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How to Stop Incontinence From Sabotaging Your Sex Life

Sexual Health

How to Stop Incontinence From Sabotaging Your Sex Life

2011-05-20

It’s bad enough worrying about whether you’re going to make it to the bathroom on time to avoid an accident. But worrying about leakage during sex — that can really bring you down. If incontinence is sabotaging your sex life, at least you’re in good company. According to the American Foundation for Urologic Disease (AFUD), one in three women with stress incontinence avoids sexual intimacy because of fear of leakage during intercourse or orgasm.

5 Ways to Fix a Leaky Bladder Without Surgery

But don’t despair: Here’s a seven-step plan for coping with incontinence and getting your sex life back on track.

1. Prepare for sex.

One thing to take into account is when during sex you’re more likely to leak: If you have stress incontinence, you’re more likely to leak with penetration due to pressure on the bladder. If you have urge incontinence, you’re more likely to leak during orgasm. (Since women’s orgasms often don’t happen during intercourse, you can prepare for that moment separately.)

Either way, there are lots of things you can do to decrease the likelihood of involuntary leakage during sex while you’re working on a longer-term solution. You’ll need to experiment to see which of these makes a difference for you:

  • Avoid coffee or tea for several hours prior to sex.
  • Drink plenty of water well before having sex, but don’t drink any fluids for an hour before sex.
  • Practice “double voiding” prior to sex: Go the bathroom, then fully relax the bladder (some people recommend massaging the abdomen) and go again.
  • Put towels down, so you’re not worrying about linens if you do leak.
  • Don’t be shy about taking a “bathroom break” during sex. For women with urge incontinence, taking a bathroom break between foreplay and intercourse or between intercourse and “after-play” can make sex much more relaxing.
2. Talk about it.

No, this probably isn’t an easy topic to bring up with your partner. But isn’t it worth a few minutes of blushing if the payoff is returning to your previously joyous sex life? You might start by mentioning that you’ve been to the doctor to get help with a problem you’re really embarrassed to discuss. Tell your partner how much you miss your formerly great sex life together, and let him know that your reluctance hasn’t been because of lack of interest but because of fear of leakage and embarrassment.

You may be pleasantly surprised by your partner’s supportive reaction; it’s likely that the problem isn’t nearly the issue for him you’ve been thinking it is. After all, men have aging-related issues that affect their sexual performance, too. Your guy is probably all too familiar with the fear and shame that can accompany age-related changes affecting sex. If talking privately isn’t solving your sexual issues, working with a couples counselor or sex therapist can make it easier to talk about difficult topics.

3. Experiment with new sex positions.

Now this one your partner should have no trouble getting on board with. Here are some options to try:

  • Rear entry. When he stands or kneels behind you, it puts less pressure on the bladder and urethra.
  • Side entry. Another position that prevents his weight from being on your abdomen and relieves pressure.
  • Woman on top. When you’re on top, it’s easier to control the depth of penetration and to work those deep pelvic muscles you’ll want to strengthen.
4. See a specialist.

Ask your doctor for a referral to a urologist who specializes in incontinence. This isn’t an easy topic to bring up, but knowing how common it is might make it easier. Experts estimate that nearly one out of three women over age 40 struggle with incontinence at some point, but only 20 percent of them seek help. Wouldn’t you rather find a solution than remain a silent sufferer? Specify that you’d like a recommendation for someone who keeps up with recent research and training and is familiar with newer, more experimental therapies, such as biofeedback.

If you have any friends with whom you’d feel comfortable discussing this issue, ask if they’ve found a doctor they like. Personal referrals are a great way to find specialists who “get it.” Some hospitals and medical centers have specialized bladder health clinics where you’re likely to get up-to-the-minute expertise.

5. Strengthen your muscles with pelvic floor therapy.

Working with a physical therapist, you can rebuild strength in the deep abdominal muscles that support the bladder, using a program of exercises known as Kegels. (Many women try doing pelvic floor exercises on their own and don’t get the full benefit because they’re not doing them correctly.) Working with a pelvic floor therapist (PFT) with specialized training has been shown to increase the effectiveness of Kegels; one study found that when women worked with a PFT, 80 percent were able to control their incontinence.

Two additional techniques can boost the effectiveness of pelvic floor therapy:

  • Biofeedback. Computers attached to sensors can help you and your physical therapist know which muscles you’re working, measure muscle strength, and check whether you’re doing pelvic floor exercises correctly. Kegels can have the additional benefit of strengthening the muscles in the vaginal wall, so you and your partner may notice a sexual benefit as well. Interestingly, sex is great for the Kegel muscles, so as your revitalize your sex life, you may strengthen your bladder control as well.
  • Electrical stimulation. Some clinics offer electrical stimulation (also called pelvic floor muscle electrical stimulation, or PFES) in combination with biofeedback for people with severely weakened pelvic floor muscles. A low-grade electric current causes the muscles to involuntarily contract so patients can experience what that contraction feels like, learn to replicate it themselves, and regain muscle control.
6. Practice bladder control.

Your urologist can work with you on a process known as “bladder retraining,” which involves determining your natural pattern of urination, then setting up and following a fixed schedule of timed toilet trips, whether you feel like going or not. When you feel the need to go between intervals, you buy time by using urge-suppression techniques such as Kegels, distraction, and relaxation. You’ll also learn techniques, such as double voiding, to completely empty your bladder when you go. Over time you’ll work to increase the intervals between bathroom trips and the amount of liquid your bladder can hold.

7. Try medication.

Many doctors consider medication for incontinence a last resort, but if you’ve tried bladder retraining and pelvic floor exercises, and incontinence is still seriously impacting your sexual relationship, then medication is a smart next step. There are a number of drugs classed as anticholinergics and antispasmodics that block the signal that triggers involuntary contractions of the bladder. Some of the most popular are Detrol, Enablex, Sanctura, Ditropan, Toviaz, Vesicare, and generics containing the active ingredient oxybutynin.

In recent years, timed release once-a-day versions of these drugs have become popular. But if incontinence during sex and exercise is your primary concern, ask your doctor whether it’s more effective to take an older, multidose formula. Some women say taking one dose of a multiple-dose drug just prior to sex works better than one dose a day

What You Can Do to Prevent Urinary Tract Infections

Reproductive Health

What You Can Do to Prevent Urinary Tract Infections

2011-05-19

As women, most of us will get a urinary tract infection (UTI) at some point in our lives. Some women will get many. But there are steps that you can take to help prevent the majority of UTIs.

UTIs explained

UTIs are bacterial infections that occur in the body’s system that produces and excretes urine.  Sometimes referred to as bladder infections or cystitis, the primary symptoms are painful and frequent urination. In more serious cases, UTIs can extend up into the kidneys, called Pyelonephritis. Infections in the kidneys can produce back pain in the area known as the flank. Some infections lead to bleeding in the bladder and produce a condition known as hemorrhagic cystitis. Left untreated, UTIs can be damaging and dangerous.

Women are more prone to UTIs than men because the tube that carries urine from the bladder to the outside (the urethra) is shorter in women. So it’s easier for bacteria to get to the bladder. Anything that pushes bacteria up toward the bladder (the holding area for urine) makes a UTI more likely. So, it makes sense that anything that pushes the bacteria away from the bladder will make a UTI less likely.

Common causes of UTIs

  • Some common things that lead to increased bladder infections are wiping from back to front (after a bowel movement), having sex, and not drinking enough fluids:
  • Wiping from back to front pulls the bacteria from the rectal area up to the urethra where it makes a quick trip into the bladder.
  • Having sex causes bacteria to be pushed to the urethra, which then travels into the bladder.
  • Not drinking enough fluids can also cause a problem. Adequate fluid intake ensures that the bacteria is diluted and washed away from the bladder.

Three things you can do

  1. Always wipe front to back. Girls should learn this at a young age and it should become a life-long habit.
  2. After having sex, be sure to go urinate. The process of urination will wash away the bacteria that have been pushed up to your urethra during sex.
  3. Always drink plenty of water every day. Water will filter right into the bladder and effectively wash away all of that bacteria. Also helpful, cranberry juice is the one juice that will remain acidic as it filters into the bladder. Because of its acidic nature, cranberry juice is unfriendly to the bacteria and can be helpful in keeping infections away. And, it’s also important to know that caffeinated beverages are not helpful–they will often dehydrate you and create more bladder infection issues.

If despite these precautions, you still do get a bladder infection, see your healthcare provider and get treated quickly. It is important to treat the infection early before it spreads to the kidneys and becomes a damaging, dangerous infection

When Two Worlds Collide: Menopause and Skincare

Uncategorized

When Two Worlds Collide: Menopause and Skincare

2011-05-18

Perhaps with the exception of puberty, there is no more challenging time for your skin than when you go through menopause. Like opposing forces of nature, your skin must battle against both breakouts and wrinkles, giving you definite obstacles when it comes to choosing treatments and products to keep you looking your best.

As you may have guessed, hormonal shifts that play a major role in your skin changes. Surges of testosterone cause acne, not only on the face but anywhere else, including the back and chest. Stress also creates precursors to hormones, which serve to increase breakouts.

The same hormonal shifts that are giving you prepubescent skin issues are working on the other side of the spectrum to break down your collagen and elastin and thin the dermis, leading to fine lines and wrinkles. Women going through this time in their life may also notice their skin lacks luster and radiance and becomes looser than before. On another note, many women also experience hair and nail changes. Nails become more brittle, while hair may thin and lack vitality.

So, what’s a woman to do? While this may seem almost hopeless, there are several things you can do to restore balance to your body and your skin.

Exercise
Yes, this seems like the cure-all to everything, but exercise is critical. All women 35 and older need to exercise 20 to 30 minutes a day. Exercise increases your circulation and gets oxygen to your tissues. Not only will you feel better, but your skin will also thank you.

Diet
Again, a tool in your arsenal is the food you eat. Approximately 30 percent the calories you consume should be from carbohydrates, and of those carbohydrates, the majority should come from fresh fruits and vegetables high in vitamins and minerals. Make it a goal to have a streamed green vegetable with at least one meal. Forty percent of your diet should be in the form of lean protein, and 30 percent from healthy fats. Keeping salt to a minimum is also important for fluid retention.

Water
The magic elixir comes into play once again. Drinking your eight glasses of water per day will flush your system and help your skin reclaim its glow. Mineral water is best.

As important as what goes into your body is what goes on your body. Choosing a skincare regimen that is right for you is vital. Look for products that use pharmaceutical-grade ingredients.

Exfoliate
During this time, women must exfoliate the skin using a gentle polish. Exfoliating invigorates the skin, removes dry, dead skin cells, promotes collagen production and brings oxygen to the skin.

Cleanse
Proper cleansing rids the skin of debris, preparing it for the rest of your skincare regimen.

Treatments
Specific treatments designed for your skin type should definitely be part of your routine. Always make sure you treat your skin with some sort of antioxidant. All antioxidants are anti-aging, and they act to protect your skin. Vitamin A (retinoids), vitamin C, green tea and resveratrol are among the top antioxidants.

Sealants
During menopause, the skin often becomes dry. The use of a proper moisturizer will help with water loss and seal the skin

Sunscreen
The use of a broad-spectrum SPF is a must in all skincare regimens.

Menopause is a multifaceted issue for all women. Remember to add a dermatologist to your team of experts when choosing what treatments work best for you.

Lowering Stress Improves Fertility Treatment

Reproductive Health

Lowering Stress Improves Fertility Treatment

2011-05-11

Women undergoing certain infertility treatments are more likely to become pregnant if they take part in a simultaneous stress reduction program, new research shows.

The finding, published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, raises new and controversial questions about the role that stress may play in infertility.

The issue is a delicate one because historically, doctors often laid the blame for a couple’s inability to conceive on psychological and emotional issues in one or both partners. But research shows that most infertility is the result of physical problems in a man’s or woman’s reproductive system, and psychological factors are rarely the primary cause.

“It’s an extremely sensitive topic for couples,’’ said Alice D. Domar, a psychologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and director of mind-body services at Boston IVF, a large fertility center. “The most common, unwelcome piece of advice to couples is ‘just relax and you’ll get pregnant.’ ”

Even so, a diagnosis of infertility can cause considerable stress and sadness, and patients often report high levels of depression and anxiety. Some studies have compared the stress of infertility to that experienced by patients with cancer or heart disease.

To assess the effects of high levels of stress, researchers are studying whether stress may make the body a less hospitable place for a pregnancy and somehow interfere with the success of fertility treatments. Many large infertility programs offer individual and couples counseling to help men and women cope with the diagnosis and treatment, but it’s not known if any particular type or duration of treatment may affect success rates.

To find out, Dr. Domar and colleagues recruited 100 Boston women under 40 who were taking part in in vitro fertilization, or I.V.F., in which embryos formed in test tubes are implanted in a woman’s body to help her become pregnant.

The women were randomized to a control group that received only the fertility treatment or a group that received fertility treatment as well as a 10-week stress management program that focused on cognitive behavioral therapy, relaxation training and social support.

Researchers tracked the groups through two I.V.F. cycles. In the first cycle, there were no differences in conception rates between the groups. Dr. Domar said that only about half of the women in the mind-body treatment group had begun the program, and those who had started had completed only a few sessions.

In the second cycle, most of the patients had attended at least five mind-body sessions. At that point, 52 percent of the women participating in the stress reduction program had become pregnant, compared with 20 percent in the control group.

“It’s not that it’s all in your mind,’’ Dr. Domar said. “If you’re really stressed out and depressed, the body seems to sense that’s not a good time to get pregnant. There’s something about practicing relaxation techniques or being with other women who understand what you’re going through, probably a combination of everything, that makes a difference. It isn’t just about relaxing.”

The mind-body program includes an exercise called “cognitive restructuring,” in which women are asked to share recurring negative thoughts. Common thoughts include “I’m never going to be happy unless I have a baby,’’ or “It’s my fault for waiting too long.”

Through a series of exercises, the patients are taught to replace the negative feeling with a more positive but still realistic thought — for example, “I’m doing everything I can to have a healthy baby.’’

“For a lot of patients, cognitive restructuring is a huge breakthrough,’’ said Dr. Domar. “Helping them tap into the hope they have is a really powerful thing, and you wouldn’t do an I.V.F. cycle unless part of you believed it would work.’’

Inside women’s sexual brains, preferences and porn

Sexual Health

Inside women’s sexual brains, preferences and porn

2011-05-10

Men everywhere have probably wondered for thousands of years: What turns women on?

In the age of the Internet, it’s possible to find out. And with countless genres of images, videos and erotic stories available online, women are both able and empowered to access arousing material, and figure out for themselves what they like. Some are watching porn, as our sex columnist Ian Kerner pointed out in a recent column.

But what women are viewing and reading is usually not what men are searching for, according to a new book on the subject. In “A Billion Wicked Thoughts,” released Thursday, neuroscientists Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam combine web searches, personal search histories, websites, and classified ads with insights from brain science to discover precisely how different women are from men.

Just like we’re all born with taste cues – sweet, salty, savory, spicy, bitter – men and women’s brains are wired with sexual cues, Ogas said. For men, the cues are predominantly visual, and aimed at the partner; they often enjoy seeing women orgasm, which may be one of the reasons why so many women fake. But women are more complex; they place a high importance on feeling desired, for example, whereas it appears men generally don’t need to feel desired at all in order to feel aroused.

“A woman wants to know that there’s going to be repeat action, that he’s committed and is going to be coming back,” Ogas said.

Women are sexually complex in other important ways. If a man is physically turned on, he’s also psychologically turned on, which is why medications for erectile dysfunction (i.e. Viagra) can deliver fairly straightforward results. But a woman can be physically turned on and mentally turned off at the very same time, making efforts toward a treatment for low female sexual desire all the more complicated. And as to what makes a woman go beyond mere arousal and have sex, you’ll have to read this other article.

The female sexual brain is also like a “detective agency” that investigates a man’s many qualities before deciding  whether he’s worth her attention, the authors said. Evolutionarily, that makes sense. In the earliest days of humans, females who mated with the first males they encountered would not have fared as well as those who took the time to investigate their partners a little more. The “detective agency” would make sure that the chosen male would not be cruel, unfaithful or sneaky, would protect the woman and her child.

More important than evolution, though, is the “software” of the sexual brain, Ogas and Gaddam said.

Again, men are simple: The male brain is designed so that any stimulus can trigger arousal. For some, a single cue is necessary and sufficient, which is what makes a fetish, well, a fetish. For instance, some men get turned on in the presence of attractive shoes or feet, and need to see that in order to feel stimulated. On the other hand, fetishes are extremely rare among women. The female brain usually doesn’t respond to a single trigger every time; there can be lots of different combinations of things that can get them in the mood.

“The male sexual brain is like a single toggle switch, whereas the female sexual brain is like the cockpit of an F1 fighter jet,” Gaddam said. “There are tons of dials and instruments, and there’s sophisticated calibration going on.”

To fully appreciate this, feast your eyes on these two real search histories from America Online users:

MAN: college cheerleaders; cheerleaders in Hawaii; pics of bikinis and girls; pretty girls in bikinis; girls suntanning in bikinis; college cheerleader pics in bikinis; noooooooo; christian advice on lust

WOMAN: orlando bloom as vampire fanfiction; 321 sex chat; kingdom of heaven fanfiction; cinderella wedding dresses; gossip on orlando bloom; legolas erotica; legolas heterosexual erotica; evil orlando bloom dark fanfiction

As you can see, this woman tends to prefer stories (“fanfiction,” or narratives based on existing movies/TV/literature) much more than the man, who searches for specific images. The majority of these stories are romantic and lightly erotic, but plenty of women like graphic erotic stories, too. In the search above you can see this one gal is particularly interested in Legolas from “Lord of the Rings” and the actor who portrays him: Orlando Bloom. And there’s a lot of conversation that goes on among women about erotic stories about the inner feelings of the characters, whereas men consume porn alone and don’t talk about the aesthetics, Gaddam said.

“Male erotica is a solitary enterprise, and female erotica is a social enterprise,” Ogas said.

A minority of women do watch visual porn. Based on analyses of user profiles on a porn website, these ladies tend to be more socially aggressive, comfortable taking risks, and open to bisexual experiences. They also tend to have a higher sex drive.

And while many men do seek out porn involving young women, there’s a substantial interest in seeing scantily clad (or not clad at all) older women too. Significant numbers of web searches and websites out there are devoted to women in their 40s, 50s, 60s. There’s even a genre called “granny porn,” with a consistent following, in which the male performer’s age is highly variable.  It’s hard to know how old the men are who are seeking this class of erotica, but the authors speculate they come from a wide range of ages, since men’s sexual interests are pretty solid by age 25. Women, on the other hand, have much more flexible and dynamic interests during a lifetime.

What about homosexuality? The authors compared gay and straight male sexuality, and found they were strikingly similar. The differences: gay men like men, and are more likely to be aroused by the submissive role in sex than straight men. Lesbians are far more complicated, and Ogas and Gaddam don’t think they have enough information to make any definitive comparisons about it.

The authors don’t take any moral positions on any of this, but they do point out that individual tastes and preferences are difficult or impossible to modify. Yet everyone assumes their own interests are the norm, and we quickly label anything else as weird or even dangerous, Gaddam said.

“We should all be more sexually tolerant,” Ogas said.

Sex and Self-Esteem

Sexual Health

Sex and Self-Esteem

Losing your virginity can summon up all sorts of emotions. It can also be an exercise in self-esteem or self-doubt, depending on whether you’re a man or a woman, according to researchers from Penn State University who analyzed the debut sexual encounters of college-age males and females.

It’s probably not too surprising that young men report a boost in how they view themselves after first having sex, while young women end up slightly less pleased, according to the study, which was published in April’s Journal of Adolescence.

Researchers started with a group of 434 freshmen, ages 17 to 19, and continued to track them for four years. Four times over that period, students were asked to complete a questionnaire assessing their satisfaction with their appearance. Within that time span, 100 students lost their virginity; those were the students on whom the researchers focused.

Judging from the questionnaire results, that first sexual experience had different emotional ramifications for men versus women: researchers found that women’s happiness with how they looked decreased a bit after having sex for the first time, while men’s satisfaction rose.

“For women, it’s not an overwhelmingly positive experience,” says lead author Sara Vasilenko, a graduate student in human development and family studies at Penn State. “It may be because of sexual double standards, which suggest society might view sex more positively for men and more negatively for women. Premarital sex isn’t necessarily seen as acceptable for women.”

On the other hand, men’s self-image may soar in part due to cultural messages about masculinity. “Men who have sex may feel more attractive because they’re living up to these expectations of what is considered manly,” says Vasilenko.

Sex-ed programs could be tailored to address the link between sex and women’s diminished opinions of their attractiveness. “Promoting better body image could help them feel better about themselves when they do become sexually active,” says Vasilenko.

In general, research revealed that women became more content with their appearance over the course of their time in college, while men grew more dissatisfied. But the flip-flop after an initial sexual encounter is more than merely interesting. It could have negative consequences for the men: in a larger sample that included people who had sex prior to college, researchers found that positive body image can lead to risky sexual behavior for male college students.

“Because the results are so positive, it has the potential to reinforce risky behavior like no condoms and multiple partners,” says Vasilenko.

Got Insomnia? What Not to Do at 3 A.M.

Uncategorized

Got Insomnia? What Not to Do at 3 A.M.

Are you frustrated with your sleep—or lack thereof? You’re not alone.

Most people experience insomnia at some point in their lives, and 10% have chronic problems with insomnia.

If you’re staring at the ceiling hour after hour, night after night, it’s hard to know what to do or how to fix it.

Here are some mistakes you could be making, and what you should be doing instead.

Don’t look at the clock

Do this instead: Turn the clock around to face the wall, or hide it in a drawer or under the bed. Constantly checking the time will only arouse you and reinforce the idea that you’ll “never” get back to sleep.

Don’t stay in bed more than 15 minutes

Do this instead: Leave your bedroom and do something quiet, such as reading a book or watching boring television in a comfortable chair. It’s important to remind your brain that your bed is for sleeping, not for lying awake and worrying.

Don’t sit in bright light

Do this instead: If you do need to get up, turn on only a dim reading light, or go sit in the glow of your television or computer monitor. Keep bright overhead lights switched off, because light disrupts the production of melatonin—a hormone that regulates sleep—in your brain.

Don’t do anything too stimulating

Do this instead: Find something that occupies your time but gives your brain a break, such as knitting or a boring book or TV show. Reading whodunits or balancing your checkbook, on the other hand, may keep your mind working and alert.

Powerful Women as Likely to Cheat as Men, Study Finds

featured, Sexual Health

Powerful Women as Likely to Cheat as Men, Study Finds

Women in powerful positions are just as likely as men to cheat on their spouses, according to new research.

It’s widely believed that men are more likely than women to cheat on their spouses, but power appears to be a more important factor than gender, according to the study published April 28 in the journal Psychological Science.

“There has been a lot of research in the past that indicates that gender is the strongest predictor of infidelity, but none of these studies have been done on powerful women,” Joris Lammers, of Tilburg University in the Netherlands, said in a journal news release.

He and his team analyzed responses from 1,561 people who took part in an anonymous online survey. They were asked about their amount of power at work, confidence levels, and perception of risks associated with infidelity.

The survey revealed two significant findings, according to the researchers. First, there is a strong link between power and confidence, and the amount of confidence a person has is the strongest connection between power and cheating. Second, the gender of powerful people made no difference in past infidelity or their desire to be unfaithful.

The popular notion that men are more likely than women to cheat is simply due to the fact that men occupy more positions of power than women, according to Lammers.

“As more and more women are in greater positions of power and are considered equal to men, then familiar assumptions about their behavior may also change. This may lead to increased negative behaviors among women that in the past have been more common among men,” he said.

A bad Mix-Why Alcohol And Energy Drinks Are Dangerous

Psycological Health

A bad Mix-Why Alcohol And Energy Drinks Are Dangerous

2011-04-19

Mixing alcohol with other substances is never really a good idea, and pairing it with energy drinks may be especially hazardous.

That might seem obvious, but the results of a new study published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research provide some interesting insights into why. Cecile Marczinski, a psychologist at Northern Kentucky University, found that combining energy drinks such as Red Bull with vodka or other liquors effectively removes any built-in checks your body has for overindulging.

When you drink alcohol by itself, it initially induces a feeling of happiness — a comfortable buzz. But when you overindulge, your body knows it, and it starts to shut down; you start feeling tired, sleepy and more sedated than stimulated. “That’s your cue to go home to bed,” says Marczinski.

But in her drinking study, for which she (easily) recruited participants, she found that people downing the combination of alcohol and energy drinks lost this natural control. Marczinski had volunteers show up at her lab and drink either plain alcoholic drinks; mixed beverages containing alcohol and energy drinks; energy drinks alone; or a non-alcoholic beverage.

When the drinkers were asked to rate how stimulated and energetic they felt — whether they were alert or awake — those consuming the combination energy-alcohol drinks reported twice as much stimulation as those drinking alcohol alone. They tended to report less sedation and fewer symptoms like tiredness or sleepiness. “The disconnect between what you feel and how you act is what is the problem here,” she says, noting that these participants continued to feel stimulated and never came down off their alcohol buzz. “Stimulation may not be a good thing when you’re drinking because you may drink longer, decide to stay at a party where you’re drinking longer, and drink far more than you originally intended.”

Interestingly, Marczinski says, by combining these results with other work she has done on energy drinks, she found that it’s not energy drinks’ primary ingredient, caffeine, that’s problematic. Rather, it’s the mix of other awakening ingredients in the beverages that may be contributing to the enhanced alcohol high. When she compared the stimulation ratings between those who drank beverages made only from caffeine powder and those who drank alcoholic energy drinks, she found that the combination resulted in far greater alertness than the caffeine alone. “I always thought that it was a marketing thing when they mention the other things they put in like taurine, glucose and ginseng,” she says. “But I think they do facilitate that stimulation; it’s not just the caffeine.”

Marczinski was able to assess changes in behavior only 45 minutes after the participants enjoyed their drinks, so she didn’t record any increase in impaired judgment or behavior, but, she says, that may be because the subjects weren’t monitored long enough.

Even so, the increased stimulation and impulsivity makes the combination of alcohol and energy drinks a dangerous one, especially for underage drinkers who may think they are capable of drinking more than their limit, or even driving after a party. “Even with just alcohol alone, young, underage drinkers are bad at deciding how safe a driver they are, but I think this would make that situation far worse,” Marczinski says. And it’s just another reminder not to drink and drive — no matter what combination of spirits you’re consuming.

Gay Friendly Communities Are Good for Straight Teens Too….

Sexual Health

Gay Friendly Communities Are Good for Straight Teens Too….

A spate of suicides involving gay teens last fall reignited concern among youth activists and health experts over the disproportionately high rate of suicide among gay American teens. Now, a survey of high-school students in Oregon highlights a key risk factor for suicide — living in a socially and politically conservative area — not only among lesbian, gay and bisexual teens, but in heterosexual kids too.

The survey of nearly 32,000 11th-graders found that suicide attempts by lesbian, gay and bisexual teens were 20% more likely in conservative communities that were unsupportive of gays — areas with fewer same-sex couples, fewer registered Democrats, and schools that lacked gay-straight alliances or policies against bullying gay students — compared with communities that scored high on the researchers’ “social index.” That difference in risk persisted, even after researchers accounted for other suicide risk factors such as depression and bullying.

What’s more, the rate of suicide attempts among straight teens in conservative communities was also higher — by 9% — than in areas that were more politically and socially liberal. The finding suggests that widespread acceptance and support contribute to the well-being of all community members, not just those who identify with minority groups.

“The results of this study are pretty compelling,” said the study’s lead investigator, Mark L. Hatzenbuehler of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, in a statement. “When communities support their gay young people, and schools adopt anti-bullying and anti-discrimination policies that specifically protect lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth, the risk of attempted suicide by all young people drops, especially for LGB youth.”

Still, according to the 2006-08 survey, gay teens were much more likely to have attempted suicide in the last year than their straight peers: among gay teens, the attempted suicide rate was a whopping 21.5% overall — five times higher than among straight teens.