One study in young men and women showed that sex burns about 108 calories per half hour! That's enough to burn off 3, 570 calories – that's a little more than the number of calories in one pound – in 32 half-hour sessions.

12. Improve Cardiovascular Health

Better cardiovascular health may be as close as the bedroom. While some people may worry that physical exertion from sex may lead to a stroke, science suggests otherwise. In a 20-year-long study of more than 900 men, researchers found that frequency of sex did not increase stroke risk. They found that sex protects against fatal heart attacks, too. Men who had sex at least twice per week reduced their risk of a fatal heart attack by 50% compared to gents who had sex less than once a month.

13. Strengthen Your Well-Being

Humans are wired for social connection. Interaction with friends and family boosts your overall health and well-being. Close connections with others, including your partner, make you happier and healthier compared to those who are less well connected. Studies prove it!

14. Improve Intimacy and Relationships

You can hug and cuddle your way to develop warm, intimate relationships. Sex and orgasms stimulate the release of a hormone called oxytocin that helps people bond. This “love hormone” as it's commonly known, helps build feelings of love and trust. In a study of premenopausal women, the more time the ladies spent canoodling and hugging their husbands or partners, the higher their oxytocin levels were. The hormone inspires fuzzy feelings and generosity, too.

15. Look Younger

Forget surgery and anti-aging creams, sex keeps you younger looking, too. Regular sex stimulates the release of estrogen and testosterone, hormones that keep you young and vital looking. Estrogen promotes younger-looking skin and lustrous locks. In one study, judges viewed participants through a one-way mirror and guessed their ages. People who had sex at least 4 times per week with a regular partner were perceived to be 7 to 12 years younger than they actually were.

16. Live Longer

What's the secret to living longer? It may be having more sex. In a decade-long study of over 1,000 middle-aged men, those who had the most orgasms had half the death rate of those who did not ejaculate frequently. Of course many factors contribute to longevity, but having an active sex life may be an easy, pleasurable way to extend your lifespan.

17. Boost Brainpower

The benefits of sex truly extend from head to toe. An active sex life might actually make your brain work better. Researchers found that sex switches the brain into a more analytical mode of and thinking processing. And animal studies suggest that sex enhances areas of the brain involved in memory.

18. Sex Makes Fertilization Easier

When it comes to expanding your family, practice makes perfect. A study performed at a fertility center found that men who had daily ejaculations for a week had higher-quality sperm than those who did not ejaculate daily. Men in the daily ejaculation group had sperm with DNA that was less fragmented than the DNA from sperm of men who ejaculated less frequently. Less fragmented DNA implies healthier DNA. And hearty sperm that have healthy DNA are more likely to fertilize an egg.

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French Kisses Give 80 Million Healthy Bacteria

HomeHealth Tips, Nutrition

French Kisses Give 80 Million Healthy Bacteria

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A study in the journal Microbiome found that a ten-second French kiss can spread 80 million bacteria between mouths. 80 million may sound scary but these bacteria may actually benefit your body.

Scientific Research in the Netherlands got 21 couples visiting a zoo in the Netherlands to participate in a study on French kissing. Their tongues were swabbed and saliva collected before and after a timed ten-second French kiss.

What was interesting is that they found the bacteria on the tongues of couples were more similar than of two strangers. “Apparently, being with somebody for an extended amount of time and having a relationship leads to a similar collection of bacteria on the tongue.” – Professor Remco Kort, lead researcher, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research.

To find see how similar the shared bacteria were, the researchers did one more test. One person in the couple drank a probiotic yogurt drink containing bacteria called Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria and wait a bit and couple shared a 10-second, French kiss. Then they took a sample of the bacteria in the mouth of the partner who hadn’t drunk the yogurt. What the researchers found was that the volume of bacteria transferred to the other partner was on average 80 million bacteria!

Dry kisses are not so healthy.

Quantity and Quality of Kisses Make a Difference

The research team also found out through questionnaires that the more often a couple kisses, the more bacteria they share. Dry, prudent kiss only transfers 1,000 bacteria and a French kiss will give millions of bacteria!

Even though bacteria in the saliva changed quickly after a kiss, the bug populations on the tongue remained more stable.

“French kissing is a great example of exposure to a gigantic number of bacteria in a short time. While 80 million bacteria being transferred in just one kiss sounds scary, it is in fact probably a good thing, acting as a form of immunisation and building resistance from exposure to different microorganisms.” says Professor Remco Kort.

“If you look at it from this point of view, kissing is very healthy,” added Prof Kort.

Would you like to know how much bacteria you and your partner are sharing? There is a “Kiss-o-meter” set up in Amsterdam based on this research that will rate your kisses: Micropia. They will give you a read out of the microorganisms you’ve exchanged.

Not Enough Kisses In Your Life?

Maybe you and your partner need a little help with healthy food aphrodisiacs like honey, almonds or chocolate. Learn how to make chocolate treats without the sugar at the Healthy Chocolate Project.

If there is no one for you to be kissing… not to worry. There are many ways to get probiotics and prebiotics into your diet and boost your immune system in general.
Most fruits and vegetables contain a lot of fiber so provide a health bacterial environment in your digestive tract. Ghee is particularly good at feeding healthy bacteria and your immune system.

Check out my Free Health Webinar on how to keep your immune system strong in the winter.

Here is a great immune recipe: Immune Booster Fruit Salad

About the Author: Diana Herrington

I am the Founder and Author at Real Food For Life. Have been teaching cooking classes worldwide since 1982. Create original, healthy recipes and menus, which are gluten free and white sugar free. Also, the author of the GREEN means LEAN and Balance Your Body e-books. I turned a debilitating health crisis into a passion for helping others with healthy, sugar free, gluten free eating and cooking.

10 real reasons kissing is actually good for you

Dec 19, 2016

by Laura Williams

Image: Portra/iStock/Getty Images Plus

You should be kissing a lot more — because science is telling you to

As if you really needed an excuse for seeking a good make-out other than entertainment value, it turns out that kissing someone else actually has some real health benefits — from tightening skin to boosting your immune system.

Behold: all the great reasons you should be kissing someone right now.

1. Boosts bonding

Whether you're smooching a baby or making out with your spouse, locking lips promotes intimacy and boosts bonding. Dawn Maslar, a biology professor and award-winning author sums it up like this: "When we kiss, both men and women produce the hormone oxytocin. It's often called the 'love hormone' because it causes us (particularly females) to bond." The fact is, we kiss the ones we love, and love the ones we kiss!

2. Spurs arousal and enhances sex

Frequent sex can enhance everything from heart health to your self-esteem, and there's no better primer for sex than kissing! As Carol Queen, the staff sexologist at Good Vibrations, points out, "Kissing is a powerful type of foreplay... it helps increase the chances that both partners will have a good and pleasurable erotic experience."

3. Fights illness

It may sound counterintuitive, but swapping spit is a great way to fend off viruses — especially if all that kissing leads to sex. Research from the journal Medical Hypotheses indicates that women build up immunity against the cytomegalovirus by kissing infected partners. Another study performed at Wilkes University found that study participants who had sex once or twice a week had higher levels of the infection-fighting antibody immunoglobulin A. So if you want to make it through cold season unscathed, it's time to pucker up!

More: Women are dangerously overmedicated because science forgets we're not men

4. Makes better marriages

Seriously. It's not just that frequent kissers may have stronger marriages (which is great for mental and emotional health), but kissing can actually help you choose the right partner. When you kiss someone, your body is subconsciously sharing information about your respective immune systems. The technical term is major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Biologically, it's important for partners to bring different immune system genes to the table so that their offspring will have a better opportunity for survival. So if kissing your crush immediately douses the flames of love, you might be able to chalk it up to biological incompatibility.

5. Increases happiness

Kissing releases endorphins, and to quote Elle Woods from Legally Blond, "Endorphins make you happy." Since depression affects an estimated 17.5 million Americans and costs approximately $30 billion each year, why not give yourself a free happiness boost with a little smooching?

Next Up: Decreases pain