Mary Jane Vibrator™ available this holiday season!

And one day I’m going to grow up and make a toy that all of my ganja loving sisters and brothers will love. It will bring pleasure and relaxation. It will bring Cannabis into the homes of those who don’t smoke anymore yet miss having Mary Jane being a part of their lives. It will slowly make cannabis more mainstream, even more mainstream then sex. Partner play is about to become so much more fun. Your boyfriend will be so excited to bring home the first toy he’s ever truly related with in more ways than one. 
The perfect gift for your ganja lover! Coming this holiday season. 

#ganjavibes #maryjanevibrator #gethighgetoff #sextoysforcannabisenthusiasts #playtime #fun #adultnovelty #sextoys #massage #heath #wellness 

 

Be Careful Not to Criminalize Fantasies

The power of fantasy lies in the capacity to explore, without restriction, the inner recesses and outer limits of our psyche. For many, it is enough to have the imaginary encounter, and it need never be breathed to another soul. For others, the desire to explore the fantasy takes hold and pushes us to seek like-minded explorers with whom we can share our innermost desires. In our everyday lives we are limited by morality, legality and prevailing social mores, but we are free to dive into rich and florid — or even lurid — fantasies safely in our minds.

For those who have explicit fantasies that seem outside of the sexual “norm,” there can be a great deal of shame and guilt associated with the exploration of these themes, even in the privacy of one’s own thoughts. Some shun these desires as “deviant” and seek to banish them. For others, the drive to manifest the fantasy is irresistible. The longing for validation can motivate people to overcome strict upbringings, banish guilt and shame, and find camaraderie. It can push them to find or create space where those desires won’t be judged, but instead shared. It can be an incredible relief to know you’re not “the only one” with your particular “kink.”

With negotiation and consent, it can be healthy to discuss and explore explicit fantasies that seem outside of the sexual norm.

Many people find such a safe space in an online community where all the participants share fantasies of extreme sexual adventure. The communities should be all about consent: all parties consent to be a part of the conversation, and, if there is any thought that the secret desire should manifest, consent must be explicit, ongoing and mutual.

Fantasizing is healthy. Talking about fantasies with others can be healthy. Negotiating and fulfilling fantasies with consenting parties can be healthy. None of this should be illegal. But planning to fulfill your fantasy upon an unwitting stranger without his or her consent has no place in the practice of consensual BDSM. Objectifying other human beings – making them the fodder for your fantasies – is not necessarily a violation of consent. However, if the fantasy is to manifest, mutual consent, negotiation and personal safety are of paramount importance.

Manifesting an “edgy” fantasy is something that is negotiated and proceeds only if all parties involved actively consent to participate. In the BDSM realm, the gray area between fantasy and reality is full of negotiation: mutual expression of desire, consent, agreements to terms of safety, arrangements for after-care, etc. For instance, if I have a fantasy of being overpowered and ravaged, it absolutely does not mean that I have a desire to be abducted and sexually assaulted by a stranger. That fantasy might simply be a daydream I use to explore my own private pleasure. And yes, I may even choose to explore it with another consenting partner. However, transparency in motive and careful negotiation of how to bring the fantasy to fruition is absolutely necessary.

By seeking out like-minded people online and offline, you increase the opportunity to bring a secret desire to reality – blissful, risky, exhilarating and healthy reality.

Mollena Williams, an alternative sexuality educator and blogger, is a co-author of “Playing Well With Others: Your Field Guide to Discovering, Exploring and Navigating the Kink, Leather and BDSM Communities.”

15 Plants & Herbs That Can Boost Lung Health, Heal Respiratory Infections & Repair Pulmonary Damage

healthy_lungs_herbs-300x225When it comes to taking herbs as a form of treatment for illness, it seems the mainstream belief is that they are not as effective and not worth taking. While effectiveness of each herb and their use has not been studied deeply to determine how effective it can be across the population, the same could be said for most pharmaceutical drugs. Much of the time, pharmaceutical drugs attempt to mimic a compound that occurs naturally in nature (herbs) but often bring the risk of side effects.

Safety is one of the most critical areas of review amongst herbs and drugs. So far, zero deaths have been reported due to the use and consumption of herbs. However, pharmaceutical drugs and physician prescribed medications kill approximately one million Americans each year. While it is important to note that herbal medicines can be lethal in extreme doses, it appears their safety is much greater than that of pharmaceutical drugs. [2]

Interestingly, pharmaceutical drugs are actually adding to the world-wide issue of declining health due to their side effects and encouragement of viral resistance. Antibiotics in particular are adding to the wave of increased viral strength when it comes to certain infections. [3] Herbs on the other hand can be a useful tool in fighting infections that have turned into super bugs due to the overuse of antibiotics.

It is always useful to perform as much research as possible, or as you see fit, when it comes to both pharmaceutical drugs and herbs prior to taking them. Just as we would be so skeptical about herbs, we should be just as skeptical about pharmaceutical drugs. Contrary to popular belief, the un-popularity of herbs in western culture is due to scrutinization that comes from pharmaceutical companies and those to can benefit from the sale of pharmaceutical drugs. Herbs cannot be patented and owned, only synthetic drugs can which is why many pharma companies operate the way they do. Seek out the assistance of a Naturopathic doctor before you use herbs.

Below is a list of herbs that can not only boost lung and respiratory health but can also repair it.
Herb information is courtesy of John Summerly who is nutritionist, herbologist, and homeopathic practitioner.

1. Licorice Root

Licorice is one of the more widely consumed herbs in the world. In Traditional Chinese Medicine it occurs in more formulas than any other single herb because it is thought to harmonize the action of all other herbs. Licorice is very soothing and softens the mucous membranes of the throat and especially the lungs and stomach and at the same time cleanses any inflamed mucous membrane that needs immune system support . It reduces the irritation in the throat and yet has an expectorant action. It is the saponins (detergent-like action) that loosen the phlegm in the respiratory tract so that the body can expel the mucus. Compounds within this root help relieve bronchial spasms and block the free radical cells that produce the inflammation and tightening of the air ways. The compounds also have antibacterial and antiviral effects to them as well which helps fight off viral and bacterial strains in the body that can cause lung infections. Glycrrhizins and flavonoids can even help prevent lung cancer cells from forming which means they can even prevent lung cancer.

2. Coltsfoot

Coltsfoot has been traditionally used by Native Americans for thousands of years to strengthen the lungs. It clears out excess mucus from the lungs and bronchial tubes. It soothes the mucus membranes in the lungs, and has been shown in research to assist with asthma, coughs, bronchitis, and other lung ailments. Coltsfoot is available in dried form for tea or as an alcohol extract known as a tincture.

3. Cannabis

The toxic breakdown of therapeutic compounds in cannabis from burning the plant are totally avoided with vaporization. Extraction and inhaling cannabinoid essential oils of the unprocessed plant affords significant mitigation of irritation to the oral cavity that comes from smoking. Cannabis is perhaps one of the most effective anti-cancer plants in the world shown in study after study to stimulate cannabinoid receptor activation in specific genes and mediate the anti-invasive effect of cannabinoids. Vaporizing cannabis allows the active ingredients to stimulate the body’s natural immune response and significantly reduces the ability of infections to spread. Vaporizing cannabis (especially with very high amounts of cannabinoids) opens up airways and sinuses, acting as a bronchodilator. It is even a proven method to treat and reverse asthma.

4. Osha Root

Osha is a herb native to the Rocky Mountain area and has historically been used by the Native Americans for respiratory support. The roots of the plant contain camphor and other compounds which make it one of the best lung-support herbs in America. One of the main benefits of osha root is that it helps increase circulation to the lungs, which makes it easier to take deep breaths. Also, when seasonal sensitivities flare up your sinuses, osha rootm, which is not an actual antihistamine, does produce a similar effect and may be help calm respiratory irritation.

5. Thyme

Thyme is very powerful in the fight against chest congestion. It produces powerful antiseptic essential oils which are classified as naturally antibiotic and anti-fungal. Thyme is well known to zap acne more so than expensive prescription creams, gels and lotions. Thyme tea has the power to chase away and eliminate bacteria and viruses so whether your infection is based on either, it will work. Thyme has been used as a lung remedy consumed since antiquity and is used extensively today to prevent and treat respiratory tract infections and bacterial infection pneumonia.

6. Oregano

Although oregano contains the vitamins and nutrients required by the immune system, its primary benefits are owed to its carvacrol and rosmarinic acid content. Both compounds are natural decongestants and histamine reducers that have direct, positive benefits on the respiratory tract and nasal passage airflow. Oil of oregano fights off the dangerous bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, better than the most common antibiotic treatments. Oregano has so many health benefits that a bottle of organic oregano oil should be in everyone’s medicine cabinet.

7. Lobelia

Did you know that horses given lobelia are able to breathe more deeply? Its benefits are not limited to equestrians. It has been used as “asthmador” in Appalachian folk medicine. Lobelia, by some accounts, is thought to be one of the most valuable herbal remedies in existence. Extracts of Lobelia inflata contain lobeline, which showed positive effects in the treatment of multidrug-resistant tumor cells. Lobelia contains an alkaloid known as lobeline, which thins mucus, breaks up congestion. Additionally, lobelia stimulates the adrenal glands to release epinephrine, in effect, this relaxes the airways and allows for easier breathing. Also, because lobelia helps to relax smooth muscles, it is included in many cough and cold remedies. Lobelia should be part of everyone’s respiratory support protocol!

8. Elecampane

Elecampane has been used by Native Americans for many years to clear out excess mucus that impairs lung function. It is known as a natural antibacterial agent for the lungs, helping to lessen infection particularly for people who are prone to lung infections like bronchitis. Herbal practitioners often recommend one teaspoon of the herb per cup of boiling water, drunk three times daily for two to three weeks. Elecampane is also available in tincture format for ease.

9. Eucalyptus

Native to Australia, eucalyptus isn’t just for Koala bears! Aborigines, Germans, and Americans have all used the refreshing aroma of eucalyptus to promote respiratory health and soothe throat irritation. Eucalyptus is a common ingredient in cough lozenges and syrups and its effectiveness is due to a compound called cineole. Cineole has numerous benefits — it’s an expectorant, can ease a cough, fights congestion, and soothes irritated sinus passages. As an added bonus, because eucalyptus contains antioxidants, it supports the immune system during a cold or other illness.

10. Mullein

Both the flowers and the leaves of the mullein plant are used to make an herbal extract that helps strengthen the lungs. Mullein is used by herbal practitioners to clear excess mucus from the lungs, cleanse the bronchial tubes, and reduce inflammation that is present in the respiratory tract. A tea can be made from one teaspoon of the dried herb to one cup of boiled water. Alternatively, you can take a tincture form of this herb.

11. Lungwort

Lungwort is a tree-growing lichen that actually resembles lung tissue in appearance. However, this natural remedy doesn’t just look the part. As early as the 1600′s, lungwort has been used to promote lung and respiratory health and clear congestion. Pulmonaria selections come in all kinds so seek a herbologist for direction. Lungwort also contains compounds that are powerfully effective against harmful organisms that affect respiratory health.

12. Chaparral

Chaparral, a plant native to the Southwest, has been appreciated by the Native Americans for lung detoxification and respiratory support. Chaparral contains powerful antioxidants that resist irritation and NDGA which is known to fight histamine response. NDGA inhibits aerobic and anaerobic glycolysis (the energy-producing ability) of cancer cells. Chaparral is also a herb that fights harmful organisms. The benefits of chaparral are mostly available in a tincture extraction but chaparral tea may support respiratory problems by encouraging an expectorant action to clear airways of mucus.

13. Sage

Sage’s textured leaves give off a heady aroma, which arises from sage’s essential oils. These oils are the source of the many benefits of sage tea for lung problems and common respiratory ailments. Sage tea is a traditional treatment for sore throats and coughs. The rich aromatic properties arising from sage’s volatile oils of thujone, camphor, terpene and salvene can be put to use by inhaling sage tea’s vapors to dispel lung disorders and sinusitis. Alternatively, brew a strong pot of sage tea and place it into a bowl or a vaporizer.

14. Peppermint

Peppermint, and peppermint oil, contains menthol — a soothing ingredient known to relax the smooth muscles of the respiratory tract and promote free breathing. Dried peppermint typically contains menthol, menthone, menthyl acetate, menthofuran and cineol. Peppermint oil also contains small amounts of many additional compounds including limonene, pulegone, caryophyllene and pinene. Paired with the antihistamine effect of peppermint, menthol is a fantastic decongestant. Many people use therapeutic chest balms and other inhalants that contain menthol to help break up congestion. Additionally, peppermint is an antioxidant and fights harmful organisms.

15. Plantain Leaf

With fruit that is similar in appearance to a banana, plantain leaf has been used for hundreds of years to ease cough and soothe irritated mucous membranes. Many of its active constituents show antibacterial and antimicrobial properties, as well as being anti-inflammatory and antitoxic. Clinical trials have found it favorable against cough, cold, and lung irritation. Plantain leaf has an added bonus in that it may help relieve a dry cough by spawning mucus production in the lungs.

Sources:

1. http://www.everygreenherb.com/lungs.html

2. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100209183337.htm?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

3. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/antibiotics-may-make-fighting-flu-harder

5. http://thegoodnewsnp.com.au/files/45th_Edition_small_file_size._pdf.pdf

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/02/20/15-plants-herbs-that-can-boost-lung-health-heal-respiratory-infections-repair-pulmonary-damage/

5 ‘Deviant’ Sex Acts That Science Says Are Good For You

By  June 17, 2014

Sex is like a lifelong normalcy contest. To find happiness, you should spend every day worrying about the kinds of sex you like, and whether you’ll ever meet someone else who shares those likes. Then you comfort your untouched body by rubbing your hands all over it, wet though they may be with the sweat of anxiety and sadness. Ha! No, don’t do that. That sounds awful, and besides, if you spend all your time worrying, when will you have time to bone? You won’t! You will remain unboned, maybe forever.

So here’s my real-life advice for you, which I want you to remember forever — instead of worrying about what kind of sex you like (or, even worse, what kind of sex other people like, because nothing could ever be less important than something you don’t want to see and no one wants to show you), use this rule of thumb: “The freakier the sex, the better it is for me, according to science.” For example:

#5. BDSM Is Good for Your Psychological Health

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“BDSM” is an acronym that covers every weird, outlandish, disgusting, terrifying, and degenerate sex act that everyone you know is intimately familiar with (yes, everyone). If you’re a freak, then you know exactly what I’m talking about, and if the only thing you like is missionary position while a saxophone plays, then you’re the only person like that, and we’re all a bit scared of you.

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At least be more interesting than ladybugs.

I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but everyone fucks weird. I seriously can’t stress this enough. The next time you’re in the living room of a friend or family member, look around. The old high school heirlooms have been in asses. That “funny” horse mask has been worn while boning. Why would anyone own more than one scarf if they weren’t using it to tie people up? Every belt is a collar, every tie is a blindfold, every sock has been stuffed into someone’s mouth. A friend of mine once asked me to help him move his dentist chair into his new apartment and no one even asked for or offered any explanation, because we all know what’s up with that, don’t we. OK, I’m lying a bit: I wasn’t sorry to be the one to tell you that at all.

Anyway, this is why society is crumbling, surely. That crazy shit can’t be good for you, which is why the DSM-V lists BDSM as an example of “paraphilia,” or “unusual sexual fixation.”

Why It’s Secretly Good for You:

Folks who indulge in BDSM are psychologically healthier than people who don’t. That’s right: Everyone who got irrationally angry at those last few paragraphs are less sane than the people who didn’t, and that’s the least shocking sentence I’ve ever written. People who indulge in the ol’ spanky-spank (or whatever) are more extroverted and open to new experiences (duhhhhhh), but also less neurotic, anxious, and paranoid. They were also more secure in their relationships, though that may have been because their partners were currently chained to their bed and hahaha, what a dumb and obvious joke.

#4. Polyamory Makes for Stronger Relationships

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“Polyamory” is a fancy Greek word for “open relationship,” which is a fancy English phrase for “We can fuck whomever we want, but we still love each other.” I am not a polyamorist, mainly because the very idea defies the real, human emotions that form the foundation of every relationship: jealousy, possessiveness, and not wanting your partners to enjoy themselves unless you’re sweating all over them.

Image Source/Digital Vision/Getty Images
My girlfriend hates seeing movies with me.

Why It’s Secretly Good for You:

Science says that polyamorous relationships are the best kind, but why would I trust Science? He’s just the guy who hangs out behind the 7-Eleven near my house and sells me experimental bear tranquilizers. He says all kinds of crazy shit. So I did some research and discovered that Science is, perhaps coincidentally, totally right. The reasoning is pretty simple: Because both parties are out there sowing their wild oats, or having wild oats … sown in them (I’m not sure what the female version of the euphemism is), communication becomes even more necessary.

For example: Polyamorous Charlie will say, “Hey, I like to fuck all the time, but sometimes you’re at work or whatever, so how about I fuck other people?” and then Polyamorous Ashley is all, “Hey that’s cool, dawg,” because that’s how they all talk. Bam. Communication. And as we all know, communication is the most important part of a relationship.

According to Science.

#3. Casual Sex Is Awesome (If You Do It for the Right Reasons)

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According to the nation’s insane old people, all the young kids with their pumped-up kicks are too focused on casual sex and ugly-bumping, and it’s destroying them as people. Look, you sluts, it’s not hard to explain: Every time you have sex, you give part of your soul to that person, so if you have too much sex, you’ll only have a little sliver of your own soul left, and what will you have received in return?

Oh, obviously, you get the soul of everyone you ever stuck it to. Sleeping around works the exact same way as the soul-stealing spell in Skyrim and that is just so rad. Or maybe every sex partner you’ve ever had is a Horcrux, and all those soul shards you’re carrying around are giving you magic powers. Right? No matter how you interpret this information, it makes casual sex better.

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Play the field hard enough, and you will become an immortal sorcerer-god.

Why It’s Secretly Good for You:

I sorta went off on a tangent there, but I’m back on track now. According to actual science and not my dumbshit conjecture, casual sex actually is good for you — but only if you do it for the right reasons. The crazy, doom-saying old folks are at least partially correct: Casual sex is bad for you if you’re doing it to drown out your own lack of self-worth and feelings of inadequacy. But if you just like rubbing your genitals all over other people’s genitals, then it’s actually great for your self-esteem.

Now that I’ve typed it out, that seems like an obvious distinction. That applies to everything, right?

“I enjoy carrots!”

“Good, because carrots are good for you!”

“I eat eight bags of carrots every night because otherwise I never stop crying.”

“Well, OK, then you might have problems.”

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“Like the fact that you’re a carrot slut.”

I know what you’re thinking: “Sarge, all this stuff is pretty taboo, but what about the real gross stuff?” I’m glad you asked.

#2. Period Sex Relieves Menstrual Cramps

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Hahaha eeewwwww.

Why It’s Secretly Good for You:

Please don’t skip this entry. I know you want to, because everyone is super grossed out by period blood, but I think it’s really important that we talk about it. While I know your hand is hovering over the scroll button, just itching to blast past this warm, drippy, and vaguely chunky entry on my article about body fluids, I’m going to ask you to please stop. Just for a second, stop.

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Stop.

And read this entry just like you would any other. I promise it’ll be good for you.

Anyway, it turns out that “parting the red sea” or whatever the hell you want to call it can help alleviate the more uncomfortable symptoms of the menstrual cycle because, in the words of my source, “the orgasmic contractions of the uterus offer a soothing internal massage.” Feel free to get those words tattooed on your bicep.

Plus, a lady’s nether bits tend to be more sensitive during her period, which makes sex even better than normal. So instead of poring over all the instruction manuals the Internet has to offer …

Me. I did that.
Well done.

… put a towel down, quit being a baby, and proceed as normal.

#1. Masturbating at Work Is Good for the Economy

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This is gonna be a tough sell, and I’m pretty sure no one in the Cracked office will ever want to meet my gaze in the hallway again, especially if I’m heading toward the bathroom. But I don’t care. I’m not doing this for my co-workers. I’m not even doing this for me. I’m doing this for freedom.

I think this section deserves its own subtitle:

Why Rubbing One Out in Your Office Bathroom Will Save America
by JF Sargent (Age 26)

There’s little dissent between the scientific and 12-year-old-me communities that one should masturbate as much as possible, although there are two arguments for it. My argument has always been that that Victoria’s Secret catalog is taking up otherwise valuable Terry Pratchett bookshelf real estate, so I may as well put it to use, while the scientific community insists that it’s because masturbation protects against prostate cancer in men and does about a thousand awesome things for women. I’m not sure what a tented cervix is, but that’s fine — why would I need to know that? It’s also worth noting that masturbating improves your mood, which is obvious, but important because I want to point out that being happy makes you live longer. In short, lots of masturbation = a long, happy life.

Now turn your eyes, squinted with effort and pleasure though they may be, to the workplace. According to this meticulously researched and brilliantly written article, science says that any business’ elderly employees consistently “are more productive, are more loyal, and make more money than their younger counterparts,” and yes, I did just quote myself. The only people more valuable than the old employees are the happy employees, since sad employees will destroy a company’s chances for survival. The implications are obvious: If we don’t allow employees to masturbate in the workplace, we may be putting the future of our entire civilization in jeopardy.

What This Means for You

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The overall trend is clear: Freakier sex means better lives. And we need to utilize this information in the place this matters most: the world of politics.

If we want our world leaders to be mentally stable, with a strong bedrock of emotional fortitude and the physical well-being to lead long, healthy lives, then we need to make sure they know how to get freaky in the sack. From now on, I propose that every candidate running for public office should base their campaign platform on how imaginative their sex life is. Scratch that: Instead of “should,” let’s make that “must.” Sexlections are my prediction for the future. Which means your job is clear: You must go buy every item on these lists (and this video) and spend the rest of your life working to become the hyper-sane sorcerer-god fuck machine we need, and lead our people to a new golden age.


For legal reasons, JF Sargent must clarify that he does not masturbate in the bathroom of the Cracked offices any more than you might expect. Follow him on TwitterTumblr, and Facebook.

Read more: http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-deviant-sex-acts-that-science-says-are-good-you_p2/#ixzz35DIwUoIh

Hot men of FIFA

June 15, 2014posted by 

Eye Candy: 23 Hot Footballers at the FIFA World Cup #Brasil2014

Eye Candy: 23 Hot Footballers at the FIFA World Cup #Brasil2014

The FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil is pretty much in full swing! And even though we ladies claim that football is dominated by male fan(atic)s, we always look forward to seeing some good looking men passing the ball around a field for 90minutes – I only watch football to pick a Crush-Of-The-Moment.

As luck would have it, some of the sexiest men on the planet can be found in the 32 teams taking part in the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil. These players have proved that they are not just good at football – but they look mighty hot in the shorts too.

We have gone through the SWEET pain of assembling our own 360nobs Hottest 23 man list for the World-cup and of course like all other coaches, I may have made a few omissions or a few surprise inclusions but I guess I am the Coach of the 360nobs FIFA World Cup Hotties.

The selections were done just like how coaches pick their team; picking the bestsexiest each position has to offer – in support of all things football:

in the GOALKEEPING position

7 DEFENDERS

7 MIDFIELDERS

6 STRIKERS

And we’ve shared the love. You’re welcome.

So Ladies… if we can’t appreciate the beautiful game, let US at least enjoy the EYE CANDY, Brazil 2014 has to offer.

It really was a tricky job narrowing it all down to just 23. So here are our final 23-man list participating in this year’s FIFA World Cup who are definitely HOT!

Let us know who would have made your OWN 23 man-list … and ladies David Beckham doesn’t play soccer any longer :(

In related news Go NIGERIA SUPER EAGLES!!!

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Click on any of the thumbnails to open the full gallery to the gorgeous photos of these HOT men.

360nobs Hotties – Final World Cup Brasil2014 23-man List

3 GOAL KEEPERS

Tim Howard – USA – Goalkeeper
Iker Casillas – Spain – Goalkeeper
Sergio Romero – Argentina – Goalkeeper

7 DEFENDERS

Patrice Evra – France – Defender
Mats Hummels – Germany – Defender
Sergio Ramos – Spain – Defender
Gerard Pique – Spain – Defender
Atsuto Uchida – Japan – Defender
Liassine Cadamuro – Algeria – Defender
Glen Johnson – England – Defender

7 MIDFIELDERS

John Mikel Obi – Nigeria – Midfielder
Andrea Pirlo – Italy – Midfielder
Kevin-Prince Boateng – Ghana – Midfielder
Ezequiel Lavezzi – Argentina – Winger
Adam Lallana – England – Midfield
James Troisi – Australia – Midfield
Antonio Valencia – Ecuador – Winger

6 FORWARDS

Neymar – Brazil – Striker
Cristiano Ronaldo – Portugal – Striker
Didier Drogba – Ivory Coast – Striker
Robin Van Persie – Holland – Striker
Alexi Sanchez – Chile – Striker
Sergio Aguero – Argentina – Striker

http://www.360nobs.com/2014/06/eye-candy-23-hot-footballers-at-the-fifa-world-cup-brasil2014-2/

Sex Addiction

We all have something to ‘deal with’. It’s important to know where behaviors stem from. Resentment, blame, shame, regret and all of the negative feelings adopted don’t have to exist. Understanding, love & forgiveness are so important. Always remember, in times of turmoil and uncompromising states of mind, to state- “this is me deal with it or leave it” is doing everyone, including yourself, a disservice. Your actions are chosen ‘behaviors’ which can change. Don’t sell yourself short.

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Sex Addictions Counseling

Dr. Rory Reid of UCLA did research in 2007 and 2011 in which groups of men in treatment for sex addiction were assessed for ADHD and in which 23%-26% were found to meet the criteria for adult ADHD. Almost all of these (97%) were of the “predominantly inattentive type” rather than being predominantly hyperactive. (The prevalence of ADHD in the general population is 3-5% according to Reid.)

Can impulsivity or low self-concept explain the correlation?

Dr. Reid also gathered evidence about whether ADHD might be “driving” sex addiction due to the impulsivity of people with attention deficit as children.

He found that it is not impulsivity but the detrimental affects on self-esteem suffered by children with ADHD that causes them to seek to self-medicate with drugs or sex to cope with their poor self concept and low self confidence. (This argument rests on the fact that many adults with ADHD began as children with ADHD.)

The low self-esteem explanation makes sense in light of the fact cited by Dr. Reid that 11-35% of people with chemical dependency and pathological gambling also have adult ADHD.

Perhaps ADHD is so hard on children’s self esteem that they look for any drug they can find to cope with the pain. As children, virtually the only drug available is sexual self-soothing.

Posttraumatic dissociation may look like ADHD

Dr. Patrick Carnes has talked about sex addiction as, among other things, an “Attention Deficit Disorder.”

Problems that resemble what we think of as Attention Deficit Disorder are evident in those cases where the person has a traumatic history leading to dissociative splitting, or dissociative avoidance. In such cases the person cannot stay present and focused due to automatic reactions of fear learned earlier in life. They “zone out” or freeze.

Most sex addicts have experienced trauma in the form of disturbances in their early attachment bonds to their parents or caretakers. Maybe the addict’s inattentiveness and poor ability to focus in addicts is related to childhood experiences.

Diagnosing ADHD

I have worked with dozens of kids diagnosed with ADHD. It seemed to me that most of them had problematic attachment histories and dysfunctional families. I suspected that a large number of them were experiencing various trauma reactions, including dissociation rather than true ADHD. (The best assessments for ADHD incorporate a battery of neuropsychological measures rather than relying on pencil and paper tests. Such tests are more discriminating but they are not routinely used.)

So maybe these children were protecting themselves from stressful or traumatic life experiences like rejection, abandonment threats, or outright abuse by dissociating as a way to numb the pain.

As adults such people would “meet the criteria” for ADHD when in fact they simply had a life-long post traumatic response of detaching their attention and zoning out. These people would also be at risk for sex addiction and other addictions.

But this implies that many more addicts should have ADHD-like symptoms such as inattentiveness and distractability. In reality maybe they do.

Many sex addicts report ADHD symptoms when asked

More sex addicts feel that they have ADHD than are professionally assessed as meeting the criteria for ADHD. Dr. Reid also reported a study in 2004 in which sex addicts filled out self-report questionnaires. That study found that 67% of sex addicts subjectively reported symptoms of ADHD! This finding supports the idea that there is something else going on, something like post-traumatic splitting or dissociation.

The difficult question is which came first, a “true” attention deficit disorder followed by low self esteem and later by addiction, or the early stressful attachment history followed by all of the above?

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Human Sexuality

Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality
Christopher Ryan, Ph.D. & Cacilda Jethá, M.D.
NYT Cover

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New York Times bestseller in both hardcover and paperback.

One of NPR’s Favorite Books of 2010.

Winner of the 2011 SSTAR Consumer Book Award (Society for Sex Therapy & Research), and the Foundation for the Scientific Study of Sexuality’s Harriet and Ira Reis Theory Award in Sexology for 2011.

Best Book of 2010 (Audible.com). 

“The single most important book about human sexuality since Alfred Kinsey unleashed Sexual Behavior in the Human Male on the American public in 1948.”
— Dan Savage

“Funny, witty, and light . . . the book is a scandal in the best sense, one that will have you reading the best parts aloud and reassessing your ideas about humanity’s basic urges well after the book is done.”
— Newsweek

“[Sex at Dawn] helps put the ‘human’ back in ‘human sexuality.’”
— AASECT (American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists)

On an almost daily basis we are inundated with stories about the collapse of the latest celebrity marriage—and infidelity is almost always the cause of the break up. Is it even possible for two people to stay together happily over an extended period of time? Since Darwin’s day, we’ve been told that sexual monogamy comes naturally to our species. But it doesn’t, and never has.

Mainstream science—as well as religious and cultural institutions—has long maintained that men and women evolved in nuclear families where a man’s possessions and protection were exchanged for a woman’s fertility and fidelity. But this narrative is collapsing. Fewer and fewer couples are getting married and divorce rates keep climbing while adultery and flagging libido drag down even seemingly solid marriages.

In SEX AT DAWN, renegade researchers Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá debunk almost everything we “think we know” about sex.

Ryan and Jethá show how our promiscuous past haunts our current struggles regarding monogamy, sexual orientation, and family dynamics. Some of the themes they explore include:

• why long-term fidelity can be so difficult for so many;
• why sexual passion tends to fade even as love deepens;
• why many middle-aged men risk everything for an affair;
• why homosexuality persists in the face of standard evolutionary logic; and
• what the human body reveals about the prehistoric origins of modern sexuality

Ryan and Jethá show that our ancestors lived in egalitarian groups that shared food, child care, and often, sexual partners. Weaving together convergent, often overlooked evidence from anthropology, archeology, primatology, anatomy, and psychosexuality, the authors show how far from human nature sexual monogamy really is. They expose the ancient roots of human sexuality while pointing toward a more optimistic future illuminated by our innate capacities for love, cooperation, and generosity.

In the tradition of the best historical and scientific writing, SEX AT DAWNunapologetically upends unwarranted assumptions and unfounded conclusions while offering a revolutionary understanding of why we live and love as we do. A controversial, idea-driven book that challenges everything you know about sex, marriage, family, and society.

Paperback edition was released on July 5, 2011.

Sex at Dawn is available now in the U.S, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Spain, and Korea. Coming soon in Japanese, Chinese, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Slovenian, Czech, and Albanian. If you know any publishers in Germany, France, Italy, or Portugal, tell them to get with the program already!

Check out Christopher’s blogs at Psychology Today and Huffington Post.
To say hello, request an interview or media appearance, please use the contact form on this site.

source: http://www.sexatdawn.com/

5 Truths About Sexual Fetishes (A Dominatrix’s Perspective)

The stereotype goes that when it comes to sex, men are as simple-minded as dogs. (“Come on, we all know guys are only after one thing!”) Well, as someone with a few years’ experience as a dominatrix and phone sex operator, I’m here to tell you that could not possibly be more wrong. Male desire ranges from the merely kinky to the incredibly bizarre, and men are often so tortured by it that they’re not comfortable talking to anyone about it — not their closest friends, and certainly not their wives.

But they are comfortable talking to me, and here’s what I’ve found over the years …

#5. Certain Fantasies Are Way, Way More Common Than You’d Think

Hill Street Studios/Blend Images/Getty Images

Before becoming a professional phone sex operator and in-person ball crusher, I knew that men thought about sex a lot — but I didn’t realize just how deep and creative their fantasies could be. Inside every pervert beats the heart of a Tolstoy.

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And sometimes they want to be beat with War and Peace.

Phone sex isn’t cheap, at least good phone sex isn’t, and in-person dom sessions can at the high end cost as much as a used car. So the vast majority of my clientele are upper-middle-class guys in their 40s to 60s — I have a slew of doctors, lawyers, professors, business executives, and even a minister or two, all of whom have elaborate fantasy worlds they seem to use as a kind of relief valve to alleviate some of the stress of their high-power positions. I’m just the Sherpa that guides them through their kink.

For instance, one thing that hit me about this job is the insane amount of men who fantasize about being feminized and humiliated, or forced to cross dress. Men cross-dress for a ton of different reasons, but the most surprising thing is just how incredibly common it is. In my daily life, I find myself looking at guys’ asses to check for panty lines. And I find them, constantly.

Siri Stafford/Digital Vision/Getty Images
Boyshorts, dude. Support and concealment.”

I’d also say about 75 percent of my callers have homosexual-type fantasies, a lot of whom hate that they have them. I had a caller the other day get freaked out that he was getting so turned on by the thought of getting down on his knees and sucking his girlfriend’s (fantasy) cock. He hung up, then called back to apologize. I had to tell him that fantasizing about a dick in your mouth doesn’t necessarily make you gay (“Honey, calm down. Most cultures consider the phallus a symbol of power. You may just getreally turned on about submitting to your girlfriend”).

If that makes it sound like what I do is more a form of therapy than a sexual outlet, well, it’s both. But we’ll come back to that in a moment …

#4. The Fetishes Often Have Shockingly Little to Do With Sex

MSPhotographic/iStock/Getty Images

When you think of phone sex, you probably imagine a woman’s breathy voice saying that she’s lying on her bed, wearing her favorite black lace lingerie, and that you sound so hot she just has to touch herself. After that, you get a soundtrack to your wank session composed of moaning and her telling you what a stud you are.

In real life, not so much. I’ve found most guys would rather watch free porn than spend $1.99 per minute for something so mundane (thanks Internet), so the guys who call me are looking for … something a little different.

ori-ori/iStock/Getty Images
“You’re a fuck dragon; your name is Falcor. I start scratching you behind your ear …”

Like the shrinking fetishists. That’s a really common phone fantasy — they like me to describe them shrinking down to about an inch in height, give or take, then picking them up, dropping them in the toilet, and flushing them away. Then there’s the vore guys (as in “carnivore”) — guys who fantasize about being eaten. I have one who likes me to describe how I will truss him up, put him in a big roasting pan (complete with chopped-up carrots, potatoes, celery, and onions), sprinkle him with salt and pepper (he always manages to sneeze for me when we get to that part), baste him in butter (“Ohhh it’s sooo slippery isn’t it, having that butter drip all over your body …”), and pop him in the oven (at 450 degrees).

Jack Puccio/iStock/Getty Images
Slow and low at 275 if it’s payday.

Sometimes I get to play a more traditional sex icon, like with the guy who likes me to be dressed as a Playboy bunny … then magically turn him into a carrot, use the carrot as a dildo, and eat him (the grossest part is he wants me to dip him in ranch dressing to eat … I hate ranch). And it’s my job to walk him through it, in extreme detail. “Close your eyes. I want you to feel the tips of your fingers getting longer, your legs merge together, an orange tinge comes to your skin, your hair gets leafy.”

jrwasserman/iStock/Getty Images
“Rinse me, but don’t peel … leave it a little dirty …”

Then there are the looners (as in “balloon fetishists,” not “lunatics”). They like to hear balloons being blown up and popped. That’s it — I have taken calls on my cellphone while walking into a store, buying a 100 pack of balloons, sitting in my car blowing them up, then popping them. All of them.

Photos.com
In real life I always use a condom.

And then there’s the yak guy. He just wants me to carry on our conversation in the language of the yak people. We talk about the weather, sports, news, music, and movies all in a made-up yak language. It’s hard to find somebody who’ll play along with something like that, without judging, or getting weirded out. That’s why I have a job.

Some of these fetishes I understand, some I don’t — I understand how the endorphin rush of pain might turn someone on (it doesn’t do anything for me, personally). Ditto the guys who like the hardcore degradation — physical and emotional pain is felt by the same part of the brain. But the truth is, whether they use the word “paraphilia,” “fetish,” or “interest,” scientists are only just starting to catalog the vast, weird (moist) panoply of desire.

#3. Maintaining the Illusion Is Crucial to Them

Jacob Wackerhausen/iStock/Getty Images

The actual work itself — whether on the phone or in person — is actually the easiest part of this job. Marketing is where things get tough, because it involves maintaining a number of concurrent illusions. My clients can choose from six “characters,” and each of these girls has her own life. Each of my characters has a blog and a twitter, and I update both several times a week. So-and-so isn’t available to talk Monday through Friday until after 5 pm, because she is a high school biology teacher, and so-and-so isn’t available on Friday night because she is a 22-year-old party girl. Then I’ll go to different fetish message boards, Yahoo groups, and chat rooms and participate in those communities with a link back to my blog or profile.

JDate, Christian Mingle
I’m on JDate and Christian Mingle.

So while the nice thing about this job is being my own boss, the hard thing about it is also being my own employees. When you’re on social media, you’re acting at the same time as you’re advertising your services and performing market research to figure out which fetish stocks are more erect right now. It’s not an easy job, but it does have some serious perks.

I love football (go Steelers!) and so do a lot of my guys. This has turned into a pretty lucrative business opportunity over the years. I’ll talk with clients ahead of time and tailor a bunch of rules to their kink. Some guys like orgasm control, so every touchdown they’ll have something new to do without, uh, finishing. One toy I use is this device called the “humbler,” which stretches a client’s balls back for easy swatting. I’ve done paid in-person sessions during football games where I’d use that on the client every time there was a fumble or a turnover.

IdreamofJeanie
I’ve included this picture of a humbler because it’s the only one that doesn’t actively show balls.

If you’re wondering at what point in that process we actually have sex, well …

#2. Being a Dominatrix Doesn’t Involve Intercourse

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Many people think that being a dominatrix means being a high-end prostitute. I mean no offense to prostitutes, but that is not my job. I’ve never ever had sex with any of my clients, and I never ever would.

AndreyPopov/iStock/Getty Images
Which means I’m just like every other profession that’s completely misrepresented in porn.

That’s not what it’s about, and in fact that would actually ruin our whole dynamic, if they were to see me in a vulnerable, naked state. There’s a reason why you picture black leather or latex catsuits when you think of a dominatrix. Contact between in-person clients and myself would, at most, mean letting them be a human footstool or getting a well-placed slap across their little bitch faces. Once again, for many guys, it’s not about the sex act — it’s something much more complicated. A need they can’t get filled anywhere else.

Now, there are guys who do want to cross that line — some have trouble seeing the difference between me, the real person, and the character they’re paying to stick clothespins on their cock. That’s one reason I’ve actually phased out most of my in-person domming sessions in favor of phone sessions, because hey, I get to work in my PJs. I work for a phone sex company as well as owning my own business working through a platform, so my take-home pay is between 70 cents and $1.19 per minute for my time. For physical sessions, I usually charge between $100 or $200 per hour. It’s good money, and none of it requires showing off any more skin than the average nun.

Aleksandrs Tihonovs/iStock/Getty Images
And shit, if that’s what they want, I can do that too.

Think about that — all that time, and all that money, working through men’s sexual fantasies, and there’s never any actual nudity or actual sex. I’m just helping people act on the sexual fantasies in their mind, involving fetishes so specific and peculiar they’d never naturally come across another person who shares them. Which again brings us around to the real reason I stay so busy …

#1. For Many Guys, This Is the Therapy They’re Not Getting Elsewhere

Jacob Ammentorp Lund/iStock/Getty Images

You’d be surprised how much time I spend talking to my clients. Well, obviously, but I mean talking. You know the kind of talking the stereotypical girlfriends of the world always want. Emotional support is a much bigger aspect of the job than you’d expect. Not only do I have to get the guys off, I have to then assure them afterward that they aren’t weird.

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Keep in mind sometimes they have just instructed me to tell them the exact opposite.

That’s why I work really hard on trying to understand the fetishes my clients have. For balloon popping, it’s the anticipation; for the shrinking guys, it’s the loss of power; for the yak guy … actually I haven’t figured that one out yet. Psychotherapists are starting to recognize the value sex work can play in therapy, though. Australia’s currently gripped in a debate over whether or not their national disability insurance should cover “sex surrogates” (if you’re interested, there’s a documentary called Scarlet Road you should watch).

I’ve had guys who were coming out to their family who came to me first for support, to get pumped up. I’ve had a guy stop in the middle of a call and start crying, because he missed his ex-wife and needed to talk about it. I’ve given relationship advice — hell I have even checked out guys’ online dating profiles so I could give them pointers from a woman’s perspective.

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“Don’t mention produce or bovine animals until at least the fifth date.”

I actually had one client who was into extreme humiliation — he was black, and racial degradation was his particular turn-on. I got so hard on him during one session that he broke down and started crying. I wound up learning that he’d grown up in a very strict household, where men weren’t allowed to show emotion. Our session was the first time he’d ever broken down and cried about all of the horrible stuff he’d encountered as a kid. Getting that emotional release helped him deal with some demons. He never did another session with me, but he thanked me by email afterward, and now every week for the last few years he’s sent me a $100 check as thanks.

Robert Evans runs Cracked’s Personal Experience department and can be reached here. His friends run a farm and are trying to fight bandits. If you’d like to donate, he’ll love you forever.

Always on the go but can’t get enough of Cracked? We have an Android app and iOS reader for you to pick from so you never miss another article.

Related Reading: Still feeling sexy? We wrote an article with an actual real-life prostitute to make that feeling better, uh, informed. We also talked to a cop about his crazy stories, because Cracked listens to BOTH sides of the law. If you’d like to get pissed off, take a look inside the Troubled Teen industry. And if you’ve got a story to share with Cracked, you can tell it here.

Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_20963_5-truths-about-sexual-fetishes-a-dominatrixs-perspective_p2.html#ixzz2vkAdT7QL

Hey Man, it’s your turn now.

Australian Researchers Developing Male Birth Control Pill With Virtually No Side Effects

Male pill for birth control may be on the way, researchers say.

In a good news/bad news twist for men, a side-effect free male birth control pill is being developed in mice, and may soon be ready for a human test run. Photo from Feminspire.

In a good news, bad news situation for men, science is on the verge of perfecting a recent development in reproductive choice. The good news is that there may soon be an effective contraceptive pill that men can take, rather than undergo a vasectomy. The bad news is that men will then have to shoulder more day-to-day responsibility for family planning. There’s also confusing news — for conservatives. The development poses a conundrum: they may have to decide whether to try and block men’s access to healthcare, as they have with women.

The pill disables the delivery system but preserves sperm

Australian researchers have worked out a technique that keeps the body from delivering sperm to semen in mice. They’ve identified two proteins that can be disabled to keep sperm from moving from the testes into the ejaculate. The brain simply doesn’t get the message to turn the sperm loose. Disabling the proteins doesn’t affect libido, performance, or eventual procreation. It simply keeps the exit door closed for the millions of sperm that would normally make a break for freedom at the time of ejaculation. Their little lives are spared, to possibly swim another day.

For women, handing birth control over to men would eliminate the risk of side effects from taking hormone-based birth control pills. These side effects include an increased potential for migraines, strokes, blood clots, and heart attacks. The male version doesn’t depend on manipulating hormones. So far, it’s devoid of significant side effects.

There is a downside but it’s not physical effects

The biggest downside is that the pill would have to be taken every day. Or course, that’s what women already do, but a 2011 poll by England’s Anglia Ruskin University showed that 52% of women surveyed wouldn’t trust their partners to remember to take it daily. Only 17% of male respondents had that same concern. About the same percentage of men expressed the worry that taking the pill would damage their ‘manly image’.

Of course, there’s another downside, depending on point of view. If birth control is literally in the hands of men, the religious right has one less weapon with which to bludgeon women into submission. How can females be controlled if it’s their male partners who are popping the pill? How can insurance deny birth control to women without also denying it to men? Guess the Heritage Foundation will have to work that one out.

Reasonable men are more likely to focus on the advantages. Effectiveness is one. While the female birth control pill is an impressive 98-99% effective, the one being tested with mice has been 100% effective. That might give men something to ponder: zero chance of unexpected parenthood, as long as they remember to take the pill. Since the medication won’t be ready for human consumption for at least 10 years, there’s plenty of time to reflect on its advantages. First and foremost is the fact that it would protect from harm the women that men love. Who wouldn’t like that — other than the GOP, that is?

 

Insecurity or addiction?

They say the first year of marriage is the toughest…

A gorgeous newly wed friend of mine reached out to me and without knowing much about her relationship dynamics or the two very personally much anymore now, these were my two cents. Please share yours.

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With high volume porn streaming so readily available to the voyeurs of the world, it’s slightly archaic to stick to the mindset of “porn is negative”. We ain’t no bible thumpers round here, but we do keep it classy when it comes to exploring fantasy to the fullest extent or polyamorous arrangements. When choosing your mate it’s imperative to be as real as you come. Otherwise, the long-term won’t be pleasant or enriching. It will be straining and deflating.

One thing that should never be introduced into any sexual relationship is Shame.

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Every emotion after inevitably and unfortunately will be adversarial until all is forgiven and forgotten. It’s tough, the strong survive and remember all these emotions come from the place of wanting love and wanting to share your love….so be real with what you’re truly needing and get it before all is lost.

wife-husband-porn

The communication (sorry for the strange font size change; I screenshot and edited to post):

~HeatherB

Pornography-Addiction-Infographic

source

Pornography Is A Drug

During porn viewing, the brain releases a tidal wave of endorphins and other powerful neurochemicals like dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin. These natural “drugs” produce a tremendous rush or high. All over the world people are using pornography as a drug-of-choice for escape and self-medication.

Candeo will show you the truth about your “brain-chemical” addiction and exactly how to break free.

Get the free white paper

Willpower & Avoidance Only Make It Worse!

Most people believe that “just trying harder” and exercising “more willpower” is the answer to overcoming porn addiction. This is the worst advice possible! You’ve got to learn how to “work with your brain” instead of “fighting against it.”

Everything you need to break free is already built into the very structure of your brain–the same type of brain process that got you into this mess, can help get you out.

You Can Literally Change Your Brain

Over time, porn use alters your brain circuitry and traps you in addiction. The good news is, your brain is “neuro-plastic” meaning that it’s literally moldable and changeable. In other words, you’re not stuck with your old addiction circuitry. Once an addict, always an addict is FALSE!

Addicted: Why Do People Get Hooked?

In essence, the article traces aspects of all addictions to the dopamine system in the brain. Here is an excerpt from the article with some of my comments in parenthesis:

“Imagine you are taking a slug of whiskey. a puff of a cigarette. A toke of marijuana. A snort of cocaine. A shot of heroin. Put aside whether these drugs are legal or illegal. Concentrate, for now, on the chemistry. The moment you take that slug, that puff, that toke, that snort, that shot, trillions of potent molecules surge through your bloodstream and into your brain. Once there, they set off a cascade of chemical and electrical events, a kind of neurological chain reaction that ricochets around the skull and rearranges the interior reality of the mind.”

“Given the complexity of these events–and the inner workings of the mind in general–it’s not surprising that scientists have struggled mightily to make sense of the mechanisms of addiction. Why do certain substances have the power to make us feel so good (at least at first)? Why do some people fall so easily into the thrall of alcohol, cocaine, nicotine and other addictive substances, while others can, literally, take them or leave them?”

“The answer, many scientists are convinced, may be simpler than anyone has dared imagine. What ties all these mood-altering drugs together, they say, is a remarkable ability to elevate levels of a common substance in the brain called dopamine. In fact, so overwhelming has evidence of the link between dopamine and drugs of abuse become that the distinction (pushed primarily by the tobacco industry and its supporters) between substances that are addictive and those that are merely habit-forming has very nearly been swept away.” (The claim that “I’m not addicted, it’s just a harmless habit,” doesn’t hold water!)

“The Liggett Group, smallest of the U.S.’s Big Five cigarette makers, broke ranks in March and conceded not only that tobacco is addictive but also that the company has known it all along. While RJR Nabisco and the others continue to battle in the courts–insisting that smokers are not hooked, just exercising free choice–their denials ring increasingly hollow in the face of the growing weight of evidence. Over the past year, several scientific groups have made the case that in dopamine-rich areas of the brain, nicotine behaves remarkably like cocaine. (We also know that porn affects the brain in ways similar to cocaine.) And late last week a federal judge ruled for the first time that the Food and Drug Administration has the right to regulate tobacco as a drug and cigarettes as drug-delivery devices.”

“Now, a team of researchers led by psychiatrist Dr. Nora Volkow of the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York has published the strongest evidence to date that the surge of dopamine in addicts’ brains is what triggers a cocaine high. In last week’s edition of the journal Nature they described how powerful brain-imaging technology can be used to track the rise of dopamine and link it to feelings of euphoria.”

“Like serotonin (the brain chemical affected by such antidepressants as Prozac), dopamine is a neurotransmitter–a molecule that ferries messages from one neuron within the brain to another. Serotonin is associated with feelings of sadness and well-being, dopamine with pleasure and elation. Dopamine can be elevated by a hug, a kiss, a word of praise or a winning poker hand–as well as by the potent pleasures that come from drugs.” (Porn highly elevates dopamine levels.)

“The idea that a single chemical could be associated with everything from snorting cocaine and smoking tobacco to getting good grades and enjoying sex (porn viewing mimics the sex act–the brain believes it is literally having sex) has electrified scientists and changed the way they look at a wide range of dependencies, chemical and otherwise. Dopamine, they now believe, is not just a chemical that transmits pleasure signals but may, in fact, be the master molecule of addiction.” (All addictions have a commonality–feelings of pleasure and euphoria triggered by dopamine in the brain.)

“This is not to say dopamine is the only chemical involved or that the deranged thought processes that mark chronic drug abuse are due to dopamine alone. The brain is subtler than that. Drugs modulate the activity of a variety of brain chemicals, each of which intersects with many others. “Drugs are like sledgehammers,” observes Dr. Eric Nestler of the Yale University School of Medicine. “They profoundly alter many pathways.” (In addition to dopamine processes, Porn alters many areas of the brain.)

“For nearly a quarter-century the U.S. has been waging a war on drugs, with little apparent success. As scientists learn more about how dopamine works (and how drugs work on it), the evidence suggests that we may be fighting the wrong battle. Americans tend to think of drug addiction as a failure of character. (You just need more will-power; you’re not trying hard enough.) But this stereotype is beginning to give way to the recognition that drug dependence has a clear biological basis. “Addiction,” declares Brookhaven’s Volkow, “is a disorder of the brain no different from other forms of mental illness.” (We now know that pornography, like other chemical addictions, radically alters the brain and is a mental health issue.)

“That new insight may be the dopamine hypothesis’ most important contribution in the fight against drugs. It completes the loop between the mechanism of addiction and programs for treatment. And it raises hope for more effective therapies. Abstinence, if maintained, not only halts the physical and psychological damage wrought by drugs but in large measure also reverses it.”

This last sentence is the one I really want to call you attention to, because it is exactly what we are seeing with porn addiction recovery–addiction circuitry in the brain can be reversed, and healthy circuitry restored!

To illustrate this fact, here is another Time Magazine article I found. This one is from 2007 and actually proves what the 1997 article claimed in regard to the addict brain returning to normal over time.

Go to the following web page:

http://www.time.com/time/2007/addiction/

Click on the tab “Addiction and Brain Activity.” You will notice a brain scan image showing the activity in a non-addict brain. As you move the slider to the right, a scan image shows the brain of a cocaine addict 10 days after cocaine use stops. Notice how little activity there is in the frontal lobe of the brain–the place where logic, willpower and self-control reside. Now, as you move the slider to the far right, the scan shows the addict brain 100 days after cocaine use has ceased. Look at how much the activity in the front lobes has increased! And that is after just 100 days!

The wonderful news is this brain change is not just a reality with recovering cocaine addicts, but with all addictions–including pornography addiction! The porn addicted brain can be changed and healed!

Read more http://prafulla.net/quick-tips/assorted-tips/pornography-addiction-in-america-infographic/

Protect the goods

Roses are red, violets are blue, a hooker can put a condom on a male sexual partner with no hands and so should you! condom-infographic

Health Benefits of Sex

10 Surprising Health Benefits of Sex


1. Less Stress, Better Blood Pressure

Having sex could lower your stress and your blood pressure.
That finding comes from a Scottish study of 24 women and 22 men who kept records of their sexual activity. The researchers put them in stressful situations — such as speaking in public and doing math out loud — and checked their blood pressure.
People who had had intercourse responded better to stress than those who engaged in other sexual behaviors or abstained.
Another study found that diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number of your blood pressure) tends to be lower in people who live together and have sex often.

2. Sex Boosts Immunity

For those addicted to sex,
JUST DO IT!!!
You know how to stay healthy!
I know I always feel better when
I am getting my regular dose of great sex!!
Don’t you?
Having sex once or twice a week has been linked with higher levels of an antibody called immunoglobulin A, or IgA, which can protect you from getting colds and other infections.
A Wilkes University study had 112 college students keep records of how often they had sex and also provide saliva samples for the study. Those who had sex once or twice a week had higher levels of IgA, an antibody that could help you avoid a cold or other infection, than other students.

3. Sex Burns Calories

Thirty minutes of sex burns 85 calories or more. It may not sound like much, but it adds up: 42 half-hour sessions will burn 3,570 calories, more than enough to lose a pound. Doubling up, you could drop that pound in 21 hour-long sessions.
“Sex is a great mode of exercise,” Los Angeles sexologist Patti Britton, says. It takes both physical and psychological work, though, to do it well, she says.

4. Sex Improves Heart Health

A 20-year-long British study shows that men who had sex two or more times a week were half as likely to have a fatal heart attack than men who had sex less than once a month.
And although some older folks may worry that sex could cause a stroke, the study found no link between how often men had sex and how likely they were to have a stroke.

5. Better Self-Esteem

University of Texas researchers found that boosting self-esteem was one of 237 reasons people have sex.
That finding makes sense to sex, marriage, and family therapist Gina Ogden. She also says that those who already have self-esteem say they sometimes have sex to feel even better.
“One of the reasons people say they have sex is to feel good about themselves,” she says. “Great sex begins with self-esteem. If the sex is loving, connected, and what you want, it raises it.”
Of course, you don’t have to have lots of sex to feel good about yourself. Your self-esteem is all about you — not someone else. But if you’re already feeling good about yourself, a great sex life may help you feel even better.

6. Deeper Intimacy

Having sex and orgasms boosts levels of the hormone oxytocin, the so-called love hormone, which helps people bond and build trust.
In a study of 59 women, researchers checked their oxytocin levels before and after the women hugged their partners. The women had higher oxytocin levels if they had more of that physical contact with their partner.
Higher oxytocin levels have also been linked with a feeling of generosity. So snuggle up — it might help you feel more generous toward your partner.

7. Sex May Turn Down Pain

Oxytocin also boosts your body’s painkillers, called endorphins. Headache, arthritis pain, or PMS symptoms may improve after sex.
In one study, 48 people inhaled oxytocin vapor and then had their fingers pricked. The oxytocin cut their pain threshold by more than half.

8. More Ejaculations May Make Prostate Cancer Less Likely

Research shows that frequent ejaculations, especially in 20-something men, may lower the risk of getting prostate cancer later in life.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that men who had 21 or more ejaculations a month were less likely to get prostate cancer than those who had four to seven ejaculations per month.
The study doesn’t prove that ejaculations were the only factor that mattered. Many things affect a person’s odds of developing cancer. But when the researchers took that into consideration, the findings still held.

9. Stronger Pelvic Floor Muscles

For women, doing pelvic floor muscle exercises called Kegels may mean more pleasure — and, as a perk, less chance of incontinence later in life.
To do a basic Kegel exercise, tighten the muscles of your pelvic floor as if you’re trying to stop the flow of urine. Count to three, then release.

10. Better Sleep

The oxytocin released during orgasm also promotes sleep, research shows.
Getting enough sleep has also been linked with a host of other health benefits, such as a healthy weight and better blood pressure. That’s something to think about, especially if you’ve been wondering why your guy can be active one minute and snoring the next.

 

Dietary and Medicinal Use of Cannabis

cannabis-piechart

Net Resources

Websites with Useful Information
Related To The Dietary And Medicinal
Study And Use Of Cannabis

Cannabis Connections / Links to Links
International Association of Cannabinoid Medicine Links
National Cancer Institute Reveiw of Cannabis
A definitive and current reveiw of cannabis, signalling a change at the top. Excellent lists of references.

Wikipedia Highlights: Online Education

The sites of action of Phytocannabinoids
ECS modulates cellular function, the more one knows about the range of cell structure and function the better one can conceive of phytocannabinoid influenced cellular modulation. Up and down regulation of the cell specific physiologic and pathophysiologic function.
The Endogenous Cannabinoid System
A group of neuromodulatory lipids and their receptors that are involved in a variety of physiological processes including appetite, pain-sensation, mood, and memory; it mediates the psychoactive effects of cannabis.
Cannabinoid Receptors
The Cannabinoid Receptors are one of several sites of actions of the Phytocannabinoids.
Enzymes
Phytocannabinoids also have direct action of enzymes & channels. This article covers the generic principals.
Overview of cannabis limited to psychoactive uses
I hope if you are at this level at Cannabis International you are interested in anti-oxidant anti-inflammatory, anti-neoplastic, or other uses ideally in a preventive or therapeutic mode, more accurately in a phrase, developing recognition of cannabis as a ‘dietary essential’. Other than the initial comments, an incredible series of links.
Medical Cannabis
More on point, this medical cannabis page does not emphasize the cannabinoid acids that act at GPR55, affectionately known as the Orphan Receptor. There is no doubt it deserves to be CB3, the Phytocannabinoid Receptor, where the delicate cannabinoid acids act as an antagonist producing their potent anti-inflammatory effects.

Organizations

Versativa
A pleasant reveiw of the diverse uses of cannabis.
Beckley Foundation
A well thought out global policy on ‘victimless crimes’.
Search the Beckley Foundation library
The Beckley Foundation online library comprises an extensive scientific bibliography, with research papers on consciousness and drug policy research.
Patients out of Time
Every two years, Patients out of Time presents a national CME qualified conference.
ICRS / International Cannabinoid Research Society
20 years of rigorous research, presented in North America and Europe on alternating years. This year in Chicago. The annual ICRS Programme is an excellent overview of the breadth of research on the Endogenous Cannabinoid System, Exogenous ligands including synthetic and phytocannabioids. Go to the particular year and in the side bar is the Programme PDF. Drop on a CD, print & bind and pull up a very comfortable chair.
International Association of Cannabinoid Medicine
A bi-annual conference held in Germany, with affiliate conferences in other European countries.
O’Shaughnessy’s Journal for Cannabis Clinicians
US National Library of Medical Publications
Google Patent Search
Clinical Trials site
Review of anti-oxidant trials
Institute of Medicine
Schaffer Library of Drug Policy
Schaffer Library Table of Contents

Companies

List of medical conditions, developing patented products

Online Education

GGECO University
Medical Cannabis Conference – Speakers
Kristen Peskuski and myself presented, at some point they may be available online
707Cannabis College
Oaksterdam University

Source: http://www.cannabisinternational.org/index.php

Cannabis International

A Resource For The Dietary And Medicinal
Study And Use Of Cannabis

 

Essentials to courtship, the Importance of an Orgasm & Serotonin-enhancing antidepressants

Impact of Sexual Side Effects

DO SEXUAL SIDE EFFECTS OF MOST ANTIDEPRESSANTS JEOPARDIZE ROMANTIC LOVE AND MARRIAGE?, PRESENTED BY HELEN E. FISHER, PHD

Do the sexual side effects of most antidepressants jeopardize romantic love and marriage? Dr. Thompson and I would like to say yes, most likely under some circumstances, but not always. Please don’t leave this room thinking that we are opposed to the use of serotonin-enhancing medications. People are different; situations are different. The drugs have been proven to be effective under many circumstances. I’m an anthropologist, not a psychiatrist. What we’re trying to do is to bring an interdisciplinary perspective to the table to heighten awareness and add to the dialogue so that we can all learn how to effectively heal our patients better.  
Since the release of Prozac (fluoxetine) in 1989, many similar serotonin-enhancing antidepressants have emerged. In fact, the use of these has increased dramatically. In 2002, in the United States alone, 213 million prescriptions for antidepressants were written and indeed most of them were for serotonin-enhancing medications. It’s well established that these drugs can cause sexual dysfunction, diminished sexual desire, delayed sexual arousal, and muted or absent orgasm. In fact, some reports say that as many as 73% of patients on some of these medications can suffer from 1 or more of these side effects.  
We theorized that these sexual side effects can potentially — not all the time, but potentially — have some serious consequences due to the effects that they can have on several evolved, adaptive, unconscious neural mechanisms. These include the ability to attract a mate, to choose a mate, to fall in love, to stay in love, and to sustain a marriage.  
In short, it’s all connected and when you knock out the sex system, you can jeopardize many other Darwinian mechanisms that evolved millions of years ago to direct courtship, mating, reproduction, and parenting.  

Distinct Brain Networks

In 1998, I proposed that Homo sapiens — indeed, all of the mammalian and avian species — evolved 3 distinctly different but related brain systems for courtship, mate selecting, reproduction, and parenting. The 3 brain systems I proposed are lust, attraction, and attachment.  
Lust is the libido, the sex drive; it’s basically the craving for sexual gratification. W.H. Auden once called it an “intolerable neural itch”; Pablo Neruda called it an “eternal thirst” and an “infinite ache.” It’s simply the craving for sexual gratification; it often has no object. You can feel it when you’re sitting in the subway, reading a book, or driving alone in your car; you can feel it really at any time.  
The second brain system is attraction or romantic love, also known as being in love, passionate love, obsessive love, or infatuation. This is the one that I’ve studied myself. My colleagues and I, and several others have now put 40 people who are madly in love into a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scanner, and we’ve begun to see some of the brain circuitry of romantic love. I’m going to talk a little bit about that.From an anthropological point of view, this is regarded as a universal human phenomenon. In a study of over 150 societies, evidence of it was found in every single one; there was no evidence to the contrary. Everywhere in the world where you look for evidence of romantic love, you find it. Love magic, love poems, love songs, myths, legends, suicide, homicide, and reports from people themselves testify to it. Indeed, the hard data go back almost 4000 years to Sumerian poetry.There are several main traits of romantic love. I’ve canvassed the psychological literature of the last 25 years, and have, in fact, done a study of my own in Japan and in the United States. Of course we all know it, but here’s what happens when you fall in love. The first thing that happens is that a person takes on what we call “special meaning.” Indeed, George Bernard Shaw once said, “Love consists of overestimating the differences between one woman and another.” Indeed! Then you focus your attention on this person. Most people who are in love can list what they don’t like about their sweetheart, but then they sweep that aside and just focus on what they do like. As Chaucer said, “Love is blind.”

Also involved is intensely heightened energy, elation when things are going well, terrible mood swings when things are going poorly, and an intense motivation to win this preferred individual. There also is something that I call the frustration attraction: when there are real barriers to the relationship, like the person dumps you or they don’t call or send you an e-mail or something, you just love them harder. In fact, in Roman times, people knew that phenomenon of frustration attraction.

 
The most powerful characteristic of romantic love, however, is obsessive thinking. When we put these 40 people into the fMRI machine, the very first question that I asked my subjects was: what percentage of the day and night do you actually think about your partner? The response was 95%: I can’t stop thinking about her or him, etc. So you have obsessive thinking, along with a deep dependency on this relationship, and more than any one other characteristic, a craving for emotional union with this individual.  
The third of these 3 brain systems that evolved from mating and reproduction is male/female attachment, associated with feelings of calm and contentment and a real sense of emotional union with this long-term partner. In people, as well as in other animals, you have nest building, or home building. Mate guarding is a term we use in anthropology — I think in psychiatry you would call it jealousy. Finally, you have cooperative parenting, the main point of attachment.  

Primary Neurochemicals of Each System

Each of these systems is associated with different primary neurochemicals. Lust is well known to be associated with the androgens in human beings and certainly also with the estrogens in other species.  
From our study of the brain, we have some nice evidence that elevated activity of dopamine is involved in that intense sense of passion and arousal of romantic love. I also maintain in my book, Why We Love, that we’re going to find out sometime that norepinephrine is also involved, largely because heightened activity of norepinephrine is also associated with focused attention, elevated energy, motivation to win a reward, elation, and 2 characteristics of romantic love — obsessional following and object imprinting.I also maintain, although we don’t have all the evidence for it, that low activity levels of serotonin are going to be involved, largely because the obsessiveness — the obsessive thinking of romantic love — is so striking. Indeed, low levels of serotonin are associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder. So that’s part of the fingerprint of attraction or romantic love.  
Other scientists have done some very elegant work associating basic feelings of attachment with elevated activity of oxytocin and vasopressin.  

Distinct Neural Systems

I believe that each one of these 3 systems is a distinct neural system. In the last 3 years, 4 MRI studies of lust were conducted. Men and women were hooked up to a machine and shown erotic pictures followed by pictures of scenery, etc. In 3 out of those 4 MRI studies, researchers showed that the hypothalamus is involved, which you would expect, and 3 out of 4 have shown that the amygdala is involved. Two of the most convincing ones, I think, indicate that the insula cortex is involved, along with many other regions.  
Regarding attraction, or romantic love, what we found in our data is that the right ventral tegmental area is involved, along with the right caudate nucleus (dorsal). In fact, we showed a lot of deactivations, as one does prior to the brain turning off, while others turned on. We also found deactivation in the amygdala.  
On the left, the ventral tegmental area is shown becoming active when a person attached to the MRI machine looks at a picture of his or her sweetheart. This happens to be the anteromedial portion of the caudate. Several aspects of the dorsal caudate became active, which — because the ventral tegmental area is involved, as well as dopamine and the caudate — led us to believe that romantic love is not an emotion; it’s basically a motivation system. I believe it’s a basic mating drive that evolved millions of years ago. Indeed, I think that this drive is more powerful than the sex drive. You don’t kill yourself when you don’t get sex. People kill themselves when they don’t get the lover that they are looking for, or they kill somebody else.

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Attachment, the third brain system, is not well mapped out yet; certainly the hypothalamic-pituitary axis would be involved because there’s so much oxytocin and vasopressin in parts of the hypothalamus. The substantia nigra has a high density of oxytocin and vasopressin receptors, so that’s likely to be involved. In a new study of mother/infant attachment — not male/female attachment, but mother/infant attachment — researchers found activity in the medial insular, the anterior cingulate, and the lateral orbitofrontal cortex. So as a matter of fact, many parts of the frontal cortex are going to be involved in all 3 of these systems because we think as we feel.  
The point is that each system is distinct; they have different feelings, they have different behavior patterns, and I think they each have a different role in human reproduction. I think the sex drive evolved to get us out there looking for really basically anything at all, anything that was remotely appropriate. Romantic love enabled us to focus our mating energy on just 1 mate at a time, thereby conserving mating time and energy. Attachment evolved to enable us to tolerate this individual, really, at least long enough to raise our children as a team.  
But I believe they are all primary mating drives; I think they vary from one species to another. A rat seems to show attraction for a very brief period of time; human beings can be in love for months or years. These systems certainly vary from one individual to another. Some people have a much higher sex drive than others. Some people fall in love all the time; others do not. Indeed they vary over the life course.  

Interaction of These Systems

The point here is that these 3 brain systems interact and there are many ways in which they interact, but I’m going to stick to just the positive relationship between the sex drive and attraction. You know the feeling, if you’ve fallen in love — and everybody I would guess has been in love probably more than once. Suddenly the person that you’re in love with becomes intensely sexually attractive to you. Three weeks ago, you didn’t notice anything. He or she was a nice person; you liked this person very much. Suddenly, the way he or she moves or smiles at you is intensely sexually attractive. I think that this is at least in part because an elevated activity of dopamine and norepinephrine can stimulate testosterone, the hormone of desire. In short, the biology of romantic love can stimulate lust.Can the reverse be true? Can you be copulating with somebody who’s just a friend and then suddenly fall in love with him or her? Not always. Most adults in the Western world have copulated with just a friend and have never fallen in love with him or her. I’ve got 4 middle-aged friends who either inject testosterone or use testosterone patches; they don’t fall in love 36 hours after they’ve used them. But I do actually have 3 cases of friends who have told me that they have suddenly fallen madly in love with somebody that they were just copulating with as a friend. I don’t understand the physiology of this, but I can report that, indeed, an elevated activity of testosterone does stimulate dopamine and norepinephrine. As a matter of fact, it not only stimulates dopamine and norepinephrine, but it suppresses the activity of serotonin, in short creating the ratio of monoamines associated with romantic love. This is one of the reasons that I say to my students: now don’t copulate withpeople you don’t want to fall in love with because it may just happen to you!  
The bottom line is that serotonin-enhancing antidepressants that negatively affect this sex drive can quite logically also negatively affect the brain circuits for romantic love.  
Serotonin-enhancing antidepressants cannot only potentially inhibit dopamine and norepinephrine, they can also blunt the emotions. This is why people take them; I’m certainly for that. If you’re suffering terribly, it’s the time to try to blunt the emotions. Nevertheless, they are going to have an effect on the elation of romantic love. Serotonin-enhancing antidepressants also suppress obsessive thinking, which is a very central component of romantic love. There are many examples of how these things are affected by each other. In 1 case collected by Thompson, a 20-year-old single white woman had an eating disorder. She was suffering from recurrent depression, she had attention deficit disorder, and she was taking high doses of serotonin-enhancing medication. When she was asked about the side effects of this, she said, “No, no, I don’t have any.” Then she said reluctantly to the doctor, “But I find myself wanting more space; there just isn’t that much attraction.” Romantic love is acentral aspect of human reproductive planning. It enables the human animal to focus courtship energy on avidly pursuing a particular partner and beginning the breeding process. When you inhibit this brain system, you can potentially — not always — inhibit the patient’s psychologic well being and I think his or her genetic future.  

Evolutionary Inhibitions

Serotonin-enhancing antidepressants can inhibit other evolutionarily adaptive mechanisms for mate selection.  
One of them is orgasm; it inhibits orgasm and clitoral stimulation, but let’s focus on orgasm. With orgasm, one of the main things that happens is that levels of oxytocin and vasopressin go up enormously in the brain. These are feel-good chemicals. They’re associated with social bonding, pair formation, and pair maintenance. So when men and women take serotonin-enhancing medications and fail to achieve orgasm, they can fail to stimulate not only themselves, but their partners as well. This neural mechanism, associated with partner attachment, becomes a failed trigger.From a Darwinian perspective, orgasm also is a primary mechanism by which women unconsciously assess a mating partner. For a long time, anthropologists have thought that this is a bad design; women just don’t have an orgasm every time. More recently, we came to realize that. We call it the ‘fickle female orgasm’ and we regard it now as a very serious adaptive mechanism that enables women to distinguish between those partners who are willing to spend time and energy on them — those we call Mr. Right — and those who are impatient or lack empathy and who might not be a good husband and father — Mr. Wrong. When women take serotonin-enhancing antidepressants that inhibit the orgasmic response, among some of these women you’re jeopardizing the ability to assess the commitment level of a partner. Women also use orgasm to assess existing partnerships; women tend to orgasm more regularly with a long-term partner. With the onset of anorgasmia, this can destabilize a match.A good example of this is once again a case study collected by Thompson, involving a 35-year-old married woman. She had recurrent depression and anxiety disorder. She was taking a serotonin-enhancing medication, which diminished her libido, and she had absent orgasm. She once apparently said, “I think I no longer love my husband.” Then she switched to an antidepressant that had no side effects; her normal sex drive and normal orgasmic response returned and indeed she decided not to divorce her husband. She was thinking of divorcing him and now they have a small child. In this way, drugs can affect your biologic future. These systems are very old. Orgasm and clitoral stimulation are very primitive ways in which women measure men. Like drugs that blur your vision, serotonin-enhancing medications can potentially blur a woman’s ability to evaluate mating partners, to fall in love, and to sustain an enduring partnership.  
These medications also inhibit penile erection in some men. We regard the penis as an internal courtship device; actually we call it an entertainment system, in my business. It is designed to attract and keep women. With no penile erection, a man has less of a chance of doing that. The penis also is regarded as a fitness indicator — an anthropology term — because the penis advertises medical health, psychologic health, and physical fitness. When men take serotonin-enhancing medications that produce impotence, the medications can cripple these vital courtship-signaling functions. Penile erection also has antidepressant qualities; this work comes from a friend of mine and his colleagues from 2002.  
The researchers looked at the contents of seminal fluid and, as it turns out, it contains dopamine and norepinephrine, associated with romantic love; oxytocin and vasopressin, associated with attachment; testosterone and estrogen, associated with lust; and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), associated with regular cycling. Without orgasm, men are deprived of these courtship mechanisms. In fact, the same researchers also did a study of seminal fluid and found out that it actually does have regular antidepressant qualities. Those women who were directly exposed to it were less depressed than those who used condoms. I’m not recommending it; I’m simply reporting the data. But when men fail to ejaculate due to antidepressant drugs, they jeopardize their ability to adjust a woman’s mood as well as to send important courtship signals. All male animals have evolved a host of courtship devices in order to capture females. Indeed, some of those most importantones can be jeopardized by taking antidepressant drugs.  

Psychologic Inhibitions

Serotonin-enhancing antidepressants can also inhibit psychologic mechanisms for mate choice.  
Motivation, discrimination — deciding which person walking through a room is just more attractive to talk to — and one’s self-esteem all are important aspects of one’s psychologic well being. The most interesting, I think, are the first 2. In the case of motivation, in one study, a 25-year-old man had had some long-term intimate successful relationships with women. He recounted having a panic disorder and taking serotonin-enhancing medications, and reported that he “just stopped dating.”  
In another very interesting study, Fisher reported that she was interested in knowing whether serotonin-enhancing medications could actually make a change in unconscious psychologic mechanisms that we use to look at a room of people and decide who is or is not attractive to us. She asked 20 women who were on serotonin-enhancing medications and 20 women who were on no medications to sit in front of a computer and rate the faces of men. Those women who were on the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) rated the male faces as more unattractive and also looked at and appraised the faces for a shorter period of time. I don’t know if it’s her term or not, but she called it ‘courtship blunting.’ There seemed to be any number of examples of this. In one case, a 54-year-old man in the healthcare business reported, after using serotonin-enhancing antidepressants, “It’s like the lens I use to look at the world has been changed.” A 45-year-old married woman said, “It’s like being handicapped; like being blind.”  
This reads, “Brad, talk to me — animal to animal.” We are animals. As one psychiatrist once wrote: one of the relics of early man is modern man. The brain is built in many ways to aid reproduction and I think we might find many ways in which serotonin-enhancing antidepressants and perhaps many other drugs subtly affect the way men and women discriminate between mates, choose mates, feel romantic love, and feel marital attachment.  

Adaptive Mechanism of Depression and Conclusion

I want to conclude with one more very subtle effect. It’s the effect that serotonin-enhancing medications can have on depression. If a patient were going to commit suicide, I’d be the first person to say, “For God’s sake, take some medication.” I want to repeat again: we are not in the business of saying who should use or who should not use these medications. We’re only trying to add to the dialogue some interdisciplinary understanding.  
Evolutionists have now come to begin to think that depression actually has some adaptive features. When you think about it, it’s very expensive metabolically and socially to be extremely depressed. Various scientists have offered explanations of why this brain system could suddenly have evolved. Of all of them, the one I want to mention — because it impressed me most — was that of an anthropologist, 2 biologists, and a psychiatrist. These researchers noted that depression is very socially and metabolically costly. They reasoned that the costs of depression are probably its benefits, that depression in itself is a clear, honest signal that something is really wrong. In fact, it’s an extortionary mechanism by which one sends out the signals of real need to get social support. It also gives insight, as one of my psychologist friends says: it’s a failure of denial when you’re totally depressed. Indeed, mildly depressed people often make clearer assessments of themselves and others.To paraphrase Aeschylus, with this pain comes wisdom.I believe that masking depression can, at times, and under some circumstances, have serious social and genetic consequences. The classic example is that of the woman who says, “I’ve been on this medication for several years and I feel much better, but I’m still married to the same abusive alcoholic man.” The SSRIs may chemically confine patients to bad relationships as well as hinder the ability to attract and fall in love with a better mate.  
I’m going to say it again: we are not recommending that patients who are seriously psychologically ill refrain from taking serotonin-enhancing antidepressants. Indeed, we’re learning more and more about them. Sometimes people say they can contribute to suicide and clearly they can also save lives.  
What we’re trying to say is that these medications affect the threshold of other biologic mechanisms and at times can jeopardize unconscious evolutionary mechanisms for mate selection, for romantic love, and for attachment.  
This creates the potential for jeopardizing a patient’s personal, social, and genetic future.  

Source: http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/482059

We won’t regret a thing

The Top 5 Regrets People Have on Their Deathbed

I am sure that many of my fellow geeks who are reading this may have at some time in their life wondered what you will regret about you life when you are lay on their death. A friend of mine who has worked as a nurse and actually been with countless people as they lay dying said that for the majority of people the regrets were the same.

Here in this article she has wrote about the top 5 regrets that people have on their death bed. All of these are real, genuine and in her own words.

For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives. People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality.
I learnt never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.

When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
This was the most common regret of all. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.
This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never
became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a
result.

We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
 Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical
details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end.
That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again. When you are on your deathbed, what  others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness

By Geeky Melanie

– February 16, 2012Posted in: Bizarre– See more at: http://www.twosexygeeks.com/the-top-5-regrets-people-have-on-their-deathbed/#sthash.OR9MMmdx.dpuf