Healthpharmablog. About Health & Medicine

Just because you wore a size 15 shirt and size 38 jacket when you were eighteen it does not mean you will still do so at twenty-eight or thirty-eight. No matter how fit you are and how close your weight is now to that of your twenties, your body will have changed both its shape and measurement. The neck will probably have thickened, the waistline certainly, and the bottom will have sagged just that little bit. It is a sad fact of life that most men’s stomachs and waistlines will change even if they are careful about diet and what they eat. At this age only constant exercise keeps a waistline slim and a stomach flat.

The most common fault in dressing is the fit of the clothes yet it is one fault that should never happen nor be allowed to. For unless you shop exclusively in chain stores where you may have a problem, all shops readily exchange an item if it is the wrong size and most shops and boutiques expect to carry out alterations in order to get a perfect fit whether it is a matter of shortening a jacket’s sleeves or taking in the seat and waistline of a pair of trousers. Many neighbourhood dry cleaners also carry out simple, inexpensive alterations.

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It is not unmasculine for a man to want to look good and take care of the way he looks — his hair, his face or his body. There is nothing wrong, whatever his age, in wanting to look his best and using toiletry preparations to help achieve this. Exercise strengthens the body; grooming takes care of its externals.

But although many men survive on a routine that embraces a daily shave followed by a dash of aftershave (probably a relic of Christmas bounty) and a quick go with a deodorant, plus a twice-weekly shampoo, in the long run they would possibly do better if they made a little more effort and followed a sensible routine with sound guidelines. Most of us would.

At around forty — if you will excuse what sounds like a pun — only a short-sighted man ignores his face, especially his skin. At any age it is a man’s face people notice first and at this age, whether he is handsome or not, it is this face that reflects his lifestyle, his apparent success or lack of it, and it is this face that shows all the signs of wear, tear and aging. So it makes sense to concentrate on keeping the head in as good a condition as possible for as long as possible. Short of resorting to cosmetic surgery, there may not be much a man can do if he does not like the aesthetic details of his face, or to remove the bags and wrinkles once they have set in but, nonetheless, with a minimum of effort on his part the face can look healthy and glowing with vitality and so project the impression that here is a fit man, full of energy, ready for action.

A face in prime condition helps get new work, new loves and better life. And taking care of the body as a whole is the correct insurance for the future. Routines are simple and based on cleanliness. None are costly.

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Take work as an example. Aiming for a senior management position may be exactly where you would like to be and from where you think you could show the world precisely how able and qualified you are, but promotion is not something you can control or predict. The management’s rules for selection may not be governed exclusively by choosing on ability. And changing jobs by moving to another company is no easier. At forty-plus work abilities are rarely questioned, only age. Aim too high and disappointment may be inevitable.

The clue to using ambition as a means for survival lies not in fighting to beat all odds or aiming only for the highest prize, but in capitalizing on what you have already achieved and then making a few sensible compromises so that your future goals are not too high to reach.

And although we are inclined usually only to see ambition in the context of work, aspiration and expectation also apply equally to money, love, fame, travel, acquisition and future success as much as to the frivolous matters of life like sex. Of course aim high in what you wish to achieve but not so high that even on a good day disappointment is certain. Have ambition because it is vital to your life; but adjust your sights so that if you fail the blow to your ego is one you can take, not one that stuns you. Then, make plans again.

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Tooth decay is caused by eating highly refined foods and sweets and by poor dental care. By the time a man nears forty the protective enamel covering of the surface of each tooth will have worn thinner and the layer of dentin beneath become translucent. The teeth will require more care and more careful cleaning.

Gum infection, again due to diet and poor care, may become a problem too, attacking the roots of the teeth or causing gums to shrink and recede. For many men receding gums become a major problem at forty. The average man of this age will have five teeth missing.

It is fortunate for us that dentists can repair much of the damage and improve the appearance of teeth using mixtures of capping, bonding and bridging and with special gum treatments or surgery. With regular dental inspections and correct daily oral hygiene further deterioration can be prevented.

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As part of the failure syndrome a man can see everyone in his circle as having a better life than he has whether in real terms they have or not. Everyone, he thinks, has a better home, car, travel, paintings and less responsibilities. And, more to the point, more fun. It is not that what he has is not good, but life, he feels, has only dealt him a poor hand of cards. He feels cheated and missing out.

For the largest percentage there is one area in which they all feel they are missing out — sex. As they see it they are simply not getting enough when compared with some friends they know and certainly, they are convinced, they are not getting their fair share.

These M-M men are invariably contented within their own worlds. Each has a steady job he enjoys, one with prospects and a substantial pension ahead, a wife or steady relationship he is happy with, a home and children to be proud of and a friendly social life that is as hectic as he would like it. They are never bored. By anyone’s standards their lives look rosy and full of contentment.

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Which partner uses the contraceptive method, and which method is chosen, depends on a complicated mixture of social, cultural, and psychological influences. Today for the first time in history, men and women have reliable methods to enable them to make that choice freely and relatively easily.

The principle of choice is important, as it includes not only the choice of using family planning, but the choice of the birth control method most suited to the particular circumstances of the couple. Neither the man nor the woman can make a real choice until each has the basic knowledge of the different methods available, their efficiency in protecting against pregnancy, and their advantages and disadvantages. A measure of contraceptive efficiency used by many people is the pregnancy index which is calculated in the following way:

The number of pregnancies x 1200

Total months of exposure to pregnancy

The result is expressed as the number of pregnancies per 1200 months of exposure, or preferably as the number of pregnancies per hundred woman-years. This shows how many of every 100 women making use of the particular method chosen will become pregnant if the method is used for one year.

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In 1905, a Russian physician, Korotkoff, discovered that if a pressure cuff was applied to the upper arm, the blqod pressure could be measured by listening to the sounds with a stethoscope over the artery in the fold of the elbow. With each heart beat, the blood pressure rises to a peak. This is the systolic pressure. Between heart beats, the pressure falls to a lower level. This is the diastolic pressure. By pumping up the cuff so that no blood flows through the artery and then releasing the air slowly, the blood flows in squirts and ‘thumps’ loudly on the artery wall which the doctor can hear through his stethoscope. This is the systolic pressure. As the cuff empties, the character of the thumps changes; the sounds become soft and then disappear. The disappearance of the sound identifies the diastolic pressure. Your blood pressure varies throughout the у and responds to all kinds of stress or emotion, when it tends to se. During sleep it is at its lowest. The temporary rises are normal d natural, but the doctor or nurse tries to take a resting pressure. If your resting pressure is normal, you have no further worries, t if it is raised the doctor usually takes the blood pressure again ter a two-week interval (and preferably after a further two weeks) efore he diagnoses that you have high blood pressure, as it is known that transient rises in blood pressure can occur. If you have a raised blood pressure at both or at all three of these examinations, you have hypertension.

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Before trying to find out how many homosexuals there are in a community it is helpful to define what is meant by a homosexual. To many psychiatrists, a homosexual is a person erotically attracted to a member of the same sex, the implication being that the sexual passion is largely or entirely physical. Such a definition omits the emotional component of eroticism felt by most homosexuals. Perhaps a better definition is that a homosexual is a person who prefers the continuing company, the emotional and physical contact of persons of his or her own sex, and preferentially responds erotically to a person of the same sex. Homosexuality, in the words of Dennis Altman, himself a homosexual, is ‘as much a matter of emotion as of genital manipulation’.

The idea that homosexuals can feel as much passion, and can love as deeply, as heterosexuals is threatening to many heterosexuals who have tried to debase homosexual love to mere genital contact; but the evidence is that the definition just given is closer to reality.

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The tensions within the marriage increased, and finally the breaking point was reached. One night Harold’s wife sought sexual intercourse with him when he was emotionally drained and deeply concerned by his sexual failure. The encounter was a disaster. Harold failed to achieve an erection. His wife tried to comfort him and to convince him it was only because he was tired, but on the next occasion he failed again. His anxiety about his sexual performance increased each time he failed to get an erection. Each failure aggravated his anxiety about failing.

Tom avoids his wife’s sexual advances, finding excuses because he is afraid he will fail once again. After a period of rejection, she decides that she too will become sexually celibate. It is too traumatic to be rejected.

All communication between the couple ceases. They avoid physical contact, and avoid verbal expressions of affection. They have become isolated, unhappy, and anxious. And Tom is increasingly anxious about his impotence. It is to be hoped that at this point he will seek help.

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The ’sensate focus’ exercises are designed to re-educate the couple in the importance of touch, to which are added smell, by using scented body lotions for the massage, and occasionally taste. In these sessions the giving partner gives, without seeking any return of the favour. The receiving partner receives, without the possible threat of having to give in return, and without the need to explain. All that the pleasured partner has to do is prevent the pleasuring partner from doing anything which distracts from or diminishes the pleasure felt.

With succeeding sessions the partners change roles and, after a while, pleasure each other by exploring, fondling, and caressing each other’s genitals, and begin to help each other overcome the specific sexual dysfunction, which requires additional techniques. Some sexual therapists, notably Dr Masters and Dr Johnson in

the U.S.A., find that they are able to get the most successful results in treating sexual dysfunctions if the couple are able to spend at least two weeks in a residential remedial course. This is expensive. Other sexual therapists have found that most sexual dysfunctions can be resolved using less expensive techniques.

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