5 ways to strengthen your relationship while planning your wedding

5 ways to strengthen your relationship while planning your wedding

LIFE STYLE

 

Here are 5 ways to ensure you don’t neglect your partner during the frenzied period.

1. Date nights:  minus the wedding talk

It’s easy to get caught up in a myriad of details that involve planning for your big day. And while you’re probably doing a lot of it together, having to chat and do wedding related things can become exhausting.

Set aside some time for each other. Go on dates and enforce a strict no wedding talk policy. Take the time to catch up on each other’s day, talk about your wants and needs, but whatever you do  make sure it doesn’t involve anything wedding related.                

2.  Make separate dates for wedding talk
Having a structured day or evening where you can discuss wedding related planning is always a good idea and can help you to get focused and organised.

3. Spend some time apart. Yes it will help, we promise

Remember, getting married is not about the wedding. It’s about the start of a life-long commitment, which means that your entire life won’t revolve around the wedding.

You’re two different people, with different interests. Besides, spending time apart is good for strengthening your relationship.

4.  Spend some time with your loved one’s family outside of wedding planningWhat better way to strengthen your relationship than by going out of your way to spend time with your loved one’s family?

Look, you’re going to be seeing more of them once you’re married anyway, so building friendships with your partner’s family (unless they’re so awful that even your partner wants nothing to do with them) is a good way of showing than you want to make an effort.

5.    Group outings and double dates

Have some fun with your friends. Don’t just make it about the two of you.

There’ll be plenty of time for the two of you to enjoy alone time after your wedding, so make sure to take a lot of breaks in between your wedding planning and spend that extra time with your friends.

Besides, your married friends will also be able to dish out some solid wedding and marriage advice.

- Woman24

healthandwealth Pada 11:28 Komentar

Sex talks with parents tied to less risky teen behaviour

Sex talks with parents tied to less risky teen behaviour

LIFE STYLE

Talking about sex with parents, especially moms, can influence teen behaviour including condom use, according to a new review.

But while talks with parents may be one important factor in helping youth make safer choices, it is clearly not the only factor, because the link between parent communication and teen sexual behaviour was relatively small, said lead author Laura Widman of North Carolina State University in Raleigh.

Effect strongest for girls

Parents could talk about other topics that impact risky sexual choices, such as substance use, peer pressure, and a lack of communication about safety between dating partners prior to engaging in sex, Widman told Reuters Health by email.  

The review included 52 studies with more than 25,000 teens, all including teen reports of communication with one or both parents and measures of safer sex behaviour.

Teens who reported having these conversations with their parents also tended to exhibit safer sex behaviour and were more likely to use condoms or other contraception.

The effect was strongest for girls and for teens who spoke to their mothers, specifically.

There were no significant differences based on the topics parents discussed with their teens, Widman and colleagues reported in JAMA Paediatrics.

"We know that parents tend to communicate more frequently with girls than with boys," Widman said.

"We also know that the messages parents share are more likely to stress the negative consequences of sexual activity, like pregnancy, when they talk with their daughters."

Parents matter too

Parents may need to increase how often they talk with their sons about sex and change the content of the messages surrounding sex that they communicate to boys, she said.

Most teen sex education programmes are aimed directly at the adolescent, including posting information and making condoms available in proximity to them,

said Dr Vincent Guilamo-Ramos of New York University, who co-authored an editorial published with the new results.

"Those are all terrific and we should keep doing them," but parents matter, too, he told Reuters Health by email.

Other studies have found that parents can help delay teen sexual debut, and this review now supports an influence on contraceptive use as well, he said.

"We want to get parents engaged and communicating on these issues," Guilamo-Ramos said.

Better to wait

Adolescents account for a quarter of sexually active individuals but have half of all sexually transmitted infections, and there are still 600,000 teen pregnancies in the U.S. per year, he noted.

Often parents underestimate when their kids are having sex, believing other kids are sexually active, but not their own, he said.

Sex talks should begin early around age 11 or 12, and should stress that it is better to wait, he said.

"A true family based approach is one where parents are getting the information and they decide how to deliver it, as opposed to a one size fits all curriculum," Guilamo-Ramos said.

Parents should stress that the positive things teens hope to gain from sex, like more closeness with a partner, feeling popular or mature, are false expectations, and do not outweigh the dangers of teen pregnancy or STDs, he said. "Many parents are fearful that if they bring the topic up, teens will initiate sexually," but the opposite is true, he said.

"Youth who are not able to talk with their partners about topics like sexual limits, condoms, and STDs are much more likely to engage in risky sex," Widman said.

"When parents model how to have open and honest conversations about sex with their teens, they can help teens learn how to have similar conversations with their dating partners.

- Reuters

healthandwealth Pada 11:24 Komentar

Did you know that he fakes orgasms too?

Did you know that he fakes orgasms too?

LIFE STYLE

 

The Daily Mail reports that a recent study conducted by Time Out has found that about 30% of the men they polled admitted to faking orgasms. This finding corroborates many other independent studies done across American universities.

If you’re wondering how it’s possible for a man to fake an orgasm, don’t be. There are many ways which include:
•    Using a condom
•    Using a lot of lube – a teaspoon of semen (or more importantly the lack of same) can easily be hidden
•    Faking ejaculation outside of the body
•    Other reasons such as prostatectomy which often results in loss of seminal fluid so ejaculation doesn’t happen

The question you should be asking is actually “why” men do this? Well, for the same reasons as women, apparently.
•    Men feel under pressure to perform and this is a way out when they don’t really feel like sex
•    As a kindness to their partners – they know a climax won’t happen but don’t want to hurt their partner’s feelings

While protecting your loved one’s feelings is a noble endeavour, regular faking can be devastating to a healthy sexual relationship. Think of it this way - by providing your partner with disinformation, you deny them the chance to make the sex more fulfilling, since they won’t know what you actually require to orgasm.

Most relationship counsellors and sexologists also advocate honesty when it comes to sex in order to build intimacy and trust. So while the odd faked orgasm is not the end of the world – especially if it’s done for the right reasons, making a habit of it can be disastrous.

- Woman24

healthandwealth Pada 10:04 Komentar

Stimulating the G-spot

Stimulating the G-spot

LIFE STYLE

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healthandwealth Pada 19:09 Komentar

Caribbean village where girls grow eggplants and morph into boys when they hit puberty

Caribbean village where girls grow eggplants and morph into boys when they hit puberty

LIFE STYLE

On the face of it, the small village of Salinas in the Barahona Province of the southwestern part of the Dominican Republic, is like many other Caribbean hideaways.
The natives are friendly, there's sandy beaches and the sun beats down often - but there is one peculiarity that sets it apart from the rest of the world.
At puberty one in 90 children born there make a natural transformation from girl to boy.

Referred to as the ‘guevedoces’ which literally translates as ‘penis at 12’ - these children are known in medical terms as 'pseudohermaphrodite' - and feature in a new BBC 2 series called Countdown to Life - the Extraordinary Making of You.

“I remember I used to wear a little red dress,” said Johnny who at 24 was once known as Felecitia and did not have a penis.

“I was born at home instead of in a hospital. "They didn’t know what sex I was.

“I went to school and I used to wear my skirt. I never liked to dress as a girl.

"When they bought me girls toys I never bothered playing with them. All I wanted to do was play with the boys.”

The guevedoces were uncovered by Cornell University endocrinologist Dr Julianne Imperato in the 1970s who travelled to the region to learn more about rumours that girls were morphing into boys.
And in the four decades since there have been studies, more has been learned about the perfectly natural condition.

Believed to have transpired through a rare genetic disorder, the condition is caused by a missing enzyme that prevents the production the male sex hormone - dihydro-testosterone - in the womb - and creates what looks like a baby girl on birth.
It is not until puberty, when testosterone flows, their voices break and they grow a male sexual reproductive organ that they become recognised as male.
BBC presenter Dr Michael Mosley said:

“I hated going through puberty; voice cracking, swinging moods, older brother laughing at me. But compared to Johnny, I had it easy.

“Guevedoces are also sometimes called “machihembras” meaning “first a woman, then a man.” "When they’re born they look like girls with no testes and what appears to be a vagina.

"It is only when they near puberty that the penis grows and testicles descend.

“When Dr Imperato investigated the Guavadoces she discovered the reason they don’t have male genitalia at birth is because they are deficient in an enzyme called 5-α-reductase, which normally converts testosterone into dihydro-testosterone.

“By a quirk of chance Dr Imperato’s research was picked up by the American pharmaceutical giant, Merck.

"They used her discovery to create a drug called finasteride, which blocks the action of 5-α-reductase.

“It is now widely used to treat benign enlargement of the prostate and male pattern baldness. For which, I’m sure, many men are truly grateful.”

UK Mirror

healthandwealth Pada 17:25 Komentar

What to do after rape

What to do after rape

LIFE STYLE

Yemi joined a study group in her second year at university. One afternoon, a guy from the group offered to walk her home and she invited him in for a cup of coffee. As they chatted, he moved a little too close to her but she thought it would be rude to say anything. Then suddenly he took her coffee cup out of her hand and dragged her from her kitchen into the lounge, where he raped her on the floor.

She struggled and shouted at him to stop but he ignored her. He later told her that she had invited him in, which meant she wanted sex and so what was she complaining about? After he left, Yemi felt stunned, dazed and numb. She had no idea what to do next.

Like Yemi, many rape survivors are too shocked to act in the immediate moments after a rape. But there are practical steps you can take immediately after someone rapes you to keep yourself safe and minimise both short and long term health risks and strengthen your chances of bringing the rapist to justice.

1. Get to a safe place: The first thing you should do if you are in any immediate danger is to get yourself to a safe place.

2. Tell some what has happened: Once you are out of danger, tell the first person you see what has happened or contact someone you know and trust and tell them the whole story while it is fresh in your mind. Although this can be difficult, it is very important because this person can help with the police investigation and later support your story in court. They are known as the first contact witness.

3. Preserve evidence of the rape: The one thing you may want to do is wash. If you do, you run the risk of washing away all physical evidence of the rape so do not bath, shower or wash your clothes. Doing this would get rid of blood, semen, saliva or hair that could be used as evidence of the rape. If you are injured, go straight to your nearest hospital, community health centre or doctor.

4. Decide whether you want to report the rape: You do not have to decide immediately whether to report the rape to the police but the sooner a doctor examines you, the more likely they are to find physical evidence that they can link to the rapist. If you decide to report the rape to the police, then you should go to your nearest police station where the officers must take your statement. The police will take you to a health centre where you will receive medical attention and undergo a forensic examination. If you do not report the rape, you can go directly to a health centre to get these services.

5. Get medicine to prevent unwanted pregnancies, HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs): After the forensic examination, the doctor will give you the morning-after pill to prevent pregnancy and antibiotics to prevent possible STIs. You will also be given an HIV test and if it is negative you will be given antiretroviral treatment for 28 days to prevent contracting HIV. This is called post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).

6. Get support to help you to recover: You can get the support you need further down the line by asking for pamphlets or booklets on rape, and the number of a local counselling service that can give you support and advice on the police report, an eventual court case, and your own physical and emotional wellbeing. If you do fall pregnant or contract an STI it is important to seek follow up medical care and counselling.

Yemi reported the incident to the police shortly after. A friend who knew what had happened went with her.

You have the right to access all of these services that will protect you from the health risks associated with rape and to complain if any of these services do not meet your needs.

Safeguard yourself and your health.

healthandwealth Pada 19:39 Komentar