One study has investigated the reasons that push women to simulate the pleasure than to please your partner, do it out of insecurity. Or to heat things ...
According to many (including this writer), simulating an orgasm is a bad habit and there are at least 5 good reasons why women should stop doing it, including: fake orgasm means satisfied, and not deny themselves the opportunity to enjoy. Nothing prohibits fact that after the classical relationHe is devoted to our pleasure, if not the fact that we believe have already been satisfied, a condition that occurs precisely in the simulation.
Despite this, pretending orgasm is a vice that women can not lose. Why? The last people to have the question of Temple University researchers are in Pennsylvania, according to which 60% of women have simulated the pleasure at least once and many continue to do so, not so much - as you might think - to please or disappoint the 'ego of the partners, rather than to quiet performance anxiety and insecurity. In other words, might just be the fear of not being able to achieve orgasm pushing us to produce a counterfeit, as long as it is.
The conclusion was drawn from the correlation between the answers of the respondents because it simulates an orgasm and feel about their sexual activity.
In fact, Dr. Eric Cooper, who led the study, received mainly two types answers to the question "Why do you continue to simulate an orgasm?" The first reason is "to mask the lack of a satisfactory agreement with the partners"The second one concerns"the inability to derive pleasure from sexual intercourse"What's considered somewhat embarrassing, not to mention painful, and then cleverly tries to disguise with vocals from opera and spasms. The great discovery made by researchers who would be in addition to the pride male sex, there is also a Female sexual pride, Where the ability to enjoy, to get pleasure from sex, it is equally important for men and women. It is equally problematic, as the boys suffer from performance anxiety, so the women, but they respond differently, ie: simulating. On the other hand, evidence of the female orgasm is far less visible and easier to conceal.
The problem that instinct more often sinks to simulate orgasm is therefore not impossible, but insecurity - Dictated by limited knowledge of their body, their "pleasure circuit" - the pleasure, which leads to a consequent fear of intimacy, of letting go and get really naked in front of your partner. So, we are stretched, so unconsciously afraid to block most of the pleasurable sensations that can be drawn from sex, and we only hope that the report - underlining once again, with great embarrassment, the difficulty in enjoying - end as soon as possible (other reason is very much alive for the simulation), [this because sex is experienced even more according to the male model, and then coital, ed.]
But simulations are not all silver lining. If in fact the female orgasm is a mechanism that often requires a long learning, experiments and trials, to be taken advantage of (usually female sexual satisfaction increases with age and experience, because the pleasure is often so complex as to require an apprenticeship), Some women use the simulation just as a activator of the orgasm, To exploiting the exciting simulated moans and movements to achieve their own - with great satisfaction - the climax. A further demonstration of the fact that each has the his how to access pleasure, no matter what: just that it works.
Problem drinking in teen years is not a good omen for the future
Drinking problems in adolescence may be passed off as "just a phase" that a person may outgrow. But a study suggests instead that problem drinking in someone at age 18 helps predict alcoholism at age 25.
A questionnaire called the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index is used to assess drinking-related problems among teenagers. In the new study, researchers looked at whether those scores predicted anything about the future drinking behavior of a person. They assessed 597 Finnish twins at age 18 using the questionnaire. They then interviewed the same people at age 25 with a different measure to assess alcohol abuse and dependence.
The people who were experiencing drinking-related problems at 18 -- which included things like getting into a fight or having school problems due to alcohol use -- were more likely to be diagnosed with alcoholism at age 25. The link was stronger in females than males. Overall, the study found there was a 74% chance that adolescent scores were higher among people diagnosed with alcoholism at age 25 than for those who were not. Because the study involved twins, the researchers were able to rule out factors such as the parents' drinking and socioeconomic factors.
The researchers said they could not explain why some people who scored high for drinking-related problems on the questionnaire at 18 did not become alcohol dependent and others did. But that does not undermine the value of the measurement tool, they said.
"Identifying adolescents at high risk for alcohol dependency is an obvious, important priority," the authors wrote.
The study was published Tuesday in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental
Asian Women on Student Visas Join Sex Trade Down Under
Young Asian women who come to the country on student visas are instead working in brothels, the Australian immigration department has found.
In its investigation, it found that the women are earning up to 10,000 dollars a week as sex workers, and that brothel websites openly advertise "new fresh girls" arriving regularly from countries like South Korea, Thailand, China and Japan.
One Asian woman under investigation was discovered to have not attended even a single
lesson at the English course she signed up for.
She had instead been working 12-hour shifts, seven days a week at a group of four city brothels, while a fellow prostitute attended courses in her place by using her name.
In Australia, holders of student visas are allowed to work up to 20 hours a week while their course is in session and unlimited hours during course breaks, but must attend their nominated course.
DIAC fraud officers were alerted to widespread abuse of student visas, with some of the sex workers paying corrupt immigration agents in their own country up to 8000 dollars to arrange their "visas" under the foreign student program.
Many worked as prostitutes in their home countries and came to Australia freely to make more money to send to their families overseas - using dodgy cash brokers so they do not alert AUSTRAC, which must be notified of transactions of 10,000 dollars or more.
Read more: Shocker: Asian Women on Student Visas Join Sex Trade Down Under http://www.medindia.net/news/Shocker-Asian-Women-on-Student-Visas-Join-Sex-Trade-Down-Under-73481-1.htm#ixzz0yUOxwKwM
Natural vs Conventional Weight Loss
Obesity is slowly but steadily becoming a social havoc, more than half of the adult citizens of U.S are under its grip, and now children too are getting prone to it. The people suffering from obesity feel frustrated and alone, they are ashamed to expose their body. Obesity shatters them physically, mentally and psychologically.
Weight loss is rapidly becoming a social havoc, we know that most of the people want to get rid of this hazardous enemy, its not difficult, all you need to do is to change your lifestyle a bit, and miraculous consequences will automatically follow. Don’t feel yourself downtrodden, a bit of effort from your side can eradicate obesity and help you lose weight. Slight change in your eating habits and rigorous exercise can do wonders for you.
Erase junk food from your diet
Avoid snacks between meals
Stop eating food with fat content
Get back to boiled food
Intake fresh fruits and vegetables
Take juice for a change
Exercise is the traditional and the most effective way to lose weight; it perks up your metabolism, deduces your calorie and stabilizes you physically as well as mentally.
The prospect of exercising tends to elicit moans from lots of people, the most common excuses presented are lack of time, absence of equipment and expensive and monotonous.
Stop giving all this boring excuses, exercise does not require any schedule; you can make it highly enjoyable. Make friends so that a competitive environment can be generated, reshuffle your timings.
Exercise does not only means workouts, swimming dancing mountain trekking are all adventurous as well as enjoyable forms of exercise.
Diet pills are appetite suppressants, which mean that you won’t be hungry and will stop eating; consumption of diet pills can lead to deadly side effects such as blood pressure, liver irritation, headaches, dizziness, sexual difficulties, increased heart rate and diarrhea. Taking pills for sliming and thyroid problems during pregnancy can increase the chances of bearing lesbian daughters.
The major problem with diet pills is that most of them are unregulated, it is necessary to consult your physician and take pills recommended by FDA. Diet pills are fast but not a permanent solution to weight loss. Commonly prescribed safe and effective diet pill.
Most would still vote for marijuana law
Montanans passed the initiative establishing the state’s medical-marijuana law in 2004 with a healthy 62 percent of the vote.
The law was largely uncontroversial until the federal government announced several months ago that it would defer to state medical-marijuana laws in determining the legal use of the drug. The medical-marijuana industry boomed in Montana, and some are now saying that the law is so vague it has allowed the sale of marijuana in circumstances that voters didn’t have in mind when they passed the initiative.
Today’s Independent Record includes the second in a three-day series by Lee newspapers in Montana exploring the issues surrounding that controversy.
We asked readers to weigh in with our Question of the Week: “If medical marijuana were put back to the public vote now, would you vote for it given the lack of regulatory framework?”
Of the 247 responses we received to the unscientific survey, 138, or 56 percent, were “yes.” The other 44 percent of the responses, 109 of them, were “no.”
Here are some of the comments we received:
- I voted against the measure before, and there is no way I would vote for it now. Anyone with a half of ounce of common sense knew back when the law was passed that it was wide open to abuse, and experience has proven that true. Anyone who believes marijuana is harmless and can be used responsibly is only lying to themselves in the face of numerous valid and reliable studies to the contrary. The only thing amazing about the whole fiasco is that some are surprised by it.
- The time and energy spent on this debate is beyond all comprehension and reason. Don’t we have enough to worry about — like the war, the economy and the oil spill, to name a few? Legalize marijuana and tax it and help solve our debt problem big time. Is it as bad as the damage done with legal substances such as alcohol and cigarettes?
- Let’s not throw out the baby with the bath water. Obviously, the state’s regulation of the growth, distribution and approval for use of medical marijuana has been inadequate, and the medical profession has not adequately monitored unethical MDs who have become a traveling, use-approval sideshow. The problems can, and should, be remedied without denying marijuana to legitimate medical users.
- If medical marijuana provides relief for even one patient who is suffering the pain of cancer or the nausea associated with chemotherapy, then it is worth my vote.
- Not only did I not vote for it, I was baffled that so many otherwise intelligent, well-meaning people could not foresee the havoc that would inevitably ensue.
- Montana is leading the country in DUIs, alcohol addiction and drug-abuse problems per capita, and the state is nationally known for its serious mental-health issues. Marijuana adds fuel to the addiction fire, and, when mixed with alcohol and other prescription drugs, it is dangerous and is a proven gateway to increased hard-drug usage. The medical-marijuana outlets are out of control compared to the retail liquor stores in Montana, and if they are left unchecked and unregulated, the state will be overtaken by illegal marijuana usage that will end up creating another social crisis on top of what we already have to deal with.
- I voted for medical marijuana and would again. It is the legislators who messed up. Marijuana should be legalized, put under ATF and then taxed.
A report released today shows increases in alcohol and drug consumption among teenage girls.
This discovery comes as the Partnership for a Drug-Free America that revealed that over 50% of girls believe drugs could allow them to forget about the problems which they might have in their lives, such as depression, family troubles and exam stress. That's up from 61-percent of respondents in 2008.
This undermines previous thoughts that girls were far less likely to be involved in substance abuse – and it has been sparking fears that not enough is being done to warn vulnerable young people of the dangers of addiction.
People should not believe girls are less likely to abuse drugs or alcohol than boys, says Steve Pasierb, president and CEO of Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
"Parents of teen girls have to be especially attentive to their daughters' moods and mental health needs, which can have a direct effect on their child's decision to risk her health by getting high and drinking," said Pasierb. "Parents can help prevent alcohol and drug abuse by recognizing and addressing their daughters' worries and stresses, by supporting her positive decisions and by taking immediate action if they suspect or know she has been experimenting with drugs and alcohol."
"Your daughter, who you may assume may not be doing drugs, is actually more predisposed to this," he says. Teens are using drugs and alcohol not to rebel or get high but as a way to "escape for a short period of time," Pasierb says.
"We've become a society that basically says, 'If things aren't perfect in your life, take a pill,' " says Calvina Fay, executive director of the Drug Free America Foundation. Television advertisements for prescription drugs give children and teens the wrong impression about medicine, she says. "This causes our young people to see drugs as an answer."
The research conducted on the adolescent brain has revealed that there are major differences between males and females. According to the study, the girls are neurologically more sensitive to emotional stress. In parts of the brain, the girls mature earlier than the boys. The increased sensitivity combined with calm attitudes and easier access to alcohol, may elucidate the difference between boys and girls in case of drinking.
Teen Girls Becoming More Open to Drugs, Alcohol
American teenage girls may be more receptive to using alcohol and taking drugs than in years past, a new report says.
Girls appear more inclined than ever to reach for drugs and booze to help them emotionally, according to a survey by the nonprofit Partnership for a Drug Free America. For example, the 2009 survey of high school students found 53 percent of girls agreeing with the notion that drugs “help you forget your troubles,” up from 48 percent in 2008.
The survey, which examines changes in substance use and attitudes, found the use of alcohol and marijuana jumped considerably more among girls than boys between 2008-2009.
Also, fewer teen girls than a year earlier frowned on illegal drug use by their friends, and fewer considered the “party” drug ecstasy addictive, the study found.
“There’s been a change in the culture,” said Dr. Marc Galanter, director of the division of alcoholism and drug abuse at the New York University’s Langone Medical Center in New York City. He was not involved with the study.
“Women previously had more constrained roles in terms of the propriety of indulging in behaviors such as public intoxication and the like. Now with women in the workforce and becoming more liberated, they are not so constrained,” he said.
According to the research, supported by the MetLife Foundation, use of alcohol by girls increased 11 percent but not significantly among boys. However, while more girls (59 percent) than boys (52 percent) drink alcohol, boys still use more illegal drugs than girls do.
Among the nearly 3,300 teens from private, public and parochial high schools included in the survey, 81 percent of girls reported seeing drugs as a way to handle school stress, versus 75 percent of boys.
“It’s really another sign of a changing landscape in America,” said Steve Pasierb, the Partnership’s president and CEO. “Drug use has become tactical … kids say ‘I’m doing this to manage my life, to escape the pressures in school, to deal with stress.’”
The study cited previous research finding three times as many girls as boys reporting depression in 2008. Parents should be especially attentive to their daughters’ moods and worries, Pasierb said.
The changes occurring now may “have a big impact on strategies and prevention efforts that will need to be taken,” Galanter added.
Pasierb believes that drug use is rising, in part, because schools have fallen down on drug education as a result of budget cuts and a focus on testing.
Also, he said parents have not been keeping up with shifts in teens’ attitudes.
Many parents may view things through the memories of their own youth when teens experimented with drugs, “maybe got drunk on occasion, but basically grew up and turned out okay,” said Pasierb.
Today’s teen drug abusers are not just the slacker teens, but also the “over-programmed teens — straight-A students who are driven,” said Pasierb. This highly motivated group says, “I’m going to get into Yale, but I’m going to need a little Ritalin, and maybe get drunk once in awhile,” he noted.
Drug use now stems more from a pursuit of life-management strategies rather than the rebelliousness of the past, he added.
Prescription drugs are also a serious problem, Pasierb said. One out of five teens admits using prescription drugs not prescribed for them, with the family medical cabinet the most likely source, he added.
According to the research, use of the drug ecstasy rose for both boys (7 to 11 percent) and girls (5 to 8 percent. Recreational use was cited by 41 percent of boys, compared to 32 percent of girls.
Marijuana use increased during the same period for boys (34 to 39 percent) and for girls (28 to 36 percent).
The percentage of girls who thought ecstasy was addictive declined from 82 to 77 percent compared with a 2 percent decline in boys (70 to 68 percent).
Only 33 percent of teen girls said they don’t want to hang around drug users – a drop from 38 percent in 2008.
To head off drug abuse, Galanter said parents need to foster an “open relationship with their kids, to talk with them and find out what they’re doing” because kids whose parents talk to them about drug use are more likely to resist it.
For parents reluctant to discuss the issue, the Partnership’s Web site offers tools and information to help parents talk to their teens, said Pasierb.
He offered this advice to parents: “Don’t write it (drug use) off as a youthful indiscretion. We know that parents can have a big impact and that the earlier the intervention, the better the results.”
Unique Health-Monitoring Device Designed By Indian-Origin Student
An Indian origin MBA student at University of Houston has designed health-monitoring system and made it to the IShow finale in Palm Desert, California.
Created by Nithin Rajan and Steve Xu, the device, called the BlueScale, resembles a standard bathroom scale connected to a bicycle-like handlebar, which actually is meant to offer congestive heart failure patients both peace of mind and significant health-care costs savings.
"Nithan and Steve are developing a technology that is very useful medically, will benefit a large group of patients, and is simple for people to use. Such elegance and purpose of design are rare and tend to be highly sought by investors," said Dr. Cliff Dacso, director of the Abramson Center.
And if their unique health-monitoring device wins at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Innovation Showcase, also known as the IShow, the student duo could receive up to 10,000 dollars in seed funding from ASME.
What's more-the finalists will also get to pitch their inventions to venture capitalists and "angel investors" who will be in attendance to get their hands on the next big thing.
"The IShow is known for picking the cream of the crop. We know we're facing stiff competition. But, we're passionate about our design, our team and our company moving forward. I can tell you this: We're going to Palm Desert to win," said Xu.
BlueScale simultaneously records a variety of patient information, including weight, heart rate, blood pressure and cardiac output, in a mere 10 seconds.
Read more: Unique Health-Monitoring Device Designed By Indian-Origin Student http://www.medindia.net/news/Unique-Health-Monitoring-Device-Designed-By-Indian-Origin-Student-53001-1.htm#ixzz0uU2pi3Pp
Heavy girls like lier to have sex early
The study found that 6 percent of normal weight teens had sex before age 13, as compared with 11 percent of overweight teens and 15 percent of obese teens. And 39 percent of normal weight teens reported having sex with more than three partners as compared with 45 percent of overweight teens and 47 percent of obese teens.
Making matters worse, obese and overweight girls were also less likely to use condoms and other birth control. The study found that girls with weight issues were almost 20 percent less likely use condoms than thinner girls, and more than 30 percent less likely to use other methods of contraception.
The magnitude of the findings surprised even the researchers, said Dr. Margaret Villers, the study’s lead author. “We didn’t realize what a strong predictor body weight would be,” added Villers, an assistant professor at the Medical University of South Carolina.
Villers and her colleagues analyzed data from 21,773 teenage girls who had taken part in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The survey is given to students at a broad range of middle schools and high schools across the nation every other year.
Overweight girls tend to hit puberty earlier
One possible explanation for the findings may be the impact excess pounds have on girls’ bodies. Overweight and obese girls tend to hit puberty earlier than those of normal weight.
“They develop sooner,” Villers explained. “They look like women sooner. And maybe that’s why they are more likely to be pressured by their boyfriends to have sex at a younger age.”
Another factor could be low self-esteem and poor body image, which have been correlated with obesity in other studies.
“It may be harder for girls who don’t feel good about themselves to say ‘no,’ or even to stop a partner long enough to say they need to use a condom,” Villers said.
She said she decided to look at the relationship between weight and sexual activity in teens because of the high rate of obesity in South Carolina, where she practices, and the exploding rate of sexually transmitted diseases in her area. She had noticed in her own practice that overweight girls seemed to start having sex earlier.
Villers said the rate of pregnancy and STDs in heavy girls haven't been studied yet.
Low self-esteem
She says she isn’t sure how to stop heavy girls from having sex early, but suspects that efforts to build self-esteem might help. Further, she said, young women need to be taught how to stand up for themselves. “It’s hard to say ‘no,’ if you feel badly about yourself and someone is validating you, saying ‘you’re attractive, and I want to have sex with you,’” she said.
Parents can play a big role in helping their daughters not only to eat right, but also to develop the social skills needed to ward off sexual advances, said Patrick Tolan, a professor in the department of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences at the University of Virginia and director of Youth-Nex: The University of Virginia Center to Promote Effective Youth Development.
But, Tolan allowed, it can be a tough line for parents to straddle. As they try to encourage weight loss through healthy diet and exercise, parents also need to be protecting their daughters’ self image, Tolan said.
Because of society’s emphasis on thinness, overweight girls may feel so unattractive that they start having sex as a way to hang on to a partner. “Parents need to find a way to help their daughters feel good about themselves,”
“It’s not as though every overweight girl is having sex just because she’s overweight,” Chernick added. “And, of course, the flip side of that is that parents shouldn’t assume that they don’t have to worry if their daughters are normal weight.”
What researchers do know is that girls who start having sex early and with many different partners are more likely to become pregnant, Chernick said.
“The conversations parents have with a daughter should be the same whether or not the girl is overweight,” she added. “Parents need to talk about sex and about how girls can protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy.”
Sex life better among heart patients who consult their docs
Heart-attack patients who don't talk to their doctors about when it's safe to have sex again are likely to see a drop-off in their sex lives, new research suggests.
Doctors don't seem to be having "the talk" with most of their patients--especially if the patients are women. Only 46 percent of men and 35 percent of women discussed sex with their doctors when they left the hospital, the study found. Even fewer--about 40 percent of men and just 18 percent of women--ever discussed it during the following year.
Many heart-attack survivors who refrain from sex may be doing so out of fear, says the lead author of the study, Dr. Stacy Lindau, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Chicago.
"They're not sure whether it's safe to have sex after a heart attack, and they worry it might trigger another heart attack or result in death," Lindau says. (In fact, sexual activity is a factor in less than 1 percent of heart attacks, by some estimates.)
Generally speaking, it's safe to resume sexual activity--or any mild-to-moderate physical activity--a few weeks after an uncomplicated heart attack, says cardiologist Dr. Nieca Goldberg, the medical director of New York University's Women's Heart Program, who was not involved in the study. "When I talk about it, I include it in a discussion about physical activity," she says. "That's what people are worried about."
28 days to a healthier relationship
But many cardiologists give inadequate instructions when it comes to sex and exercise, Goldberg adds. The study "clearly shows the need for us to do better," she says.
Lindau and her colleagues evaluated data from a long-running study of heart attack survivors. As part of that study, about 1,200 men and 600 women were surveyed and asked to recall their sexual activity before their heart attack, and one year after. The average age of the participants was about 60.
Compared to the patients who did talk to their doctor about sex, the men and women who did not were 30 percent and 40 percent more likely, respectively, to be having less sex than usual one year after their heart attack.
What to do when heart disease hurts your sex life
Overall, men were more likely to be having sex than women. Nearly 70 percent of men reported some sexual activity during the year after a heart attack, compared to just 40 percent of women, the study found. (The women were also less likely to be married.)
9 surprising heart attack risks
"Older adults generally value sexuality, they see it as relevant, and they feel it's appropriate for doctors to address the topic," says Lindau. "But patients repeatedly tell us they think doctors should initiate the discussion. Doctors need to open the door for conversation."
It's not clear from the study why this isn't happening as often as it should. Some doctors may feel uncomfortable discussing the topic with their patients, especially if it's a male doctor and a female patient, Lindau says.
"It seems women doctors are better than men doctors at raising these issues," she says. "The distribution of the workforce of cardiologists is still predominantly male, and we still need more information on why male doctors may not be as good with these issues."
30 days to more satisfying sex
Doctors may also feel more comfortable discussing sex with men because there are proven FDA-approved treatments (such as Viagra) for erectile dysfunction and other sexual problems in men, Lindau adds, while similar treatments for female sexual dysfunction are limited.
The doctors shouldn't take all the blame, however. As Goldberg points out, it takes two to tango. Although they may be reluctant to raise the issue, patients who are concerned about sexual activity have to speak up, she says. "If your doctor doesn't bring it up, you need to be very specific and ask that question."
6 steps to rev up your marriage
The bottom line? Having a heart attack doesn't mean your sex life has to come to an end. "It is the norm to be sexually active before and after a heart attack," says Lindau. "I hope these findings empower patients to know they're not alone if they're having [sexual] problems, and to raise the topic with their doctor."
Lindau presented her research at the American Heart Association's Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke. The study was funded by the National Institute on Aging and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
Drinking habits spread in social networks
Women have a stronger influence on their friends' drinking habits than men do, a new study says.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
• Study: People more likely to be heavy drinkers if one of their friends or relatives drank heavily
• The quantity of relationships mattered as well
• Influence spreads up to three degrees of separation in a social network
-- If a friend or relative starts drinking more heavily--or decides to drink less or give up alcohol entirely--you're more likely to do the same, according to a new study that found heavy drinkers, moderate drinkers, and teetotalers tend to cluster within social networks.
People don't give up bad habits because they think, "Oh, this is bad, I shouldn't do it," says Dr. Tim Naimi, M.D., a physician at Boston Medical Center who studies the public health aspects of alcohol but wasn't involved in the new study. "It's largely because they feel their friends and neighbors will look down on them."
The closer the social connection, the greater the influence one person's drinking had on another's, the researchers found.
People were 50 percent more likely to be heavy drinkers if one of their friends or relatives drank heavily. However, if a friend-of-a-friend drank heavily, people were only 36 percent more likely to do so, and if a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend drank heavily, they were 15 percent more likely to do so. (Women were classified as heavy drinkers if they averaged more than one drink a day; for men, it was two drinks.)
The pattern worked in reverse, too, although it wasn't as pronounced. People with a friend or relative who didn't drink were 29 percent more likely to be teetotalers themselves.
Is alcohol actually good for you?
The quantity of relationships mattered as well. The more connections to drinkers--or nondrinkers--a person had, the more powerful the effect was. People "surrounded by" heavy drinkers were 70 percent more likely to drink heavily themselves, while those with many abstinent friends and relatives were 50 percent more likely to also abstain, according to the study.
9 refreshing low-cal cocktail recipes
When it comes to drinking, friends and family members appear to have the biggest influence on us. The study found that the drinking habits of a person's co-workers or neighbors had no effect on their own alcohol use.
In the study, which was published this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the researchers followed about 12,000 men and women for more than 30 years. The participants--who listed their social contacts when they enrolled in the study in 1971, and at several points thereafter--are part of the Framingham Heart Study, a large longitudinal study that has examined heart disease risk factors in that Massachusetts town since 1948.
This is merely the latest study to show that our behavior and health are shaped by social networks. The same research team, led by Dr. Nicholas A. Christakis, M.D., a professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School, in Boston, has previously used data from the Framingham Heart Study to show that obesity, smoking, happiness, and even loneliness can spread through social connections--that, in effect, they're contagious.
Read more about their social network studies
The infectiousness of these behaviors has its limits, however. As with the other behaviors they have studied, Christakis and his colleagues found that influence over drinking habits doesn't extend beyond three degrees of separation.
The researchers also observed that women have a stronger influence on their friends' drinking habits than men do. When women started drinking heavily, the likelihood that their friends also drank more than doubled. But when men started drinking heavily, their friends' own drinking patterns didn't change.
12 delicious drinks
Moreover, men whose wives started drinking heavily were three times more likely to start doing so themselves, while a woman whose husband began drinking a lot was only about twice as likely to join him.
The reason behind these gender differences isn't clear, although the fact that heavy drinking is less socially acceptable for women might be a factor, says one of the study authors, Dr. J. Niels Rosenquist, M.D., a research fellow in health-care policy at Harvard Medical School.
"You might notice more if a female friend starts drinking heavily," he says.
Is alcohol actually good for you?
The study findings suggest that encouraging healthy behavior requires targeting entire social networks, not just individuals, experts say.
"There's a long tradition of examining group norm influences on individuals and health behaviors, but few studies have the extent of the data that this one is working with," says H. Wesley Perkins, Ph.D., a professor of sociology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, in Geneva, New York. "This study takes us a lot further. It's great support for those of us working in the alcohol field who are emphasizing the strong influence of social and peer norms."
28 days to a healthier relationship
Perkins wasn't involved in the new study, but he has conducted similar research on the effect of peer behavior and attitudes on alcohol use in teenagers and young adults. For instance, he has shown that heavy drinkers tend to think that everyone else drinks a lot too, and that when alcohol abusers learn about their peers' real drinking behavior, they tend to moderate their own drinking.
"Although we have always considered the roles of peers, families, and neighbors in all risk behaviors, including alcohol use, researchers like me have not done an adequate job of developing effective interventions to change social networks," says Scott Rhodes, Ph.D., a public health scientist at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Female Viagra' falls short, FDA says
Federal health experts review first sex drive pill aimed at women
WASHINGTON - A pink pill designed to boost sex drive in women — the latest attempt by the drug industry to find a female equivalent to Viagra — fell short in two studies, federal health regulators said Wednesday.
The Food and Drug Administration is considering Boehringer Ingelheim's drug flibanserin for premenopausal women who report a lack of sexual desire, a market that drugmakers have been targeting for more than a decade since the blockbuster success of Viagra in men.
The search for so-called "female Viagra," has proved elusive though, with many drugs abandoned after showing lackluster results.
On Friday the FDA will ask a panel of experts to weigh in on the safety and effectiveness of Boehringer's drug. The agency is not required to follow the group's advice, though it often does.
In its review posted online, the FDA said two Boehringer studies failed to show a significant increase in sexual desire, as recorded by women in a daily journal. Women taking the drug reported slightly more sexually satisfying experiences, but FDA said that was not the primary measure of the study.
"The division wanted to see that an effect of treatment is an overall increase in sexual desire regardless of whether a sexual event occurred or not," states the FDA review.
The FDA also noted increased side effects like depression, fainting and dizziness seen among women taking the pink pill.
The drug, which is related to the antidepressant family, affects serotonin and several other brain chemicals, though it's not clear how that increases sex drive.
"We don't know specifically what the exact mechanism of action is but we believe it acts on brain chemicals that have a role in human sexual response," said Dr. Peter Piliero, executive director for Boehringer's U.S. medical affairs.
Since the launch of Viagra in 1998, more than two dozen experimental therapies have been studied for so-called "female sexual dysfunction," a market which some analysts estimate at $2 billion.
Dr. Elizabeth Kavaler, a urologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, says arousal in women is so complicated that it may be unrealistic to expect a pill to completely address sexual problems.
"It's a fairly complicated area, unlike in men's sexual dysfunction where there's a major mechanical concern," said Kavaler. "In women there's no mechanical concern, so if she's not having a successful sex life, where is the problem?"
Pharmaceutical approaches to boosting female libido have evolved over time. Initially, most treatments aimed to increase blood flow to the genitals, similar to Viagra. A second wave of would-be blockbusters focused on boosting hormones, including testosterone, which is linked to sexual interest. Flibanserin is the first drug to approach the problem through brain chemistry.
The FDA has approved an unusual handheld vacuum device that increases blood flow to the clitoris to increase sexual arousal. But all drug therapies have fallen short so far.
In 2004, Pfizer halted its study of Viagra in women due to inconclusive results. Later that year an FDA panel rejected Procter & Gamble's testosterone patch Intrinsa, due to potential risks of heart disease and cancer. Smaller companies are currently developing creams and nasal sprays to increase female libido.
BioSante Pharmaceuticals Inc. expects to submit its testosterone gel LibiGel for FDA approval next year.
Medical surveys have estimated more than 40 percent of women suffer from some form of sexual dysfunction; Boehringer estimates as many as one in 10 women could be helped by its drug.
Boehringer tried to zero in on the chemical aspect of sexual dysfunction by only testing its drug on premenopausal women who were in stable relationships and not taking other medications. Despite wanting to have a sexual relationship, the women enrolled in company studies reported a persistent lack of desire that caused them "distress or interpersonal difficulty."
Leonore Tiefer, a psychiatry professor at New York University who runs a private sex therapy practice, believes drugmakers have oversimplified female sexuality. She says in most cases lack of sex drive has more to do with the quality of one's relationship and lifestyle than brain chemicals.
During the public comment period at Friday's meeting, Tiefer will ask the FDA to reject flibanserin, arguing it offers meager benefits for women with unknown long-term risks.
The modest results reported by Boehringer have also cooled Wall Street's expectations for the drug.
Decision Resources analyst Alasdair Milton said he expects flibanserin sales to peak at $300 million after six or more years on the market. By comparison, male sexual dysfunction drugs including Viagra, Cialis and others posted combined sales of $4.4 billion last year, according to health care data firm IMS Health.
Privately-held Boehringer Ingelheim posted sales of $12 billion last year. The Ingelheim, Germany -based company makes a range of prescription drugs for heart disease, HIV and other diseases.
A heart attack shouldn't kill your sex life
Many heart attack survivors fear that a tryst could land them back in the hospital — or even in the graveyard. But the chance of that is extremely small, doctors say.
"People perceive it might kill them. And it's not just the person with the heart attack, but also their partner," said Dr. Stacy Tessler Lindau, a gynecologist and sexuality researcher at the University of Chicago.
"If you can walk up two flights of stairs or do moderate exercise, then it's OK to have sex," she said.
Lindau led the study, the largest ever on this topic, and was to present results Friday at an American Heart Association conference in Washington.
It involved 1,184 male and 576 female heart attack survivors taking part in a bigger nationwide study, funded by the federal government. The average age was 60.
Less than half the men and only about a third of the women said advice about resuming sex was part of the instructions they got when leaving the hospital. Even fewer had that talk with their doctors over the next year.
One year after their heart attacks, more than two-thirds of the men and 40 percent of the women reported some sexual activity. They were 30 percent to 40 percent more likely to be having sex if they had talked with a doctor about it.
Men were more likely to be sexually active and married before the heart attack, and to maintain their sex life after it.
Some people actually reported more sex after their heart attacks, but this was the exception rather than the rule, Lindau said.
A heart attack should not keep people from enjoying sex, said Dr. Edward Havranek, a cardiologist at Denver Health Medical Center and leader of the Heart Association conference.
"The risk of having a heart attack during sex is really, really low," he said. "The amount of actual physical exertion people have during sex is actually lower than one might think. It's not as demanding as shoveling snow."
Doctors say it is safe to resume sex as soon as the patient feels better and can handle moderate exercise. Chest pain during sex means you should stop and consult a doctor, Lindau said.
Depression and mood swings are common after a heart attack and can dampen interest in sex, but this usually goes away within three months, says advice from the Heart Association.
It has these tips for resuming sex:
Prepare by improving your physical condition and personal hygiene.
Choose a time when you're rested, relaxed and free from daily stress.
Wait one to three hours after eating a full meal.
Pick a familiar, peaceful setting that's free from interruptions.
