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It’s stating the obvious to refer to sex as a bond between couples. Whether married, in a stable relationship or on a casual basis, sex is the direct expression of the biological urge built into the male and female genders. From the earliest times, we’ve been genetically programmed to reproduce and the drive is there even when conception is no longer intended. The pleasure rewards from the activity keep us hooked. Well, unless something goes wrong with the equipment, of course. Without wanting to be too feminine about our emotions, but it’s hard being a man. We need a lot of love and support to keep us going through life’s challenges. When we have changes forced on us, it forces us to think about our roles and what it means to be a man in the relationship.

So take life as we approach sixty. It’s coming toward the end of our working lives. Retirement may come voluntarily. More often in these difficult economic times, we find a pink slip. It’s always the older ones who get cut first. This pitches us back into the home that, for many years, might have seemed more like a hotel for breakfast in the morning and sleep at night. Actually living in it with a partner requires both a practical and a psychological reorganization. We have to come to terms with who we are.

At times like this, we often rely on a few close friends to talk with. This is not to say we have open discussions about all our problems, but it’s emotionally supportive when someone just listens to whatever you want to say. A new report has been produced by a team of researchers from Chicago and Cornell Universities. It suggests that if the female partner gets too friendly with any one of our male friends, this can cause sexual problems. This is not “friendly” in the sense of sex, you understand. This has nothing to do with infidelity. But if our partner comes between us and one of our friends, this causes erectile dysfunction in a surprising number of men. This has nothing to do with jealousy. It seems to be considered an invasion of privacy. We like to feel independent and this means we solve our problems in our own ways. If our partner disrupts this support network, it undermines self-confidence and so causes erectile dysfunction.

As men come into their fifties, they are more prone to erectile dysfunction as the level of testosterone continues to fall. The researchers find a significant number of men reporting betweenness as a key reason for their sexual problems. It seems most grow out of it. Older men feel more secure once they have established new routines, say, as a grandfather who offers the benefit of his experience. This abandons independence and joins the family as a team member. Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes, when you get to the basic chemistry of stuff, you will always find the same basic building blocks. So, for example, when you look at most of the basic food and drinks on the market, most of them rely on corn. This is heavily subsidized by the government and so allows us to eat high-calorie food for little money. By the way, the subsidy is why you can buy a mountainous burger for less than the cost of most fresh vegetables. Well, it’s the same with almost all the lotions, gels and creams sold over the counter in drugstores to treat acne. The standard ingredient is benzoyl peroxide. Why is this one ingredient so important?

The bacteria that causes acne lives on the surface of your skin. Under normal circumstances, being exposed to the air keeps their numbers down. But if the glands under your skin start to produce too much oil, the pores will slowly fill with dead skin cells. This creates a warm, dark place where there’s no oxygen. This is a perfect breeding ground for the bacteria. Benzoyl peroxide removes the layer of dead skin cells from the surface and opens up the pores. Once the air is able to get into the pores, the growth of the bacteria is reduced. Over time, if you only have a mild outbreak, the skin will return to normal. With moderate to severe outbreaks, benzoyl peroxide will usually prevent the problem from spreading.

The main advantage of this chemical is that you can buy it as a solution. This is really cheap. Most of the research shows there’s little to choose between the basic chemical and all the branded products over time, i.e. at the end of three months, there’s no real difference in the effectiveness. But some of the combinations work more quickly. So, if you decide to buy one of the products containing benzoyl peroxide, all the extra money does is buy you a few days of looking better. There’s some new research showing the combination with adapalene works faster over three months, no matter how bad the outbreak.
The importance of this research is that it involves almost 4,000 participants. This is an impressive effort. Unfortunately, the design does not give it full credibility, i.e. it’s not a double-blind trial and no placebo was used. The participants were divided into groups. Each group received adapalene, benzoyl peroxide, the combination as a lotion, or a gel as the delivery method. The researchers found the combination as a lotion produced the best results. Some 500 participants dropped out, most complaining about dry skin. This is a standard problem with benzoyl peroxide when starting out the treatment. Using a moisturizer is best. Read the rest of this entry »