More Problems, More Solutions: Seven Sex Tips to Try

Your sexual health is affected by a number of factors and, while that can be infuriating when you come across problems in the bedroom, the fact that there are a number of factors at play in your sexual wellness means you have a whole load of solutions to try. If your sex life is on life support, try one, two or all of these sex-life-boosters – and have fun while you’re doing it!

1. Embrace the quickie: We all love a long and slow session in the bedroom, but there’s still something very appealing about a dirty, five-minute romp. Plus, in your busy schedule, there isn’t always time for a whole night of passion. So, when time is scarce, go for it in an unusual location – like the shower or kitchen – and you may find yourself more turned on than usual. If that doesn’t appeal, try to synchronise you schedule with your partner’s, so that there’s more time for sex.

2. Pay attention to your weight: If you and/or your partner are obese, the condition can alter the balance of your hormones, which may have a dampening effect on your sexual desire. Obese people often have clogged arteries, which can also contribute to conditions like erectile dysfunction. Fast food can add to clogged arteries, so try cutting out the chips and choosing healthier alternatives. Even if you lose just five pounds, you can absolutely jump-start your sex drive.

3. Run, Forrest, Run: As well as helping in your weight loss efforts, running benefits your sexual wellbeing in other ways. Running increases your circulation, which therefore enhances blood flow to your genitals. This makes sex more pleasurable for you and your mate, so lace up those running shoes! If running isn’t your thing, you’ll find the same benefits from any kind of cardiovascular activity, so why not try a new class? You can do it with your partner so that you both reap the benefits.

4. Phone it in: If you’re in a long distance relationship or one of you goes on a business trip, phone sex can help you to keep things steamy, even if you’re miles apart. Even if you live together your phone can help your sex life. Texting (or, as the cool kids call it, sexting) your partner dirty messages throughout the day can help get you both revved up for when you come home from work – just make sure your colleagues don’t read the messages over your shoulder!

5. Keep the fun alive: When you’re trying to get pregnant, sex often becomes more like hard work than anything else. Sure, you have a certain objective, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun getting there. Take the pressure off conception by making sex fun, and focusing on non-penetrative activities like massage and touch.

6. And, relax: Any kind of stress can make it hard to enjoy sex or conceive, so try setting aside a little more relaxation time with your partner to bring back the fireworks. A great way to do this is by doing yoga together. As with running, yoga helps to get your blood going, however, it also improves your flexibility and allows you to see each other in a whole new, ahem, light. Combined, these factors will lead to better sex.

7. Talk about it: As with any relationship issue, communication is key. You can feel a bit weird talking about sex but, if you want more passion or something new in the bedroom, you need to let your partner know or else they’ll never guess what you want! Some couples find that counselling can help them to talk about sex, and grow closer both in and out of the bedroom.

Categories: bedroom, Clogged Arteries, Communication, life, partner, relaxation, Running, sex life, time

The Evolution of Stents: How Far Have We Come?

When your arteries are narrowed or blocked, this can sometimes be a wellness warning of a heart attack. These days, a stent can fix that problem, and the little device has come a long way to be able to do so, but there was a time when cardio doctors thought they could live without them.

An angioplasty is a procedure to widen narrowed or obstructed arteries and it used to be done without any stents. The first angioplasty on a coronary artery was performed in 1977, in Zurich, Switzerland, by Dr Andreas Gruentzig, a German-born physician. Back then, the surgeon would stretch the artery with an inflated balloon, and the balloon would be removed along with the fine guidewire. However, as vessel walls are elastic in nature, and therefore tend to spring back or recoil after the procedure, this, coupled with the formation of scar tissue, meant that restenosis could occur, in which your treated vessel becomes blocked again.

Clearly, something had to be done and so bare metallic stents were introduced in 1986. According to Dr Benjamin Chua, the director of endovascular surgery and a consultant at the department of general surgery at the Singapore General Hospital, stents act as struts, radiating force outwards to keep arteries open. However, though these devices solved one problem, they created other issues too.

Because bare stents exert an outward force against the arterial walls, extensive scar tissues grow inside the device, causing your blood flow to be obstructed. This can affect your wellbeing with symptoms such as chest pain, and so the next evolution of stents was born: drug-eluting stents. These stents are coated with medication, which is released over time to stop your body from responding to injury, and causing restenosis.

Though each new stent reduced restenosis by up to 20% each time, there was still a problem with thrombosis, or clotting, which can occur from within 24 hours to a year later and is more common with drug-coated stents. People who have bare stents have to take two kinds of blood-thinning or anti-clotting medication for at least a month while those with drug-coated stents have to take both for at least a year.

So, we come to the last evolution of stent: biodegradable drug-eluting stents, which remove the root causes of vessels narrowing after a procedure, but do not remain permanently to trigger extensive scar tissue growth. Also known as the Absorb stent, Dr Goh Yew Seong, a consultant at the department of cardiology at Changi General Hospital, explained, ‘Although the Absorb stent’s premise of leaving nothing behind is an attractive option for most patients, we must still be stringent in lesion selection in order to ensure the best outcome.’

Google+
The Evolution of Stents: How Far Have We Come?

Categories: angioplasty, Clogged Arteries, Stents