Category: Sexual Health

Having sex doesn’t always mean having satisfaction. Almost half of all women who have sexual relations do not climax. The problems with reaching an orgasm in women are not new. Numerous studies have been held on this matter and they confirmed that the absence of orgasmic feelings may be related to physical, emotional or relationship issues. So, let’s have a closer look at each of them.

Physical causes of anorgasmia

Many women experience problems with coming to the climax because of physical health issues. Among the major causes are:

• Low libido. Lack of sex drive doesn’t let a woman respond to the sexual stimulation she receives from her partner. Loss of interest in sex leads to the absence of orgasms.
• Hormonal imbalance. Both lack and excess of some hormones may result in poor libido, insufficient lubrication of the intimate zones and, as a result, inability to climax.
• Pain during sexual intercourse. It may happen so that a woman feels pain during sex. It may be connected with the childbirth, menopause or some physiological peculiarities of the penis of her partner (e.g. wrong shape).

Emotional challenges

Women who became the victims of sex abuse may have serious problems with getting pleasure from the intimate relations in their further life. Besides, low self-esteem may also play a bad trick with women because they cannot relax and enjoy the process.

In addition, some mental health issues may become an obstacle on the way to orgasm too. Anxiety and depression are among the leading causes of anorgasmia in women.

Certain religious beliefs and peculiarities of the upbringing may make a woman think that sexual relations and orgasm are something wrong.

Problems in relationships with a partner

Unresolved issues, lack of trust, and fear or shyness of speaking about the preferences in sex may also have a negative impact on the emotional condition of the woman thus preventing her from reaching an orgasm.

Fortunately, all these may be easily solved by a frank conversation with the partner. It will help you either to become closer to each other or understand that he is the wrong guy for you.

Whatever the case, you should always seek for the right solution no matter where it is: in the doctor’s cabinet, in your head or in your heart.

Difficulties with getting and keeping an erection happen to the bulk of men of different age at some stage of their life. This problem may be provoked by various factors, either momentary (e.g. trauma, serious stress) or evolved during some period of time (e.g. atherosclerosis, obesity).

No matter what has become the crucial factor of erectile dysfunction, this condition may be managed and significantly improved thanks to the special exercises. They help to enhance the supply of blood to the pelvic organs and strengthen the muscles of the pelvic floor. A simultaneous impact on both mechanisms can help to fully or partially restore the ability to get an erection without using the pills.

How to do the exercises?

First of all, you have to find and feel the muscles you are going to work on. To do this, you should try to hold the stream of the urine. The muscle area you use to perform this action is the one you need to train.

You’ll need no additional equipment to train the pelvic floor muscles. Just strain and relax the muscles for at least 10-20 times three times a day. Try to hold the muscles strained for three seconds and then keep them in a relaxed condition during the same period of time.

Of course, the effect won’t be seen at once. You’ll need at least two weeks of regular exercises to notice the result.

In the study conducted in one of the British universities, 40% of the participants succeeded in complete recovery from the erectile dysfunction. Whereas 33% could significantly improve their ability to get and keep an erection.

What else can help to deal with ED?

Because erectile dysfunction may result from a number of underlying health condition (like heart disease, obesity, hypertension), it is important to keep to a healthy way of life. Daily aerobic exercises, for example, can improve the flow of blood to the penile area. Besides, they have a positive impact on the oxygenation of blood and consequently all the other body cells. Aerobic workouts can better the condition of your cardiovascular system, lower your blood pressure, and promote weight loss.

Set the right goals, reach them, and you’ll have no troubles in bed.

If you ask any adult person in the street to name at least one food product that is considered an aphrodisiac, you are very likely to hear an answer. But is it all true? Can food really stimulate our libido? Can it help to better performance in bed? Actually, there are no scientifically based confirmations about such an effect of either of the foods we may think of.

Neither oysters nor bananas have any impact on male or female ability to get sexually excited in the way of physiology. However, from a psychological point of view, anything is possible.

Foods having the shape of the sex organs are stimulants

Numerous scientific researches couldn’t prove any libido stimulating properties of foods that resemble male or female sex organs. So, carrots, cucumbers, and oysters won’t help your penis to get erected. Nevertheless, a human brain can trace certain associations that may help your fantasy develop thoughts about sexual contacts when eating at looking at these products.

Food texture and taste

It’s not always the shape that gives grounds to think about the food as of an aphrodisiac. Foods having smooth and creamy texture are also sometimes associated with pleasure in bed. Speaking about the taste, spicy dishes and foods are thought to make you “hot” between the sheets, yet it is all rather doubtful.

Coffee and chocolate

These are, probably, the best candidates for being called aphrodisiacs. That’s because both chocolate (actually only dark chocolate) and coffee can work as the central nervous system stimulants. They can elevate the blood pressure and give us some additional energy, which may be directed to the embodiment of our sexual fantasies.

However, neither coffee nor chocolate can trigger physical mechanisms of arousal. Both act by narrowing the blood vessels, which is an absolutely contrary effect of what is needed for getting an erection, for example. So, to believe in aphrodisiacs or no is only your choice. Nevertheless, remember that a romantic atmosphere can work best of all regardless of the foods in your plate.

For thousands of years, some foods and herbs have been used to improve male sexual performance and to raise the libido. Nothing has changed: people still believe in the power of aphrodisiacs. However, there is very little scientific evidence concerning the positive effects of these plants.

Let’s compare what advantages and disadvantages one may get from using aphrodisiacs. Do they work? Are they safe? The answers to these and some other questions we’ll try to find in this article.

Aphrodisiacs and their benefits

At first, let’s give a definite answer to the question of what is an aphrodisiac? It is a substance that promotes a rise in sexual desire. So, not a word about erection improvement, isn’t it? However, if a man feels the arousal, he is very likely to get an erection.

All the aphrodisiacs may be classified into several groups depending on the effect induced:

• Those improving the circulation of blood in the pelvic area. Here belong cayenne pepper, asparagus, pomegranates, red wine, watermelons, and other foods.
• Those increasing the levels of testosterone. This group comprises salmon, oysters, avocado, ginseng, and so on.
• Those relaxing the muscles of the blood vessels and the penis. This effect is promoted by honey, watermelons, beet, and some other nitric oxide donors.
• Those bettering stamina and overall feeling of excitement. This may be achieved with the help of dark chocolate, chili pepper, figs.

A number of more “exotic” aphrodisiacs popular in India, China, and Africa include Yohimbe, Spanish fly, deer antler, and the horn of the rhino. Unlike foods, these may induce a real danger to health.

All the mechanisms triggered by the aphrodisiacs may work well for men seeking sexual satisfaction. Yet, they are likely to be helpful only in light cases of male sexual inability.

Cons of using aphrodisiacs

As the scientific base for proving aphrodisiacs potency and safety is very weak, men have to be careful with the intake of some of them. To the probable negative effects of these substances belong:

• Very low blood pressure (tiredness, dizziness);
• Urinary infections;
• Allergic reaction (rash, hives, swelling of the tongue, throat or face);
• Liver and kidney disease;
• Inability to get sexually excited without a stimulant.

Erectile dysfunction is a disorder of men’s health consisting in the difficulty both to have an erection of the penis and to maintain it. It should be noted that this is not a disease, but rather a symptom that can reveal the presence of other diseases: cardiovascular alterations, endocrine-metabolic problems, diabetes or neurological diseases. A group of researchers from some American universities and Kaiser Permanente – a non-profit California body that deals with health issues – have identified a genetic variant linked to erectile dysfunction: a variant that, according to the study, would be on chromosome 6, closely related to SIM1, a gene that has to do with the hormonal circuit of leptin-melanocortin, linked both to the regulation of the body mass index and to sexual activity.

To reach this discovery, the researchers – coordinated by Stephen Van Den Eeden – relied on an English database that includes data from over 36 thousand men and used a genetic analysis method called ‘genome wide association’, a procedure that has the goal of associating certain genome variants with the presence of certain diseases or dysfunctions. In this way, scientists discovered that this genetic variant is associated with the SIM1 gene, but they also found that it has nothing to do with weight regulation, but acts with a different mechanism, probably related to the neurons of sexual desire. The discovery – published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences – is important because it could allow the development of new, more targeted drugs that could replace medicines such as sildenafil (the most common trade name of which is Viagra), if not in all cases, in those that have a genetic component.

But it does not end here: the genetic mechanisms of erection could also play a role with regard to sexual function, including desire and excitement, in women. According to the authors of the study, in fact, these analyzes on mechanisms underlying erectile dysfunction open the way to the study of new therapies, aimed at more specific targets, for the treatment of these disorders: treatments that could offer a potential to improve sexual function not only in men, but also in women.

Sexuality has long been considered a taboo subject, and unfortunately nowadays it is sometimes still the case. Although it seems logical to believe that the knowledge accumulated in recent times can easily overturn the theories behind these deceptive beliefs, there is still a certain resistance to breaking down those walls that we know have no meaning, to put an end to lies that have survived for years and that they have grasped the concept of ethics in society, even though they are completely wrong. The topic of masturbation seems to be especially riddled with controversy, myths and inhibitions.

Masturbation is not a harmful pastime per se if performed in a balanced, non-compulsive or controlled manner. It is a way to reach orgasm even for those who do not have the possibility to achieve it together with a partner.

Masturbation has negative side effects when it becomes a fixed idea, an uncontrollable impulse. When the self-erotic practice replaces a healthy relationship with others, becoming a compulsive, uncontrolled behavior, which needs to be carried out in a mechanical and ritual manner and which ends up interfering in everyday life, creating relationship problems. Such cases require attention of a specialist (psychologist or sexologist).

Otherwise, in normal conditions today, even the World Health Organization has accepted masturbation as a safe way to experience sex.

Masturbating becomes unhealthy when it becomes a necessary act without which you cannot go on about your day, when it becomes a daily necessity that makes you cancel any kind of interest outside of auto-eroticism.

Age has a great influence on sexual activity and on auto-eroticism, when you are very young it is normal to be attracted to masturbation, it is a way to get to learn more about your body. We begin to discover sexual pleasure and the various techniques to enjoy in different ways, intensifying it. There are people who, even as adults, continue to maintain constant daily sexual activity. It is fundamental is to understand the triggering factor, for example if it is aimed at pure entertainment or the desire to relieve tension and physical or emotional stress, masturbating is not a negative factor at all.

If masturbating every day becomes a compulsive attitude then it is good to investigate the unconscious triggers and possibly seek advice from a specialist to understand how much auto-eroticism negatively affects one’s life.

Auto-erotic self-pleasure is a way of practicing 100% safe sex: there is no possibility of infection, of contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Furthermore, as reported by other studies, masturbation is good for health and prostate cancer: especially if carried out between the ages of 20 and 50, five times a week, it would be the most powerful means of preventing prostate cancer.

If you are using sex toys, it is important to always sanitize and clean them.

Couple masturbation constitutes an important emotional exchange and when the couple manages to practice it individually, being one in front of the other, it establishes a moment of sharing the most secret and intimate moments and favors greater communication in the couple. It helps you to get to know your partner’s body better and to understand the points and erogenous zones that stimulate sexual pleasure and orgasm the most.

Phobias affect all areas of life, even the most pleasant spheres. This is the case with sex phobia, but where does it come from? Sexophobia is categorized as a psychic disorder characterized by aversion towards the sexual sphere. It is not just a question of refusing to have relationships, but of shunning many aspects of sexuality.

Like any other phobia, sex phobia is characterized by some specific aspects:

• An excessive and uncontrolled negative emotional response to the source of the phobia itself,
• Uncontrolled thoughts that foment fear both at the sight of the stimulus, and only in case memories
• Behavior of refusal and avoidance of all places or people or situations that have to do with the source of the phobia.

Sexual phobia or sexuophobia is listed in the DSM-IV as a desire disorder; more specifically it is called sexual aversion disorder. The symptoms, previously described in a transversal way for the various phobias, here deal with the rejection of sexual desire, of erotic activities. The fear experienced is not addressed, but generally the person prefers to manage the situation by removal.

As with any other form, sex phobia can have a “low tone” start and then grow into a vicious circle. The consequences of phobia can affect family, relationship and work life; subjects fail to build solid relationships and often over time the same relationship with the other sex is compromised by widening the consequences of the disorder beyond the purely sexual sphere.

Those who suffer from this disorder tend to associate sexuality with a sense of reprehensible disgust; it is not said that he is not able to have relationships, but surely he will not be able to enjoy them entirely. At the basis of sexual phobia there are thick childhood traumas linked to abuse, but it is possible that unrealistic expectations or guilt feelings associated with a negative view of sexuality that can be transmitted through education may also influence.

The disorder can only be dealt with effectively after having understood what the true origin is, but tends to involve sending it to a psychotherapist who deals in parallel with the deepening of the physiological aspects of sexuality and the emotional response. This is associated with a path that leads to a gradual exposure to the anxiety-inducing stimulus to learn to manage one’s own reaction and to control negative automatic thoughts.