Satisfactory Sex Can Be Achieved In A Matter Of Minutes

Survey findings released this week dispel the commonly held fantasy that satisfactory sex requires a significant time commitment. The survey, conducted at Penn State by the Society for Sex Therapy and Research, revealed that satisfactory sex for couples typically lasts 3 to 13 minutes. Movies, television, books and the internet have convinced many couples that if they aren’t having sex “all night long:” their sexual life is in the pits and they are missing out on something significant.

The survey included information garnered from psychologists, physicians, social workers, marriage/family therapists and nurses who have collectively seen thousands of patients over a period of several decades. According to the survey data, 3-7 minutes of intercourse is categorized as “adequate,” 7-13 minutes is “desirable,” 1-2 minutes is “too short” and 10-30 minutes is “too long.”

“A man’s or woman’s interpretation of his or her sexual functioning as well as the partner’s relies on personal beliefs developed in part from society’s messages, formal and informal,” the researchers said. “Unfortunately today’s popular culture has reinforced stereotypes about sexual activity. Many men and women seem to believe the fantasy models of large penises, rock-hard erections and all-night-long intercourse.”

“This seems to be a situation ripe for disappointment and dissatisfaction,” said lead author Eric Corty. “With this survey, we hope to dispel such fantasies and encourage men and women by providing realistic data about acceptable intercourse, thus preventing sexual disappointments and misfunctions.”

Source: medheadlines.com

Sex Ed Can Help Prevent Teen Pregnancy

Comprehensive sex education may help reduce teen pregnancies without increasing levels of sexual intercourse or sexually transmitted diseases.

So find U.S. researchers who reviewed data from a 2002 national survey of more than 1,700 heterosexual teens, ages 15 to 19.

There is ongoing debate about whether abstinence-only education or comprehensive sex education (including instruction in birth control) is best for students.

Study lead author Pamela Kohler, a program manager at the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues found that about 25 percent of teens received abstinence-only education and about two-thirds received comprehensive sex education. About 9 percent - particularly teens from poor families and those in rural areas - received no sex education at all.

The researchers found that teens who received comprehensive sex education were 60 percent less likely to get pregnant or to get someone pregnant than those who received no sex education.

Other results - not statistically significant, however - suggested that comprehensive sex education, but not abstinence-based sex education, slightly reduced the likelihood of teens having vaginal intercourse. Neither approach seemed to reduce the likelihood of reported cases of sexually transmitted diseases.

The findings, published in the April issue of theJournal of Adolescent Health, support comprehensive sex education, Kohler concluded.

"There was no evidence to suggest that abstinence-only education decreased the likelihood of ever having sex or getting pregnant," she said in a prepared statement.

This study offers "further compelling evidence" about the value of comprehensive sex education and the "ineffectiveness" of the abstinence-only approach, said Don Operario, a sex education expert and professor at Oxford University in England.

Source: www.washingtonpost.com

Sex Education Found to Help Teenagers Delay Sex

Teenagers who have had formal sex education are far more likely to put off having sex, contradicting earlier studies on the effectiveness of such programs, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

They found teenage boys who had sex education in school were 71 percent less likely to have intercourse before age 15, and teen girls who had sex education were 59 percent less likely to have sex before age 15.

Sex education also increased the likelihood that teen boys would use contraceptives the first time they had sex, according to the study by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

"Sex education seems to be working," Trisha Mueller, an epidemiologist with the CDC who led the study, said in a statement. "It seems to be especially effective for populations that are usually at high risk."

Mueller's team looked at a 2002 national survey of 2,019 teens aged 15 to 19.

They found teen boys who had sex education in school were nearly three times more likely to use birth control the first time they had intercourse. But sex education appeared to have no effect on whether teen girls used birth control, the researchers found.

Black teenage girls who had sex education in school were 91 percent less likely to have sex before age 15.

The researchers did not evaluate the content of sex education programs, including whether students were taught about contraception or about abstinence only.

Earlier studies, which relied on data from the 1970s through the 1990s, suggested sex education did little to persuade teens to delay sex.

The researchers said they think the difference may be that sex education in the United States is now more widespread and is being taught at earlier ages.

"Unlike many previous studies, our results suggest that sex education before first sex protects youth from engaging in sexual intercourse at an early age," they wrote.

Source: www.reuters.com

Six Reasons to Have Sex Every Week

Studies show that regular sex (with all due precautions taken) provides a host of surprising health benefits.

Sex is good for adults. Indulging on a regular basis—at least once a week—is even better. Research links sex (with all safer-sex precautions taken) to an astonishing array of physiological benefits, from longevity to pain relief. Many studies don't address whether the health bonus comes from the act itself or from the corresponding emotional intimacy, but the bottom line is that getting physical has some great side effects—especially for women. Here are six ways that sex boosts your health:

1. It Fights Colds and Flu. Sexual intercourse once or twice a week raises the body's level of the immune-boosting antibody immunoglobin A by a third, according to research at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania.

2. It's a Beauty Treatment. In a study at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in Scotland, a panel of judges viewed participants through a one-way mirror and guessed their ages. Those who looked seven to 12 years younger than their age (labeled "superyoung") were also enjoying lots of sex—four times a week, on average. OK, maybe they were having so much fun because they looked young. But it's likely the sex was helping, researchers say. One reason is that it raises a woman's estrogen level, which helps make hair shiny and skin supple.

3. It Burns Calories. A little over four calories a minute, or the equivalent of four Hershey's kisses in a half hour of love. Think of it as part of your weekly exercise regime, and burn, baby, burn.

4. Yes, Honey, I Have a Headache. For a woman a migraine might actually be a reason for making love rather than avoiding intercourse: the increase in endorphins and corticosteroids during arousal and orgasm is analgesic.

5. It Promotes Regular Menstrual Cycles. A series of studies by behavioral endocrinologist Winnifred Cutler and colleagues at Columbia and Stanford universities found that women who have intercourse at least weekly (except during their period) cycle more regularly than abstainers or the sporadically active. (Related research found that lesbian lovemaking also smoothes out menstrual cycles.) Cutler argues that intimacy is essential, not orgasms: "Regular exposure to a loving partner has extraordinary effects on health and well-being."

6. It Can Prevent Accidents. Women use the muscles of the pelvic floor to stem the flow of urine. As they age, they need to keep these strong to avoid peeing accidentally. The same muscles are exercised during intercourse, and as with all muscle-building programs, the benefits require consistency.

And if you're too tired to have sex, check out our By the Numbers on napping for tips on getting a little extra shut-eye during the day.

Source: www.newsweek.com

Study finds Cialis effective for men with spinal injuries

www.canada.com

Medication triples number of times men can have sexual relations

The impotence pill Cialis appears to work even in men with spinal cord injuries, French researchers said Monday.

Impotence often follows spinal cord injuries. Only about 25 percent of men with such injuries are capable of having sex, Dr. Francois Giuliano and colleagues at the Raymond Poincare Hospital in Garches, France said.

They found that Cialis tripled the number of times the men could have sex.

Their study, funded by Eli Lilly and Co., maker of tadalafil or Cialis, involved 197 men with an average age of 38 in France, Germany, Italy and Spain with spinal cord injuries.

After a one-month waiting period, in which no one got treatment, a questionnaire to assess sexual function found both groups had moderate erectile dysfunction, Giuliano's team reported in the Archives of Neurology.

Then 142 men were assigned to the Cialis group and 44 got a placebo for a 12-week period, taking no more than one pill daily as needed before sexual activity.

After four months, men taking Cialis were successful nearly half the time they attempted intercourse, while men in the placebo group succeeded only 16.8 percent of the time.

Cialis and similar drugs work by increasing blood flow to the genitals.

The researchers said the Cialis study achieved success similar to that found in studies of Pfizer Inc.'s Viagra or sildenafil and Glaxosmithkline Plc's Levitra or vardenafil, all of which improved erections in men with impotence after spinal cord injury.

Erectile Dysfunction Drug Helps Men with Spinal Cord Injury

What are the Causes of Decreased Sexuality?

Zimbabwean Teachers To Instruct Life Skills To Avoid HIV Infection

http://www.voanews.com/

By Carole Gombakomba

The United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, is training 1,500 Zimbabwean teachers in new and practical methods to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The week-long training exercise ending Friday stands to benefit more than 500,000 children. The teachers, from training colleges in Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Masvingo and Mutoko, will be teaching primary and secondary school children living skills to avoid HIV infection as well as fending off sexual molestation or exploitation.

Zimbabwe's Ministry of Education is rolling out the US$500,000 program.

UNICEF says the decline in Zimbabwe's HIV prevalence rate in recent years can be attributed to behavior changes including a later start of sexual activity for young girls in particular, faithfulness in sexual relations, and increased use of condoms.

Sex now primary cause of China HIV spread

Older adults don't give up on sex

Older adults don't give up on sex

Source: www.usatoday.com

Sharon Jayson

Americans pushing 60, 70, 80 or even 90 don't forgo sex just because they're aging, according to a study that shows many are having sex into their 70s and 80s.

The University of Chicago study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine is being called the first comprehensive look at the sex lives of older adults in the USA. It portrays an image that researchers say runs counter to the stereotypes of older people as either asexual or "dirty old men."

"Sexuality discussion in later life has long been a taboo subject," says Stacy Tessler Lindau, a gynecologist and the study's lead author. "This study for the first time provides information that allows people to see where their experiences align against others of similar health and age status. The data tell the world older people do not give up sexuality by virtue of their age."

Based on data collected from 3,005 adults ages 57 to 85 during two-hour face-to-face interviews from July 2005 to March 2006, the findings show many are sexually active as long as they're healthy.

In the preceding 12 months, 73% of those ages 57 to 64, 53% of those 65 to 74 and 26% of those 75 to 85 said they were sexually active. Among those who reported good or excellent health, 81% of men and 51% of women said they had been sexually active in the past year vs. 47% of men and 26% of women who reported fair or poor health.

What are the causes of decreased sexuality