Archive for June, 2009

Dangerous Forms of Masturbation : Spotlight

With David Carradine’s recent death and the mystery surrounding it, it has sort of brought dangerous forms of masturbation and sexual pleasure to the forefront.  In fact, it has brought the most dangerous and well known as dangerous, form of masturbatory sexual pleasure, the kind where the air is cut off temporarily from the wind pipe in order to create a sort of euphoric male orgasm at the peak of the moment.  It has caused deaths before, most high profile being the death of INXS singer Michael Hutchence, which was rumored to be due to autoeroticism (masturbation) in this manner, however, there really is no firm word anywhere whether that was really from suicide or from going too far with this form of autoeroticism.

Michael Hutchence was said to possibly be in a depressed state and that is why it was ruled a suicide rather than an accident involving erotic michief.  There were also a few illicit substances found in his blood which indicate he may have been under the influence when the accident, or suicide happened.

Stories like these should be warning to all males that if you engage in this type of activity where you choke off your oxygen for sexual pleasure, you should at least have someone present there with you in case anything goes wrong so you can be revived or so that you don’t need to struggle with something to get loose if you find you can’t breathe at all and feel consciousness slipping.  An even better way to avoid death by autoerotic accident is to not try this dangerous form of masturbation at all.  I can guarantee that no level of sexual pleasure is worth the possibility of you dying, and of course not in such a private way that would be made public.

The investigation into David Carradine’s death is ongoing, and the family has even asked the FBI to become involved since they believe that there may have been some sort of foul play involved.  However, it sounds consistent with the theory that he may have been toying with some form of autoeroticism and that is how he accidentally met his death. Those close to him insist that he was not depressed and in fact was very happy, having a revived career since playing Bill in the Tarantino films Kill Bill and of getting other movie roles that boosted his career after years on the sidelines.  Time and investigation will tell how he truly met his death.  At any rate, his death is a tragedy and a needless loss of human life.  He was in his early seventies when he died.

Mowing the Lawn Too Hard?

Mowing the lawn is one of those dreaded guy duties that we all kind of don’t look forward to on the weekends.  Sure, you get a free winter off of mowing if you live in a place like I do, Ohio, but if you live somewhere that the temperature is always mild and steady and the sun is always shining, you don’t even get the yearly winter break from it.  However, even though I may complain about mowing the lawn, I must admit that I don’t mind it at first, because it gets me outside and the push mowing portion gives me a good cardio workout that I can’t really get doing anything else since it’s such a unique motion.

But let’s face it guys, unless your girlfriend, parter or wife is helping you, mowing and edge trimming can become quite a drag.  Some of the ways you may be able to make it easier are as follows.  You can try maybe hiring it out every two weeks, or even once a month or just whenever you feel like you really need a break from the monotony of it.  You can find people who will do it for a reasonable price.  Heck,  if you have a college or high school student that lives by, they might do it for you for a pittance compared to the time and peace it’s going to save you.

If your back hurts, or your neck gets twisted a lot from mowing the lawn, try using a brace or back harness to ease the pressure of the weight of the mower and any twisting motions that you may have to do that don’t agree with your back or neck.  These can be found for a reasonable price at your local Home Depot I believe, or Lowes.  One thing you want to remember also is that you must hydrate.  Men’s bodies use up a lot of fluid when they’re exerted, and it’s important to replenish that fluid by drinking lots of water, or you can try an electrolyte infused drink like Gatorade as well to help you hydrate faster and more efficiently, just buy the kind that is low sugar.

Suck your belly in the whole time you’re mowing, this helps to protect the back while mowing, and keep your neck loose by doing periodic neck rolls.  Don’t worry about looking silly, it’s better than waking up stiff as a board the next morning, trust me!

Diets That Build Muscle in Men

All men want more muscle.  That’s kind of like the ultimate goal for most men when they embark on a workout regimen, unless of course you are one of those guys who cares more about your cardiovascular exercise than building muscle mass, but I think that the majority of men out there also do their workouts for a somewhat vain reason, which is to look better.  The standard for a fit looking man right now is for him to look ripped and muscled, and there’s no denying that the ladies usually love at least a little bit of the rippled look, although most women agree they don’t like the body builder look, because it’s just too over the top.

By the way, I’m going to digress, but I just watched a really good documentary on this very subject called “Bigger, Stronger, Faster” by a film school graduate that was pretty good.  It was essentially about the way that HGH and other muscle building but potentially dangerous drugs that build muscle faster and villified by the media as being dangerous and life ruining.  While I still agree with the media’s assessment, his documentary did enlighten me a bit I suppose, although if it’s all true then why is half of the professional wrestling world dying horrible deaths at early ages and getting publicity for having bad tempers?

That’s part of the bad media about steroids is that they make you angry and your temper flare much more readily and that it also is hard on the heart, makes you have acne a lot worse and also may accelerate hair loss in males.  Enough on that though.  Let’s talk about how you can naturally improve your muscle tone and build muscle rather than take drugs and supplements to build muscle tone (although I do personally advocate taking some supplements, but only the natural ones, not the stuff you inject!)

Well, first off, you do have to take in more calories than you burn in a day, since muscle is built on calorie consumption, but you have to limite your fat intake since fat will increase your body fat content, which obscures your muscle under fat.  Here’s the foods you want to increase as a male who is trying to build muscle : lean meats such as fish and poultry, lean dairy products like skim milk, yogurt, cottage cheese and such, leafy greens, to help your body flush out excess fat and build muscle more easily, eggs, but really egg whites are what you want to focus on, only the occasional yolk, and other lean, low fat foods that are high in good protein.

You want to stay away from fat and salt as much as you can, but of course you still want to include the healthy fats in your diet like omega 3’s that you get from almonds, nuts and olive oil.

Viagra Used to Save Lives?

I’ve read a couple of stories where the notorious drug for male enhancement and male impotence Viagra, has actually been used in surgery or in other life threatening situations, to get patients back on track and help save their lives because of it’s effects on the amount of blood that is getting pumped out.  This is the reason that Viagra works so well for impotence and premature ejaculation, because it sends more blood to the extremities, including the penis, which helps a man go from a flacid penis to a hard and erect penis for a period of time so that he may have successful and sustained sexual intercourse with his partner.

The most recent Viagra life saving story was that of an infant actually.  The child was born with their heart on the wrong side of their body, and was having surgery to correct some things related to that.  The baby’s blood pressure began to spike out of control during the operation, and Viagra was administered to help her get back on track.

Viagra has actually been on a warning list for most patients with heart problems, including high blood pressure though, because it can actually make the blood pressure go higher and can put men in danger who have had heart trouble by putting them through rigorous sexual encounters since they can last longer, so I’m not quite sure how it was used to actually save the baby when it’s blood pressure went out of control, but I’ll leave that up to the medical experts to figure that anomale out.

There have, however, also been other instances of Viagra helping to save lives during surgeries and for other preventive measures.  I believe I read about it being used to actually help prolong and improve another toddler’s quality of life because they had to have it to help regulate their blood pressure, so perhaps this is the beginning of other medical uses for this incredibly popular impotence drug.

Why It’s Important to Be A Good Dad to Teens

There’s another reason why dads to teenagers should especially be involved with their teen’s life during this crucial period when they start to make adult choices in their life, among them choices about sexual involvement with others.  There are new studies out that show the involved fathers are important to the sexual choices that teens, both boys and girls, make in their lives, even more important than the involvement of the mother figure, as studies found that an involved dad who influences a teen’s decision to have premarital or risky sexual behavior almost double the effect that the mother has on their teen’s decisions in the all too important sexual realm.

This is of course important not only because of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, but it’s also important because a teen’s sexual behavior also influences how they will feel about themselves, their self esteem and confidence, and feeling of self worth, especially for girls, who tend to take sex more emotionally seriously than boys do since men are hardwired to have sex with multiple partners while girls are hardwired to get emotionally attached faster to their sexual partners.

Although the outcome of the study is unquestionable that father’s have more influence generally over their teen’s sexual behavior, there is not a clear cut answer as to why, but there are thoughts that the way a teen interacts with their mother is different than the adolescent’s interactions with their mother, making their father the bigger influence for whatever reason.  Perhaps they don’t want to disappoint their father, or feel that their father would more harshly judge them if they participated in risky sexual behavior, it’s really anyone’s guess, and you can’t exactly get an unbiased and uncut answer from the teens themselves, who may not even know exactly why they are influenced one way or another.

Since the age for having sexual intercourse seems to keep (disturbingly) going down amongst teenagers, it is all that much more important that researchers understand why dads are a bigger influence over their teen’s sexual tendencies toward risky behavior than moms are.  Right now, the staggering statistics show that teens have sex to the tune of about 2/3 of the population by the age of eighteen now.  I guarantee that’s a higher rate than it was even twenty years ago, and I have a feeling it’s because of the pervasiveness of sex and sexuality in the media today.

Physical Fitness and Sex

There’s no question that your level of physical fitness has a lot to do with your sexual prowess.  Sure, there are the occasional anomalies who seem to be able to get it on in the bedroom at the drop of a hat and also to go forever, who aren’t exactly the picture of buff good health and physical fitness (think of Ron Jeremy and his not so fit body), but for the most part, we all know that when we are in better shape in our lives, we tend to follow suit with our sexual prowess and endurance.  You always notice that when you are eating right, your weight is healthy, and you are getting plenty of exercise, you get better erections that last longer, plus you seem to have a much stronger libido?

I sure do, and I know that all the difference comes in through my level of fitness.  It gets much better when I make sure I’m getting a lot of cardio workouts in, and I’m also doing my benching.  Not only is the additional muscle a turn on for your partner, but she’ll also notice that you seem to be long winded whereas before you may have run out of breath easily (which by the way impacts your orgasm quality big time), and that you seem to be able to make your erection last much longer.  I know I’ve gotten comments like that before!

You see, when you’re physically fit, you have a much better blood flow. What’s an erection?  An erection is increased blood flow to the penis. That is how you get an erection, your penis fills with blood and becomes hard and stands tall, making it a tool to have sex.  When you are exercising and increasing the blood flow and improving your circulation, it’s sort of like you are providing you penis and nether regions with it’s very own natural Viagra – or Cialis or Levitra for that matter.

Because your body is used to pumping out larger amounts of blood to supply the muscles with more oxygen and circulate more of the blood to these areas that demand it when you are stressing the muscles, your body adapts and is better able to push more blood to other areas, like the chambers of your penis that fill up and create an erection, when duty calls, making it easier and much more automatic.

Science Close to Finding Baldness Gene in Men

It’s something that millions of men should be praising the skies for right now.  It’s not the newest Sport Illustrated Swimsuit issue.  No, it’s something much more exciting and promising than that temporary, albeit fun, piece of happiness that so many men look forward to each year.  It’s the fact that scientists may be on to something genetically as to the underlying reason for baldness and hair loss in men, and they are are close to finding the specific gene that is responsible for most cases of male hair loss, both premature and as we age.

That’s a great thing, because that means that we will all be able to look forward to heads full of hair some day, and baldness will be a thing of the past since therapies and hair loss products for men will be a thing of the past, well at least in the traditional sense, and we will be able to go through some sort of gene therapy instead to regain hair.  Wait, let me back up a minute.

That could be a bad thing, think of the expenses associate with that type of labored therapy!  Jeez…..talk about twenty first century technology and expense, that might be something only the elite can afford.  But I digress.  Let’s talk about why this inching closer to finding the gene responsible for male hair loss is exciting to us. It’s called the sox1 gene, and it was actually discovered not by American scientists, but by Japanese researchers.

They found that when they tinkered with this gene in rats, who are in many ways similar genetically to humans, were injected with something that messed with this gene, they could make the rats go bald quickly.  This is what tends to happen in male pattern baldness, which suggests strongly that they may have found the gene that goes awry both prematurely and at later times in men with male pattern baldness.

Hair loss in men causes so many psychological issues that it’s one of the leading industries today.  How many ads have you seen for male hair loss products, clubs, supplements and hair washes and solutions that claim to help you regrow your hair? There’s a reason for that.  Hair makes us look younger and makes us feel more handsome.  It’s fun to do things with, and it’s sort of our crowning jewel that defines who we are..  Lots of men feel inadequate and embarrassed about their hair loss and try to cover it up with the likes of comb overs, wigs, toupees and other methods of covering, none of which really do a convincing job.

Is Asparagus a Natural Aphrodisiac?

When I read that there is folklore that asparagus, my absolute favorite vegetable, was an aphrodisiac, I thought, oh well, all that much more reason to love it!  The funny thing too is that I had just gotten back from the grocery store and picked up six bags of Hanover farms asparagus tips excitedly because they were on sale for about fifty cents less per bag than what they usually are.  By the way, if you can get asparagus fresh, do it now.

It’s in season right now and all the local farms are harvesting it, and it really is an amazing difference how much better it tastes when it’s fresh.  You can just throw it on the grils and brush it with some olive oil when it’s fresh and you’re good to go.

So, what’s the one thing that everyone does know about asparagus?  Well, there’s that dubious distinction asparagus has for making your pee smell like sewage.  Of course, that one always makes everyone laugh, but most people have never heard that this delicate veggie can also rev them up for the bedroom.  And why is it that asparagus is a supposed aphrodisiac for women and men exactly?

I mean, other than it’s somewhat phalic shape getting women in a frenzy a little and acting as a specific female sexual enhancement booster, I don’t see any immediate answers jumping out at me, so I decided to go searching a little to find some answers why this green veggie may give you a little more oomph in the bedroom, or at least the desire to get you there.  However, there are some natural chemical properties that make asparagus a contender for one of the better (and better tasting I might add) options to naturally boost your libido.

Here’s the vitamin that asparagus contains a lot of that you can get your sexual kick from.  It’s vitamin E, believe it or not . Vitamin E wasn’t the first thing that came to my mind when I thought of reasons why asparagus might be a great natural aphrodisiac though, to be honest.  I thought it would be something that increased blood flow.  But what vitamin E does do is encourage the production and output of sex hormones, which instantly increases the sex drive.  Hence, the more asparagus you eat, the more randy you might feel after dinner.  Just ignore your stinky urine and enjoy what it can do for your love life!

What is the Real Divorce Rate?

The divorce rate here in the US has been the subject of scrutiny and thought for a long time.  However, it’s also the subject of a lot of debate, because claims that the divorce rate is over 50% are simply not true according to true statisticians.  They say that the figures that are leaked from the media are often inflated because they count the amount of divorces as related to the amount of marriages in a given year, which gives a skewed outcome.  What you really want to calculate, they say, is the amount of people who were ever married who get divorced.  This could mean that someone who’s been married for thirty years finally decides to give in and divorce, so you get a true, long term picture.

Of course, you can imagine the difficulties in getting an accurate number that way too, because it would be tough to gauge that over that long of a period.  However, knowing what they do know about the rate of divorce, they say that the figure has never really gone above 41%, at least not in the recent years.  The idea that our culture is one of giving up and divorcing at the slightest hint of trouble holds water though, as the divorce rate has gone up significantly from what it was say in the thirties and forties, when divorce was truly a last resort.

Many people would hang in there on marriages that were really a mess, simply because there was such a stigma attached to divorcing back then.  Now, with the quickie divorces, and it being known for being so commonplace, people seem to be divorcing left and right.  Just so you know, divorce can be economically devastating to men and women both, and statistics show that the retirement net worth is much higher for those that remain married, which is definitely an incentive to find the right partner from the beginning and stick with them til the end.

Although people change, you should really get to know the person before marrying them so that you know for sure you can live together and truly enjoy eachother’s company.  This will reduce the odds of your marriage ending in a divorce. It can be painful when there are children involved also, so people sticking together and doing it happily is key to making marriage last.  Plus a little spice in the bedroom never hurts.  Always keep your sex life interesting, and your partner will mean all that much more to you.