Denician Angeleia

Archive for September, 2011

Doctors love using the word “lifestyle” a lot lately. The recent trend of proactive healthcare is stressing out the importance of conducting a healthy lifestyle which can significantly reduce the risk of developing serious health conditions that may in turn decrease a person’s life expectancy. Healthcare specialists provide more and more studies on the matter of lifestyle choices and the development of significant health problems. And as it turns out the intimate problem of male impotence can also be prevented and sometimes even treated through the means of right and healthy decisions regarding the way you treat your body on a daily basis. So what do the doctors suggest for avoiding erectile dysfunction?

Proper diet

The importance of a healthy diet is stressed out by numerous specialists primarily because of the national epidemic of obesity. And though you may be free from excessive weight, a diet consisting mostly of fried or processed foods, sweets, carbonated drinks and excessive amounts of fat and caffeine seriously increases the risk of developing such health conditions as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, heart diseases and even cancer. As it turns out these conditions are also the primary physiological causes for erectile dysfunction. So if you do not want to rely solely on Cialis when needing an erection it would be better to employ a healthier diet heavy with greens, vegetables, fruits, red meat, fish and poultry. Try to avoid processed foods, fast foods and snacks, and remember that moderation is the key to a good diet.

Give up bad habits

There are many really bad habits that a modern man can employ. Such widespread things as smoking, drinking and the use of recreational drugs are often seen as being an integral part of our everyday lives. Yet these habits have been studied well and confirmed to seriously impact a person’s health. Smoking and drinking, being widespread habits seriously increase the risk of numerous health conditions including cancer and premature death. So there’s no wonder that smokers and regular drinkers are much more prone to developing erectile dysfunction at a much earlier stage of their lives as their habit-free peers. So it would be really wise to set yourself free from the negative habits if you want to retain good sexual health for a longer time.

Start exercising

Lack of physical activity is known to cause different health problems including the ones mentioned in the passage regarding bad diet. Being physically active throughout your life doesn’t only keep your muscles and joints in tone but also keeps your cardiovascular system in a good shape. And as we already know good blood circulation is the key to maintaining good erections. It’s not very important which activity you choose – jogging, yoga, gym exercises, mountain climbing, aerobics, etc. – what’s really crucial is keeping your activity regular. This way you can prevent ED and avoid using drugs like Cialis for a very long time.

Eliminate stress

Psychologically induced impotence is not as common as that cause by physiological factors mentioned in the previous passages. Yet, things like excessive stress, anxiety, depression and relationship problems can also contribute to the development of ED. So if you feel that there’s too much pressure on your shoulders it’s time to think about various stress management techniques before it’s too late.

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

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

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

Topical medications, i.e. that you rub on to the skin, are the best approach to skin problems. The active ingredients are delivered to and absorbed by, the areas immediately affected. But the strength of benzoyl peroxide is limited. It cannot “cure” the more serous outbreaks of acne. For those, you need to add an antibiotic or move up to Accutane. However, given the difficulties in using this drug, you should always give a fair trial to all the alternates before moving up to Accutane. Hopefully, you can avoid the need to rely on this powerful drug.

We all know what pain is because we experience it in various forms every now and then. The feeling of the skin being cut, bones broken or joints inflamed cannot be confused with anything else and we know well when there’s pain in our body. Pain is a signal that clearly shows us that there’s something wrong going on inside that needs to be addressed. So it would be right to say that pain is a message to our brain. The nervous system transmits pain signals from the affected area to the brain automatically, which is perceived as the feeling of utter discomfort, burning sensation and dysfunction. Yet, the biggest problem with pain is that it doesn’t go away once you interpret the message and start doing something about it. Just like a phone that keeps ringing on and on after you’ve picked it up, pain is a signal that needs to be turned off intentionally and with effort or it will be there for a really long time. You’ve certainly experienced this unpleasant situation: after getting the right treatment and eliminating the underlying condition pain can still be felt for some time. That’s why some doctors start viewing pain as a separate health condition and in some clinics you will see separate pain management departments that address the problem separately from other departments.

In order to address pain more effectively there’s a need to introduce some basic definitions. In case the pain is caused by an injury and persists for a relatively short period of time it is defined as acute pain. Acute pain tends to wear off with time and doesn’t reoccur unless untreated or a repeated impact is delivered to the affected area. Effective treatment is the key to relieving acute pain since it can make the sensation go away rapidly. And that’s very important because the mere thought that the pain won’t get back is very reassuring. But things are different when it comes to chronic pain. Chronic pain is not characterized by increased severity, it is often less severe than acute pain. Yet, the fact that it tends to reoccur on a regular basis or may persist constantly for days, weeks, months and even years makes it really hard to deal with this type of pain. Chronic pain requires not only actual treatment but also psychological counseling because it can be very hard to deal with it psychologically.

Pain relief is what makes the pain go away and it’s a huge industry with various options available for addressing different problems. The most popular method of pain relief these days is oral pill usage. Drugs like Ultram, which is the most commonly prescribed painkiller in the US, can deal with both acute and chronic pain if the right form and dosage are chosen. There are many pain management options other than Ultram including physical therapy, electromagnetic therapy, acupuncture, yoga and many others. And it’s up to your doctor to choose the most appropriate pain relief method for your particular situation in order to achieve the best results possible.

When a man starts to experience problems with the quality of his erection there’s a certain cause for concern to be taken into consideration. Earlier people believed that male impotence is a matter of aging and you can do nothing about it. However, the advancements of modern medicine have shed light unto the problem of erectile dysfunction and it was found that the condition is actually caused by different health problems rather than the process of aging. And it’s hard to find a person with good health who experiences erectile problems no matter what is their age. So it’s evident that the best way to prevent erectile dysfunction is to prevent health problems in general. And without a doubt the most effective solution to improving one’s health is exercising.

It may seem like there’s no link between physical activity and erectile dysfunction. But if you look into the problem a bit closer there’s a precise connection between how active the man is and the quality of his erections. So let’s investigate the problem.

Erectile dysfunction primarily results from conditions that affect the quality of blood circulation in the body. Such conditions as smoking, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, alcohol abuse and heart diseases have different effects on the body yet they share the same devastating effect on the quality of blood vessels all over the body. Because veins and arteries become deteriorated there’s less blood flowing into different parts of the body, including the penis. And when this happens men start experiencing problems with erection.

Any sort of physical activity, whether it’s working out at the gym, jogging every morning, doing yoga, mountain climbing, studying martial arts and so on, has different effects on our body. The primary effect of course is the strengthening of muscles and joints, which is very important for the overall well-being and metabolic processes. However, there’s also a very profound effect on the cardiovascular system, which tends to get stronger and function much better when there’s regular physical activity involved in the lifestyle of a man.

Even if you have come to the point when it’s hard to get an erection without the help drugs like Levitra it doesn’t mean that it’s completely senseless to start exercising. In fact, if you want to make drugs like Levitra work more effectively you should consider incorporating regular physical activity into your daily schedule. Of course, there’s no sense in getting fanatic about it right from the start. If you’re not used to exercising on a regular basis – start out slow with milder and shorter sessions of physical activity with a gradual increase in intensity and duration. As said before, it really doesn’t matter what kind of physical activity you choose to employ. The main aim when looking it from the ED perspective is giving your cardiovascular system a good boost. This is achieved by any activity that pushes your heart rate higher than your usual heart rate in a relaxed state. Just try exercising regularly for some time and you will definitely notice that drugs like Levitra will start working more effectively up to the point when you won’t even need their help for getting an erection.

Diabetes is an increasingly common problem as more people carry too much weight around from ever younger ages. Untreated there are two major problems that follow. There’s a reduction in the flow of blood around the body and there’s increasing damage to the nerve endings. As a result, about three-quarters of all diabetic men suffer some degree of erectile dysfunction. The national health agencies confirm a steady statistical trend. All men begin to lose some degree of sexual function as they age but sexual dysfunction shows up in diabetic men ten to fifteen years before healthy men. As a general warning, if the diabetes is not treated and there’s damage to the nerve endings, sexual function does not return. Nerve endings do not regenerate. It’s therefore always in your interests to have the tests for diabetes if you are overweight and then begin to suffer erectile dysfunction. Although it takes several years for the nerve endings to be damaged, it’s foolish to take any risks.

A recent study in Australia has offered the encouraging news that, if you lose 5% or more of your body weight, this is likely to restore sexual function and can also help with the bladder problems likely to afflict diabetic men. The study divided the participants into two groups who tried different diets. The results show the nature of the diet to be irrelevant. As soon as the body weight was reduced, all the participants reported improved sexual performance. The previous studies have examined the use of surgical procedures to reduce weight. Not unnaturally, with a band in place, more weight is lost. This is the first study to show that an ordinary diet producing not less than 5% weight loss is equally effective.

This is a dramatic result because it suggests major invasive surgery may not always be necessary. The decision should depend on a detailed consideration of all the health problems affecting the overweight man. There’s just one problem. The study only involved thirty-one men. This is nowhere near enough participants to produce scaleable results. So, unless and until there’s a properly designed trial involving at least 500 men, we cannot rely on these results. So will there be any further research?

This is difficult to predict but, when you consider how much money surgeons and hospitals make out of bariatric surgery, it seems unlikely there will be any enthusiasm to research diet as an effective alternative. So, for now, the standard advice will continue to be that all men reporting erectile dysfunction at a young age should be tested for both diabetes and heart disease. There are well-established treatments for preventing the development of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. For the erectile dysfunction, we have Cialis which has an excellent track record in restoring sexual function. You have the choice of taking the drug as needed or on a once-daily basis. No matter what the criteria, this drug produces a strong response to sexual stimulation over the longest time. However, as the cost of all this treatment is transferred to your health plan, remember one lone voice from Australia. For those who are overweight, losing at least 5% of body weight restores sexual function. Eating less usually costs less. Cialis costs more. Your choice.

It has long been known that health, particularly fitness, is linked to erectile dysfunction. People who are overweight or obese, have high blood pressure, or struggle with cholesterol levels are more likely to experience erectile dysfunction. In fact, as many as 70% of erectile dysfunction cases are thought to be related to poor diet and a lack of exercise over time by some physicians. This does not mean we know exactly how well proper diet and exercise can reverse the damage, however.

A new study has shed a bit of light on this issue. The article about an 8-week study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine tested men suffering from obesity, type 2 diabetes, and erectile dysfunction. They concluded that even a little bit of weight loss goes a long way to reducing erection problems.

The Study

Dr. Gary Wittert of the University o Adelaide in Australia is credited as the study author. During eight weeks of study, the male subjects ate a low-calorie diet. Despite the fact that many were still obese and had type 2 diabetes at the end of the study, they did experience some weight loss. So was there a difference? A huge one.

Sexual and urinary issues were reduced or eliminated for many of the subjects. The effects continued on for at least a year. Next, Dr. Wittert plans to investigate the effects of exercise in overweight men.

What’s New?

Previous to this study, doctors suspected that only weight loss in and around the 30-pound area would be significant enough to show a difference in erection health and quality. For this reason, one of the preferred treatments was weight reduction surgery of a minimum of 30 lbs.

More doctors will likely recommend that patients begin strict vegetable-based diets, augmented with 20 minutes of cardiovascular exercise a day. During treatment, patients will be given Viagra or other PDE5 inhibitors to restore erections until a permanent solution is reached.

Who Can Benefit?

It is likely that everyone with erectile dysfunction related to blood pressure, cholesterol, or diabetes could benefit from this. Medicine has thus far only proven that obese men with type 2 diabetes will see positive results from switching to this diet in particular.

Most important to note for non-diabetics and those who are not obese is the principle of this study: erectile dysfunction is related to physical health. Those who eat meat, eggs, junk food, and dairy regularly tend to have problems with erectile dysfunction. In this way, the general public benefits.

What It Means for You

If you are struggling with erectile dysfunction, it is essential to think long-term about curing it. This means that you should not jump straight into surgery, but seek to change your behavior or lifestyle instead. Have a dietitian recommend a vegetable-based diet for you, similar to what President Clinton uses. Set weight loss targets and goals. In the mean time, it is perfectly acceptable to use Viagra to restore erections, as it is the proven most effective treatment on the market today. If you do not have erectile dysfunction, take steps to prevent getting it. Eat right – get most of your calories from whole grains, nuts, beans, legumes, and veggies – and exercise daily.

Since modest weight loss helps, exercise daily.