S*x stamina advice for men

S*x stamina advice for men - S*x isn’t just about self-satisfaction. In fact, if you really want to score high in the sack, it’s essential you build up your s*xual stamina to last the distance and keep your other-half happy. Here are some simple tips for a more fulfilling s*x life.

Staying fit and healthy for better s*x

S*ex may appear simple enough to master (unless you’re an inexperienced teenager or 40-year-old virgin fumbling around in the dark, that is). However, if you really want to boost the potency of your passion, it might be time you tried some of the following techniques...

Working out groin muscles 

— If you often find yourself hobbling around with muscle pain the morning after a steamy night of passion, it might be useful to regularly stretch your groin, keeping it primed and ready for even the most outrageous s*xual position. Basic groin stretches will better-prepare your body for a forthcoming s*xual epic, so make sure you regularly try out a few when you get chance!

Building arm muscles

— S*xual stamina can require great upper-body strength, depending on which coital position you’re planning to adopt! It may therefore be an idea to enjoy the occasional free-weights session, gradually toning up your arm muscles. We’re not saying you should build yourself up into a beefcake Adonis overnight. However, the odd bout of upper-body exercise could really keep you energised for longer-lasting s*x.

Staying mentally focused

— An obvious one this, but if you really want to make the most of your s*xual encounters, it’s vital you don’t let the possible repercussions play on your mind. Avoid worrying and allow yourself to stay focused in the bedroom by taking adequate precautions before you hop into the sack. Protect yourself against the perils of pregnancy scares with decent contraception and you’ll feel all the better for it.

Reducing alcohol consumption

— If your nightly routine consists of downing the odd beer (or seven) at the local bar, before stumbling home for a swift night of passionate fumbling with your other half, you may need to reassess your thirst for booze. Alcohol can seriously damage your s*xual virility when consumed in heavy doses, with its depressive nature dampening testosterone levels. A few drinks with the lads may help keep up social appearances, but they certainly won’t keep up things in the bedroom. So, unless you want to suffer the wrath of a moody spouse, unfulfilled by your semi-cocked sabre, try and take it easy, else the only hot date you’ll be making will be with that lonely single-bed in the spare room.

Improving blood-flow

— Before you sprint to the doctor’s at the first sign of erectile problems, try and adopt a more natural way of increasing the blood flow to your groin, without the aid of Viagra. By regularly flexing and massaging your body’s central groin muscles, blood will start to flow more readily in that area, allowing you to stand to attention for longer in the bedroom.

Flexing the abdominal muscles

— Whilst your torso may currently appear more of a flabby twelve-pack than a toned six-pack, a little abdominal exercise could go a long way in boosting your s*xual stamina. The abs are key to providing bursts of s*xual energy, driving the groin by thrusting it forwards and then releasing it. As a result, a few daily crunches or sit-ups could really develop your s*x life, preventing you from flopping down onto your partner with sheer exhaustion in the middle of a bedtime romp. So build up those belly muscles and you’ll be feeling abs-olutely fabulous in no time!

Loving thyself ... but not too much 

— It won’t make you go blind, but ‘self-love’ could certainly damage your chances of making a potent first impression. What could be worse on a hot date than whipping off your boxer shorts to reveal ... well, not much at all really? Self-pleasure may while away the lonely nights between dates but it certainly won’t do much to strengthen your credibility in the presence of a female. No matter how desperate you get, try and save your energy for the real thing ... after all, s*x is a marathon, not a sprint.

Stretching the quads and calves

— Cramp is a big turn-off in the bedroom, with the quads and calves notably susceptible to sudden bouts of tightening pain. As a result, regularly stretching your leg muscles could seriously heighten your s*xual experience, easing them into the demands of flexible s*x-ercise. Don’t let muscular pain cramp your style ... work-out those quads and calves and you’ll soon feel the benefits.

S*x shouldn’t just be about making a quick entry and an even quicker exit. Instead, if you really want to enjoy a night of steamy passion and appease your partner in the process, it might be worth undertaking a few extra-curricular exercises and lifestyle tweaks to truly reach your optimum performance. ( realbuzz.com )

READ MORE - S*x stamina advice for men

Simple tips to enhance your natural beauty

Simple tips to enhance your natural beauty - How to boost your beauty in ten simple steps: from getting down and dirty in the bedroom to grooming your eyebrows, being more beautiful is easy when you make a few small changes to your routine. Here are our top 10 ways to make you look and feel irresistible.

Beauty tip 1: Exfoliate

It’s often hard to keep up with our skin. One minute we’re smothering it in moisturiser, the next it’s back to being dull and flakey. To compliment your moisturiser and ensure that your skin stays lovelier for longer, make sure you leave extra time to exfoliate daily. Skin continually produces new cells and, as the new cells appear, the dead ones tend to sit on top of the skin making it appear dry and dull. When this happens, there’s not much point in moisturising. Why waste your expensive body butter on dead skin cells? Try buttering up after you’ve buffed the old cells off, and you’ll notice a drastic change.

Beauty tip 2: Have s*x

Getting down and dirty is the ultimate beauty booster. Just 15 minutes a day spent doing the deed leaves your cheeks flushed; your lips lusciously red; and your skin glowing and beautiful. Studies have shown that regular romps increase blood flow and bring essential nutrients and oxygen to the skin, which flush out harmful toxins and make us appear younger. Plus, having someone run their fingers through your tresses can give it that gorgeous mussed-up bed head look, and we all like a bit of va-va-voom from time to time.

Beauty tip 3: Ditch the alcohol and cigarettes

Drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes doesn’t do our skin any favours. Smoking allows a staggering 4000 toxic substances into the body during every puff, and too much alcohol causes skin to dry out and eyes to become puffy – not the best start for boosting your natural beauty. Quit smoking, and only drink in moderation to improve your skin’s elasticity and reduce puffy eyes. This is a sure-fire way to make you look younger and more beautiful.

Beauty tip 4: Rest

The phrase “beauty sleep” is famous for a reason; sleep really does make you beautiful. During periods of deep sleep our cells renew themselves, and lack of sleep – or poor quality of sleep – leaves us looking and feeling a bit worse for wear. If you have trouble getting your beauty sleep, try and relax. Add a few drops of aromatherapy oils to your bath, try deep-breathing exercises, and avoid caffeinated drinks before you head to bed.

Beauty tip 5: Strengthen your hair with protein

Keratin – a type of protein – is the key structural component of our hair and nails. By eating protein-rich foods we can reinforce the keratin in our hair to make it healthier and stronger. It’s not all about what you put on your hair, but what you put in your body too. Dietician Dawn Jackson explains that “the foundation of all our new hair, skin, and nail growth is in the nutrients we eat”, so it’s a good idea to boost the natural protein in your hair by eating protein-rich foods such as eggs, nuts, seeds, shellfish and meat for stronger, healthier locks.

Beauty tip 6: Groom your eyebrows

Few things can change your look as quickly and drastically as nicely plucked brows. The right brow shape can really frame your face and compliment your favourite features, whilst bushy brows distract attention away from your best features. There are many different ways of removing your brow hair too: plucking, threading, tweezing and waxing – just find the way that suits you best and you’re well on your way to being more beautiful in an instant.

Beauty tip 7: Be healthy with fruit, veg, and water

It’s a beauty tip that we’ve heard time and time again, but it’s true: we are what we eat, and being healthy on the inside makes us even more beautiful on the outside. This tip is pretty straight-forward; drink plenty of water to flush out harmful toxins in your skin and increase skin’s elasticity; get plenty of exercise to sweat out the toxins; and eat all of your fruit and vegetables for vital nutrients that will make your skin glow – simple, easy ways to boost your beauty.

Beauty tip 8: Wear mineral makeup

Don’t clog your pores up with a thick, heavy foundation that won’t allow your skin to breathe. Instead, opt for kinder ways to cover up imperfections such as mineral makeup or BB creams. Most mineral powders even help to prevent spots whilst BB creams moisturise your skin and even out skin tone without clogging your pores.

Beauty tip 9: Go for a brisk walk

A brisk walk is an excellent way to boost your circulation and get beautiful glowing skin. Walking improve your sleep, enhance mental function, and help to counteract depression. This will all reflect in your complexion as you appear happier and healthier. You might be able to get rosy cheeks from a pot of blusher, but you won’t get the beautifully natural glow of flushed, healthy skin by using a makeup palette.

Beauty tip 10: Protect your skin

It’s important to protect your skin whatever the weather, particularly if yours is sensitive. As temperatures dip throughout the winter, we are more likely to crank the heating up, which can have a detrimental impact upon our skin by drying it out and making it appear aged. Summer skin can be dried out too, causing it to look dry, dull and flakey. To help prevent dry skin, make moisturising a regular part of your routine. Flare-free skin makes us look and feel beautiful. ( realbuzz.com )

READ MORE - Simple tips to enhance your natural beauty

Older women, don't take vitamin D for bones

Older women, don't take vitamin D for bones: Panel  - Older women shouldn't take vitamin D and calcium supplements to prevent broken bones, and there's not enough evidence to say whether it would help anyone else either, says a U.S. government-backed panel.

Based on two reviews of past research, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force waded into the debate over the two vitamins that are thought to strengthen bones to prevent against breaks.

"Calcium and vitamin D are important in general health and bone health. For this recommendation, we review data on whether supplements of vitamin D and calcium can prevent fractures in addition to dietary intake," said Dr. Jessica Herzstein, a member of the Task Force.

Approximately 1.5 million Americans suffer from breaks that are tied to brittle bones each year. And about half of all women over 50 years old will end up with a break that's linked to the bone-weakening disease osteoporosis.

That's a major concern, according to the Task Force, because broken bones are linked to chronic pain, disability and increased risk of sickness and early death.

Based on the reviews, the panel found there were no benefits but some risk for post-menopausal women taking low-dose vitamin D and calcium supplements - below 400 international units and 1,000 milligrams, respectively.

Specifically, taking low-dose supplements didn't change the older women's risk for broken bones, but was tied to a small increase in the risk of kidney stones (see Reuters Health article of June 12, 2012 here: http://reut.rs/W760bF

They also found that there is not enough evidence to suggest higher doses of the vitamins would be effective or safer in older women, or that taking any dose of the supplements would help men or younger women.

For men and younger women, "We're not saying don't take it, we're just saying we don't know enough right now," said Herzstein, who is in charge of employee health at Air Products in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

She added that these recommendations do not apply to people who already have a diagnosis of osteoporosis, a history of fractures or are living in an assisted-living community.

TALK WITH YOUR DOCTOR

Herzstein said it's important for people to talk with their doctors about the supplements.

Cara Welch, senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs for the Natural Product Association in Washington, D.C., told Reuters Health she agreed that people should talk to their doctors, but said the group disagrees with the new recommendation.

"We believe this recommendation is out of step with current research, and it really should not affect consumers who are trying to supplement their calcium and vitamin D intake with supplements," Welch said.

According to the most recent data from a national survey of Americans, 56 percent of women over 60 years old take vitamin D supplements, and 60 percent take calcium supplements.

The two vitamins are often sold together and are relatively inexpensive.

The Task Force already recommends women older than 65 years old be screened for the bone-weakening disease osteoporosis, and younger women who have a higher risk of broken bones.

The panel also recommends senior citizens with a history of falls and vitamin D deficiency take supplements to help strengthen muscles and help with balance (see Reuters Health article of May 30, 2012 here: http://reut.rs/V1ARom

Vitamin D has also been researched as a preventive measure against dementia, heart disease and cancer, but with mixed results. Herzstein said the panel will soon be issuing recommendations about the vitamin for some of those diseases.

Marion Nestle, a nutrition researcher from New York University who coauthored a commentary published alongside the recommendations in the Annals of Internal Medicine, said that good studies on vitamin D are hard to do, and any end to the debate over whether to take supplements or not is a long way off.

"These studies are so difficult to do and to interpret that scientific consensus seems impossible to achieve, especially in situations where entire organizations are devoted to convincing people to take high-dose vitamin D," she wrote in an email to Reuters Health. ( Reuters Health )

Blog : Playing Small
Post : Older women, don't take vitamin D for bones: Panel

READ MORE - Older women, don't take vitamin D for bones

"Magic mushroom" trips point to new depression drugs

"Magic mushroom" trips point to new depression drugs - The brains of people tripping on magic mushrooms have given the best picture yet of how psychedelic drugs work and British scientists say the findings suggest such drugs could be used to treat depression.

Two separate studies into the effects of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, showed that contrary to scientists' expectations, it does not increase but rather suppresses activity in areas of the brain that are also dampened with other anti-depressant treatments.

"Psychedelics are thought of as 'mind-expanding' drugs so it has commonly been assumed that they work by increasing brain activity," said David Nutt of Imperial College London, who gave a briefing about the studies on Monday. "But, surprisingly, we found that psilocybin actually caused activity to decrease in areas that have the densest connections with other areas."

These so-called "hub" regions of the brain are known to play a role in constraining our experience of the world and keeping it orderly, he said.

"We now know that deactivating these regions leads to a state in which the world is experienced as strange."

In the first study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal, 30 volunteers had psilocybin infused into their blood while they were inside magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners, which measure changes in brain activity.

It found activity decreased in "hub" regions and many volunteers described a feeling of the cogs being loosened and their sense of self being altered.

The second study, due to be published in the British Journal of Psychiatry on Thursday, involved 10 volunteers and found that psilocybin enhanced their recollections of personal memories.

Robin Carhart Harris from Imperial's department of medicine, who worked on both studies, said the results suggest psilocybin could be useful as an adjunct to psychotherapy.

Nutt cautioned that the new research was very preliminary and involved only small numbers of people.

"We're not saying go out there and eat magic mushrooms," he said. "But...this drug has such a fundamental impact on the brain that it's got to be meaningful -- it's got to be telling us something about how the brain works. So we should be studying it and optimizing it if there's a therapeutic benefit."
"FUNDAMENTAL IMPACT"

The key areas of the brain identified -- one called the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and another called the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) -- are the subject of debate among neuroscientists, but the PCC is thought by many to have a role in consciousness and self-identity.

The mPFC is known to be hyperactive in depression, and the researchers pointed out that other key treatments for depression including medicines like Prozac, as well as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and deep brain stimulation, also appear to suppress mPFC activity.

Psilocybin's dampening action on this area may make it a useful and potentially long-acting antidepressant, Carhart-Harris said.

The studies also showed that psilocybin reduced blood flow in the hypothalamus -- a part of the brain where people who suffer from a condition known as cluster headaches often have increased blood flow. This could explain why some cluster headache sufferers have said their symptoms improved after taking the psychedelic drug, the researcher said.

The studies, which are among only a handful conducted into psychedelic substances since the 1960s and 1970s, revive a promising field of study into mind-altering drugs which some experts say can offer powerful and sustained mood improvement and relief from anxiety.

Other experts echoed Nott's caution: "These findings are very interesting from the research viewpoint, but a great deal more work would be needed before most psychiatrists would think that psilocybin was a safe, effective and acceptable adjunct to psychotherapy," said Nick Craddock, a psychiatry professor from Cardiff University.

Kevin Healy, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists' faculty of medical psychotherapy said it was interesting research "but we are clearly nowhere near seeing psilocybin used regularly and widely in psychotherapy practice." ( Reuters )

Blog : The Challenge
Post : "Magic mushroom" trips point to new depression drugs

READ MORE - "Magic mushroom" trips point to new depression drugs

Hundreds arrested in Ky. prescription crackdown

Hundreds arrested in Ky. prescription crackdown. More than 300 people were arrested and 200 more targeted in a crackdown on a multi-state prescription pill pipeline, a bust that Kentucky officials said Thursday was the largest in the state's history.

Police officers fanning out across mostly eastern Kentucky this week had arrested 322 people by midafternoon in pursuit of about 500 suspects who face charges related to illegal trafficking of prescription drugs, officials said at a news conference.

Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rodney Brewer said the roundup, a joint state-federal effort, comes after a three-year investigation and is "striking at the heart of major drug trafficking organizations and crippling illegal prescription drug pipelines that are running from Florida into Kentucky."

Authorities have not identified a leader in the drug trafficking but did pinpoint one suspect who allegedly headed a group of 13 other accused traffickers.

That group, which operated from 2005 to 2008, traveled to Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida to obtain methadone and oxycodone pills to sell in eastern Kentucky, authorities said. The group's alleged leader faces at least 20 years and possibly life in prison if convicted.

Kentucky uses an electronic prescription monitoring program to try to prevent abuses.

Shelley Johnson, a spokeswoman for the state attorney general, said after the state started the system, many residents migrated to other states, particularly South Florida, to obtain multiple prescriptions from pain clinics. They then returned and sold the pills, she said.

"We are well aware that due to other states not having similar systems, we have pipelines that are emerging to bring too many of these addictive substances into our Commonwealth," Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway said.

Because Florida was the largest of just a handful of states without such tracking, it had become the nation's leading supplier of prescription drugs obtained for illicit purposes.

A bill signed this year by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist would set up such a system, designed to crack down on so-called "doctor shopping" by addicts and drug dealers who flock to Florida from throughout the Southeast.

Federal Drug Enforcement Administration officials say South Florida's Broward County, where doctors wrote prescriptions for more than 6.5 million oxycodone pills from June to December 2008, is the nation's top supplier of the narcotic.

In Kentucky, Brewer said that the number of illegal pills purchased or confiscated as part of the state police investigation numbered "in the tens of thousands." He said authorities had not yet determined a street value for the seized pills.

Last year, 877 deaths in Kentucky were caused by prescription drug overdoses, Brewer said.

Bob McBride with the U.S. Attorney's Office said he is unaware of charges against any doctors in the investigation.

Brewer said the majority of the state-level charges were for trafficking in controlled substances, offenses that could land people in prison for up to 20 years if convicted.

McBride said the federal charges include conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and distribution of controlled substances — mostly methadone and OxyContin_ as well as money laundering.

Kyle Edelen, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky, said he was only aware of arrests being made in Kentucky as part of the investigation.

Edelen said the federal government is seeking the forfeiture of about $1 million worth of assets from federal defendants, including vehicles, real estate, a boat and a bank account allegedly used as part of the alleged illegal activity.

Authorities got a glimpse into the trans-state pill-peddling operations in 2006 when investigators uncovered a group in eastern Kentucky that made trips to Philadelphia to obtain prescription drugs, said Kentucky State Police Capt. Kevin Payne.

"That was the first, I guess the tip of the iceberg," said Payne, commander of the drug enforcement/special investigations unit for the eastern end of Kentucky. / AP

Blog : Playing Small
Post : Hundreds arrested in Ky. prescription crackdown

READ MORE - Hundreds arrested in Ky. prescription crackdown