Archive for December, 2008

Happy New Years!

It’s almost that time, where the clock strikes midnight and everyone kisses and cheers for the year past and the new year, and that song Auld Lang Syne, a traditional scottish poem turned into a song that many sing in a drunken stupor on New Years eve as an ushering in of the new year and a sort of tribute to the year past, saying that we forgive any transgressions from the past year and start the new year fresh and unencumbered with fears of the future.

That’s how I hope you usher in the new year, my fellow male enhancement enthusiasts, with an unecumbered feeling of optimism and ambitions to fulfill your dreams for the coming year and in all subsequent years.  Look forward to lots more reviews in 2009 from Male Enhancement Magazine, and many more updates on the environment surrounding innovation in male enhancement and sexual pleasure enhancement products. 

Racing, Skydiving all a Ploy to Attract Women?

Even though men may not consciously know it, if they are the daredevil type, they may be doing these riskier sports and hobbies as a way to attract women more.  Historically, psychologists and students of sociology have said that women are traditionally, and evoutionarily, more likely to be much more picky in choosing mates than men are. 

It’s not something that they may even consciously do, but women are biologically programmed to be much more choosey when they look for male partners because they need stability and a man who can provide for them and their offspring. Signs of weakness or non-manliness, they say, turns many women, especially the more attractive and unattainable women, off. 

This forces men to be a bit more aggressive and also to flaunt their manliness and fearlessness, especially when they are competing for the more attractive and desirable women that a lot of men might be after.  There have actually been studies done that show that men take more risks than women do when it comes to potentially attaining the affections of an attractive woman who they find sexually desirable. 

What’s funny about this is that from a woman’s perspective, the dating game is also very competitive from a woman’s point of view, so this offers a fresh outlook on dating and how hard it also can be for men who subconsciously go to risky lengths to be able to get the mate they want.  Many women feel that the ante is constantly being upped on their pressure to look beautiful, thin, and attractive for men because so many women nowadays have achieved their looks through advanced beauty techniques, like plastic surgery and better technology and anti aging knowledge. 

As a man, do you feel that maybe you’ve done something along these lines to get the attention of a woman that you wanted to date or be with sexually?  I can think of some examples in my own life, but none that compare to actually participating in something dangerous that I didn’t necessarily already have an interest in doing, like skydiving or racing a race car or something else that could be construed as potentially fatal. 

Merry Christmas Male Enhancement Readers!

Hello all my Male Enhancement Magazine readers!  We want to wish you a Merry Christmas.  In these times of financial uncertainty and nacent fear in the air, it’s hard to really focus on the things that really matter in our lives, and that is our health, and the health of our family and friends.  After all, money is replaceable, and the economy is recoverable. 

Even if you’ve been adversely affected by the current state of affairs, I’d encourage you to look at all the things in your life that are good and positive, and focus on those instead of on the things that you can’t necessarily control.  Also, a good pointer is to avoid the news and all the naysaying that’s going on to the extent that you can. 

I always think it’s good to be informed and up on current events, however, I’d avoid some of the more pessimistic “the sky is falling” articles that you see on the news and in online forums these days.  There are some people who feed on that, and make sure that you’re not one fo them.  Stay positive, keep your mood up, and try to remember the things that really matter in life. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS my fellow Male Enhancement Magazine readers

What’s Up with Overt Teen Sexuality?

I’m really not that old fashioned, I swear, I’m in my mid thirties, and I’d have to say that in comparison with a lot of my peers, I certainly have a much more open, progressive frame of mind than a lot of them.  That’s when it comes to most things, but honestly when it comes to the sexuality and openness of sex and sexual relations among our nation’s teenagers, I’m a little more likely to take the position of being the conservative. 

The funny thing is, I don’t even have kids myself yet, but I guess I just feel like kids are forced to become adults mentally and sexually before they are ready these days.  I know, who am I to talk when I run this blog on sexuality and men’s sexual enhancement, but believe me, I hope that young teen boys aren’t reading this stuff or buying products that are meant for sexual pleasure – at least not with a partner, before they are mentally ready to have sex.

I personally feel like I wasn’t even mature enough to make good sexual and relationship decisions back in my early twenties, let alone in my teens.  Then you have the problem of teen pregnancies and STD’s that are raging among these very young age groups as well, and that compounds the problems.

I’m not saying that it’s not natural or expected for teenage boys and girls to have sexual feelings and urges, I certainly know that I had tons when I was very young! I just wish society wouldn’t dictate that they now act on them at earlier and earlier ages.  It’s almost like sexuality is pushed down our throats in all media – magazines, books, movies, tv shows and everywhere we look.  You practically have to be a puritanical society to avoid all of the exposure. 

I must be honest, it makes me leery to ever have kids of my own.  I’m sure I’d get over it and learn how to teach my kids to be responsible and have integrity when it comes to choosing sex partners when they come of age, it just makes me nervous.  Can you blame me? 

Sex Just What the Dr. Ordered for Stressed Women

Around this time of year, and especially considering the events we have going on around us at the moment regarding the stock market, women are advised to have as much sex with their partners as they possibly can.  You see, not only is sex a huge stress reliever for men, but it’s also been shown to be a massively effective stress reliever for women, thanks in no small part to key “calming” hormones that are released during the orgasm period, and the actual physical taxation it takes to have sex, which is in and of itself a relieving mechanism for stress as most of us who work out already know.

Women release a certain hormone during sex and sexual peaking that is called oxytocin.  It is a relaxing and bonding chemical that is responsible for the bonding feeling that women get when they have sexual intercourse and sexual intimacy with a partner.  It’s the typically cliche reason why women “bond” with their partners while men tend to have partners without really getting attached to them, as society tends to view the reasons why men seem more detached sexually and women seem to be more enamored with their lovers sooner (at least that’s the pigeonhole women are put in).

When people get stressed out, men and women, sex tend to be pushed to the back burner and couples don’t categorize it as a priority in their lives.  In fact, avoiding sex may actually make stress worse in the long run, and when you have sex, you realize that it’s a huge stress reliever. 

Think about the last time you and your partner had sex.  Sure, it may not have been the first thing on your mind all day, but when you actually get around to doing it, you feel a huge sense of burden off your shoulders, and that’s the great thing that sex gives us – it’s a natural stress reliever.  So, the next time all you can think about is job stress and the bills that are piling up and all those “unfun” grown up responsibiilities and problems, hop in the sack with your partner.  It’s amazing how fast we forget how therapeutic a romp in the bedroom can be for our health. 

Men More at Risk for Suicide than Women

For whatever reason, and even though more women suffer from depression and other mood disorders more than men, men seem to be the sex of the human race that is more susceptible to committing suicide.  Sure, both sexes may have the same thoughts about actually taking their own lives when they get depressed, but for reasons still not totally understood, men seem to be the  more likely to follow through with suicide and actually take their own lives, which means they are the higher risk group when it comes to suicide action.

Studies have been done to determine what areas of the brain might light up differently in men than in women when suicidal thoughts or thoughts of taking one’s own life enter into the picture, and while they have an idea that it may be a brain center that functions differently when it comes to follow through on everything, including suicidal thoughts, that men do not share with women that may be responsible for the risk discrepancy.

In this bleak economy, and with job losses and huge financial losses in the personal money sector on the rise, the fear is that more men will be likely to take their lives when this financial disaster gets worse, especially since men’s egos and self esteem are often tied closely to their jobs and the amount of money they are able to bring to the table. 

Experts are trying to keep more of an eye on the male suicide and suicide attempt numbers over these next several months in an effort to help stop them and get these men early treatment and get their loved ones educated in how to recognize serious problems before they escalate so that we don’t have a male suicide epidemic on our hands as we did during the great depression when suicide – especially male – suicide rates were at all time highs. 

Testosterone and Weight Loss

New research shows that men may benefit significantly from the male sex hormone testosterone when it comes to losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight, which wasn’t initially a conclusion anyone thought would be proposed from previous research on the hormone, which in too much abundance can cause problems, and when it is lacking, can also cause problems.

They are looking at the possiblity of testosterone replacement therapy (similar to estrogen HRT – hormone replacement therapy in women).  They want to see if giving men regular doses of the male hormone testosterone will help unlock that capability to lose stubborn pounds and also to possibly help with other obesity related problems such as diabetes and sleep apnea. 

Actually, they also found a strong relationship between sleep apnea and male obesity and low testosterone levels, so dosing men who may be low on it may help with all three issues.  They also are examining the possibility that the three are all interlinked, the presence of one leading to another, and so on and so forth, making them self perpetuating to eachother.

If this testosterone replacement therapy for men’s weight loss works for men, it would be the first program to be targeted specifically to male weight loss, since there are so many programs out there that are targeted for female weight loss.  Men need to lose bellies, since they are more likely to get dangerous beer bellies, which leads to heart disease. 

Male Baldness Breakthrough Offers Hope

Male pattern baldness is one of the biggest fears (besides impotence) facing men today.  Not only do they feel inadequate and sometimes embarrassed when it starts to become apparent that they are losing their hair prematurely, but many men feel as though balding leaves them no other options than to shave their heads, which admittedly only some of us look good in, may I say. 

Thinning hair and hair loss is one of the genetic variants that men inherit mostly from their fathers.  In other words, if your father or his father went bald early or experienced male pattern baldness, which is the halo effect where the hair is lost on the back of the head first, or even a receding hair line that produces the “widow’s peak” look, you can bet the ranch that you or your sons will experience the same problems with male hair loss.

Now, the good news, which actually has everything to do with what we just talked about, which is the genetic aspect of going bald, is that there are now a load of genetic tests that are coming out for everything from cancer genes to genes that determine whether you may develop certain other diseases, that can also test younger men for the gene that signifies the ultimate likelihood that they will experience male pattern baldness, or premature hair loss, which can be mentally devastating to a guy’s ego.

Those men who show positive for certain genetic markers may be more than seven times as likely to experience hair loss, and knowing this at an earlier age can help men fight that likelihood and start using preventive male hair loss products that may help to save the hair they have on their head and prep the follicles to hold on to as much hair as possible, as well as regrown thick, healthy and resillient hair.

Also some very good news on the male balding treatment front is that researchers in Sweden have found genes that grow in stem cells that will regrow hair on the mice they have tested so far.  This offers hope for men in later stage hair loss, but also may help men who find that they have the genetic markers for earlier male hair loss in preventing balding and saving their hair on their head. 

Smarter Men, Better Sperm?

Well, I suppose it does makes sense in a way that a man’s intelligence is related to how high quality his sperm are, since intelligence also correlates to a lot of other qualities about a person, whether a man or a woman.  Now there are some studies that correlate the health and quality of a man’s sperm, those little gametes that produce babies when they meet with a woman’s fertile egg, with the intelligence scores of the man they belong to. 

Maybe this explains why most women are inherently attracted more to intelligent men?  The tests that were run that appear to provide somewhat conclusive evidence of the relationship between intelligence and sperm quality were performed on about four thousands male veterans who submitted sperm samples to be evaluated, while also taking IQ tests.

Only a small portion of those men, about 12% or so though, actually submitted sperm samples.  They were also tested on their fitness as part of the quotient for healthy sperm.  What the researchers found however, was that even with this smaller sample from the test population, they were able to conclude that the higher the IQ of the men who submitted the sperm samples, the higher and healthier their sperm count was.

They don’t know of an exact reason for the correlation, however they came to the same conclusion that I did when I first read of this study. That conclusion is that intelligence correlates usually highly with fitness, and men who take care of themselves, eat the right foods and get proper exercise and nutrition tend to be more intelligent on average, and so the better sperm quality and higher sperm count appear to be related indirectly to intelligence through the fitness aspect of intelligence. 

A Spray On Condom?

Yep, you read that headline right, some guy thought that a spray on condom might be a catchy idea and began developing the idea into a product that actually worked, but apparently reality kicked in and the idea came to a grinding halt, as it should, since I don’t think many men would like spraying on a liquid plastic to their penis.  God only knows how hard it would be to pry it off, or even if it may get in some areas it’s not supposed to. 

And what if you put the spray on condom on the wrong way?  What of that?  I could just see unwanted pregnancies happening when men start doing a do-it-yourself type of condom pregnancy and STD protection!  The idea is a novel one though, I gotta give it to whoever started developing this idea, however it just isn’t practical and I think the worries that male consumers may have over it’s safety and effectiveness would overrule any cool novelty ideas they may have about using a new fangled product like that in their sexual lives.

The idea was thought up by a gentleman who actually was just in the news for running surveys on men from various ethnicities about what size condoms they need.  FYI, the French men seem to have it going on in the larger penis size department since they reportedly answered that they need the bigger sized condoms when asked about their penis size in the surveys, and Greek men routinely answered that they need smaller condom sizes. 

The test product was an aerosol can of spray on latex.  Sounds easy enough, but I think that marketers thought there would be too much consumer concern about safety, proper use and the efffectiveness of the product.  Couldn’t you just imagine the lawsuits that might come out of such a product?  I could see men and women alike claiming that the product resulted in unwanted pregnancies, maybe STD’s of some sort, or perhaps even mental distress over not applying the product correctly. 

I can see how there would be a lot of interest in coming up with easy, effective alternative birth control methods, especially since condoms unfortunately, and perhaps undeservedly have a reputation as hampering sexual pleasure for the man and the woman, but with some of the newer condoms that have come out in the past few years, men and women both can experience better sensation since they have ribbed types and other textures that provide maximum stimulation.