Yes, You Can Have an Orgasm While Working Out

If you’ve been lacking gym motivation lately, here’s some news that might boost your drive: It’s possible to have an orgasm during exercise.

Yes, you read that correctly. In fact, that’s exactly what happened to Sports Illustrated model Jessica White during an especially sweaty sesh: “I was doing these squats one time, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is orgasmic,’” she said in an interview with Bikini.com last week.“Maybe I was squeezing and doing my kegels, I don’t know what it was, but I had to go to the bathroom.”

White then confirmed that she did, actually, know what it was: a full-blown orgasm.

RELATED: 14 Fascinating Things All Women Should Know About Orgasms

While White’s pleasure-fueled workout may seem too wild to be true, orgasms during exercise, often referred to as “coregasms,” are totally a thing. A study published in the journal Sexual and Relationship Therapy back in 2011 explored the phenomenon.

The researchers surveyed 530 adult women. Among the participants, 124 reported they’d had an exercise-induced orgasm (EIO) and 246 said they’d experienced exercise-induced sexual pleasure (EISP).

RELATED: 12 Secrets to Better Orgasms

What we wanted to know: Which moves were most orgasmic?

Among the EIO group, 51.4% of the women said they climaxed during ab exercises(!), while others cited weight lifting (26.5%), yoga (20%), biking (15.8%) and hiking or running (13.2%).

In the free-response section of the survey, many women credited the the captain’s chair—a piece of gym equipment on which you grip handles to support your arms and back against a frame, while you repeatedly lift your your legs.

RELATED: 10 Things You Never Knew About the Clitoris

While you might guess the study participants’ stimulating workouts were sparked by sexy thoughts, the women reported that they were not fantasizing prior to the big O.

“These data are interesting because they suggest that orgasm is not necessarily a sexual event, and they may also teach us more about the bodily processes underlying women’s experiences of orgasm,” said lead author Debby Hebernick, PhD, a sexual health educator from The Kinsey Institute in a press statement. It’s still unclear what causes these extra-satisfying workouts, but Hebernick hopes her research will help normalize the concept of so-called coregasms. (She published a book last year called The Coregasm Workout.)

For now, the takeaway is that if you’ve had an orgasm during a gym sesh, you’re not alone (also: lucky you!). And even if you haven’t, research suggests that exercise can make you feel more desirable and increase your arousal. Talk about fitspiration.

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1LECaVK

This LUSH Product Is So Natural It Actually Sprouts Plants

Photo: LUSH

One of the things LUSH fans love so much about their products is the company’s dedication to keeping things natural and cruelty-free. There’s nothing that can drive this point home more than the fact that one such product is actually causing plants to sprout from people’s drains because, yes, it’s just that natural.

RELATED: Probiotics Are Making Their Way Into Skincare

one of the coffee beans from my Lush massage bar fell into the sink and a PLANT GREW FROM IT http://pic.twitter.com/gOapSAqz6Z

— rachel (@rachel__deng) July 13, 2015

LUSH enthusiasts have taken to social media to show that their LUSH Wiccy Magic Muscles Massage Bar ($15, amazon.com), which contains aduki beans, is causing tiny green plants to grow from their shower drains (and here you didn’t think you had room in your place for a garden!). Aduki beans are totally safe, but as LUSH cofounder Helen Ambrosen told Buzzfeed, they will sprout if they are left in a wet place for a period of time.

“In order for the beans to germinate, they must have been left in the shower for a few days,” she says. “The results you get just go to show how fresh the ingredients really are.”

RELATED: All of the Body Parts You Should Really Be Exfoliating

But, guys, here’s the thing, the Wiccy isn’t actually supposed to be used in the shower. While it looks like soap (and the idea of an in-shower massage bar is lovely), the directions clearly say it’s meant for dry skin and that users should keep it in a cool dry place so that it doesn’t melt. An easy oversight for a beauty girl to make when she just wants some relief for her sore muscles, but an important nugget of info if you’re not currently interested in cultivating a plant or two in your shower.

All this turn of events is really doing is making me want to plant a Wiccy bar somewhere… and engage in some serious LUSH retail therapy.

This article originally appeared on MIMIchatter.com.

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1VABSRR

This Dark Spot Treatment Erased My Stubborn Acne Marks

We all have different ways we cope with stress: sweating it out on a long run, meditating, taking a hot bath. But for me, when the cray hits the fan, I do something I’m not proud of: I pick at my skin.

It’s a nasty habit, for sure. And it’s one that always leads to stubborn, hard-to-get-rid-of dark spots speckled across my brown skin. Most of the zits I get could clear up within a few days, but their presence remains known thanks to my stress-induced urge to poke and prod. My dermatologist has explained to me that when I pick at my pimples, they feel attacked, so they try to protect themselves by overproducing melanocytes—pigment-producing cells—which leave behind pesky dark marks.

Clearly, I need to work on finding a better way to deal with stress. But in the meantime, I’ve been looking for a way to fade those dark marks and get a smoother, more even-toned complexion. And I’ve finally found something that works: Paula’s Choice Resist 25% Vitamin C Spot Treatment, which is featured in the April ESSENCE BeautyBox. Within a few days, this product had earned employee-of-the-year status: my marks were less noticeable, my skin was baby-soft, and overall, I just looked better. (That alone relieved some stress.) The miracle ingredient in this product is ascorbic acid, or stabilized vitamin C. It’s used to fade post-acne discolorations like mine, as well as sunspots and age spots, and can be used on all skin types.

Need to fade dark marks or even out your own complexion? You can get Paula’s Choice Resist 25% Vitamin C Spot Treatment in the April ESSENCE BeautyBox, along with four other products (plus, a surprise bonus product!) when you order a box by March 29. This new subscription box, curated by the editors of ESSENCE, addresses the unique challenges in finding a variety of beauty products for dark skin.

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1UCAOO2

Scientists Debunk ‘Dumb Blonde’ Myth

TUESDAY, March 22, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Contrary to the long-running joke, the stereotype of the “dumb blonde” is, well, just plain dumb, researchers report.

The researchers found that women and men with natural blonde hair had IQ scores similar to people with other hair colors.

And, women with natural blonde hair actually had a slightly higher average IQ score (103.2) than those with brown hair (102.7), red hair (101.2) or black hair (100.5), but the difference was not statistically significant, according to the study.

While many consider “blonde jokes” harmless, that attitude can have serious consequences, according to study author Jay Zagorsky, a research scientist at Ohio State University.

“Research shows that stereotypes often have an impact on hiring, promotions and other social experiences,” he said in a university news release. “This study provides compelling evidence that there shouldn’t be any discrimination against blondes based on their intelligence.”

Zagorsky and his colleagues looked at data from nearly 10,900 white American baby boomers who had IQ tests in 1980.

“I don’t think you can say with certainty that blondes are smarter than others, but you can definitely say they are not any dumber,” Zagorsky said.

He and his colleagues couldn’t determine if there are any genetic links between hair color and intelligence, but they did find that blondes were more likely than people with other hair colors to grow up in homes with more reading material.

The study findings were published recently in the journal Economics Bulletin.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more on the brain.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1o4rF2B

Less Than 3 Percent of Americans Live a Healthy Lifestyle

TUESDAY, March 22, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Do you get a moderate amount of exercise, eat right, keep from piling on fat and avoid smoking? Congratulations, you’re among the 2.7 percent of Americans who do so, according to a new study.

Researchers say that, unfortunately, the other 97.3 percent of American adults get a failing grade on healthy lifestyle habits.

The study looked at data on more than 4,700 people who took part in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Survey. The researchers assessed how many people followed four general “principles of healthy living” — a good diet, moderate exercise, not smoking and keeping body fat under control.

“The behavior standards we were measuring for were pretty reasonable, not super high. We weren’t looking for marathon runners,” said study senior author Ellen Smit, an associate professor at the OSU College of Public Health and Human Sciences, in Corvallis.

In fact, the standards used in the study are typical of lifestyle advice given by doctors to their patients, Smit’s team said. People who adhere to those four behaviors can help reduce their risk of many health problems, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Unfortunately, less than 3 percent of the adults in the study achieved all four of the healthy living measures, the researchers found.

Overall, 71 percent of the adults surveyed did not smoke, 38 percent ate a healthy diet, 10 percent had a normal body fat percentage and 46 percent got sufficient amounts of physical activity.

Sixteen percent had three of the healthy lifestyle behaviors, 37 percent had two, 34 percent had one and 11 percent had none.

Among the other findings: women were more likely than men to not smoke and to eat a healthy diet, but they were less likely to have adequate physical activity levels. And when it came to race, Mexican-Americans were more likely to eat a healthy diet than blacks or whites.

The study was conducted by researchers at Oregon State University, the University of Mississippi and the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.

In terms of public health, the findings are disappointing, Smit said in an OSU news release.

“This is pretty low, to have so few people maintaining what we would consider a healthy lifestyle,” she said. “This is sort of mind boggling. There’s clearly a lot of room for improvement.”

Further research is needed to identify ways to get American adults to adopt more healthy lifestyle habits, the experts said.

The study was published March 21 in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more on healthy living.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1o4rCDZ

Meditation May Help Ease Chronic Low Back Pain

By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, March 22, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Meditation may work better than painkillers when it comes to soothing chronic low back pain, a new clinical trial suggests.

The study found that a program called mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) beat standard medical care for managing low back pain.

After one year, people who attended MBSR classes were more than 40 percent likely to show “meaningful” improvements in their pain and daily activities compared to people who sought conventional care for their aching backs.

MBSR involves group sessions in meditation and some simple yoga poses. The focus is on becoming aware of body sensations, thoughts and emotions — without trying to change them, explained study leader Daniel Cherkin. He’s a senior investigator at Group Health Research Institute, in Seattle.

It’s not exactly clear why the mindfulness approach can ease back pain, according to Cherkin.

But, he stressed, no one is saying that the pain is just “in people’s heads.”

“Neurological research has demonstrated how the body and mind are truly intertwined,” Cherkin said. The way the mind senses and responds to pain is critical, he said.

According to Cherkin, MBSR can help people acknowledge how they are feeling — physically and otherwise — without reacting and “getting stressed out.” And that might help them manage chronic back woes.

The study was published March 22 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The findings were based on 342 adults with persistent low back pain for at least three months. Most of them had suffered much longer — seven years, on average, the study authors said.

None of the study participants had a clear cause for the pain, such as a slipped spinal disc. And that’s the case for most people with low back pain, Cherkin said.

“For people like these, there is no single treatment that works,” he said. “That’s probably because there are a lot of different factors causing people’s pain.”

Cherkin’s team randomly assigned each patient to one of three groups: Those in the MBSR group were supposed to attend eight weekly sessions led by an instructor, and start a home practice of meditation and basic yoga poses.

A second group was assigned to eight sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy — a form of psychological counseling where people learn to change negative thinking patterns and behaviors.

The therapy also works with the mind, but it’s different from meditation, Cherkin said, because it aims to “actively change things.”

People in the third study group were told they could opt for any standard treatment they liked, including pain medication and physical therapy.

Six months into the study, 60 percent of patients in the MBSR group showed a “meaningful” improvement in their daily activities — including walking, climbing stairs and standing for long periods. That compared with 44 percent of patients who’d been free to opt for the other therapies, the researchers said.

People who received cognitive behavioral therapy also fared better: Almost 58 percent showed significant improvements at six months, the study found.

What was surprising, Cherkin said, was that the benefits of MBSR were still apparent after a year — even though most people did not attend all eight sessions.

At one year, 69 percent of patients were reporting improvements in their daily activities, versus 59 percent of the behavioral therapy group and 49 percent of the standard care group, the study showed. Reports of bothersome pain were also improved more in the MBSR group, the study found.

“We were struck by how durable the effects were,” Cherkin said.

Home practice is a key part of MBSR, said Dr. Madhav Goyal, an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, who has studied meditation.

“It could be that most people were doing the homework, and that contributed to the benefits,” said Goyal, who wrote an editorial published with the study. But, he added, that’s not clear from the findings.

MBSR is a specific program that was first developed at the University of Massachusetts in the 1970s. So it’s not clear that the meditation class at your local yoga center would have the same results, Goyal cautioned.

Cherkin agreed. But, he said, MBSR programs are becoming increasingly available. At roughly $400 to $500, he added, some people might think it’s a worthwhile investment.

And while the study didn’t test other mindfulness techniques, Cherkin said that people may still want to give them a shot, if they’re interested.

“This is not for everyone with low back pain,” he stressed. “Some people just don’t like to meditate. Different things work for different people. But this study shows that there may be value in offering people approaches that focus on the mind.”

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more on low back pain.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1o4rF2v

Move of the Week: Windshield Wipers

Watch Health‘s resident yoga expert, Kristin McGee, demonstrate how to do windshield wipers—a fun and focused move that will help strengthen your entire core, especially your obliques.

RELATED: How to Do the Windmill for Your Obliques

Here’s how to do it: Lie on your back with knees bent. Straighten your arms by your sides, with fingers stretched out, and float your legs up to tabletop position. Inhale and scoop out your lower abs; then as you exhale, drop your knees slowly to one side. Come back to center as you inhale. Exhale and lower your knees to the other side. That’s 1 rep. Do 5-8 reps.

Trainer tip: Keep the backs of your shoulders pressed against the ground, and focus on your core muscles.

Meet Kristin McGee at the Health‘s Total Wellness Weekend at Canyon Ranch resort April 22-24. For details, go to http://ift.tt/1AYb7dA.

 

 

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1Rx76JQ

Work With Monkeys May Benefit HIV Babies

TUESDAY, March 22, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Treating baby monkeys within 24 hours of exposure to an HIV-like virus eliminated the virus, a new study says.

The findings suggest that giving antibodies to human infants infected with HIV by their mothers might clear the AIDS-causing virus from their bodies, according to the researchers.

“We knew going into this study that HIV infection spreads very quickly in infants during mother-to-child transmission,” said study senior author Nancy Haigwood, director of the Oregon National Primate Research Center at Oregon Health & Science University.

“So we knew that we had to treat the infant rhesus macaques quickly but we were not convinced an antibody treatment could completely clear the virus after exposure. We were proven wrong,” she said in a university news release.

The study was published March 21 in the journal Nature Medicine.

Rates of mother-to-child HIV transmission have fallen from 35 percent in 2000 to less than 3 percent, due to measures such as antiretroviral therapy, cesarean delivery, and formula feeding rather than breast-feeding, the researchers said.

However, about 200,000 children worldwide are infected with HIV each year, primarily in developing countries where there is less access to antiretroviral therapy, the researchers noted.

“Other nonhuman primate studies with antiretroviral therapy suggest that treatment as early as three days after infection is too late to prevent establishment of the HIV reservoir,” study co-author Jonah Sacha, an assistant scientist at the primate research center, said in the news release.

“So using antibodies to clear the virus after infants have already been exposed could save thousands of lives,” he added.

More research is needed, however, and it’s important to note that results of animal studies often aren’t replicated in human trials.

More information

AIDS.gov has more about children and HIV.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1MzDpjX

Uninsured Parents Often Unaware Kids Could Be Covered

TUESDAY, March 22, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Many parents of minority children in the United States are unaware that their youngsters qualify for government health insurance, a new study reveals.

“Our findings indicate an urgent need for better parental education about Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP),” said study author Dr. Glenn Flores. He is chair of health policy research for the Medica Research Institute in Minnetonka, Minn.

“The findings also indicate a need to improve Medicaid/CHIP outreach and enrollment,” he added in an institute news release.

The researchers looked at 267 uninsured but eligible Hispanic and black children in Texas. Only 49 percent of their parents knew the children were eligible for government insurance, the investigators found.

Average uninsured time for the children was 14 months, and 5 percent had never been insured. The most common reason for a child never being insured was high cost. The most common reason for loss of insurance? It expired and the parents never reapplied, the study authors said.

The researchers also found that 38 percent of the children had suboptimal health, two-thirds had special health care needs, and 64 percent had no primary care provider.

The study was published March 22 in the International Journal for Equity in Health.

Unmet health needs included: general health care and mental health care in seven out of 10 cases; dental care for 61 percent of children; and vision, for nearly half the kids. Mobility aids/devices and specialty care were an issue for 67 percent and 57 percent, respectively, the findings showed.

Because of their children’s health issues, more than one-third of parents had financial problems, 23 percent reduced their work hours, and one in 10 stopped working, the study found.

Minority children in the United States have the lowest rates of insurance. Hispanic and black children account for 53 percent of uninsured children in the nation (2.4 million), despite comprising less than half of the total population of U.S. children, the study authors said.

More information

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has more about health coverage for children.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1MzDnZr

Moderate Drinking May Not Lengthen Life, Study Suggests

By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, March 22, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Despite previous studies suggesting a bevy of health benefits, a new analysis challenges the idea that drinking alcohol in moderation might prolong your life.

After reviewing nearly 90 previously completed studies, researchers said that moderate drinkers may not have a survival benefit compared to people who don’t drink at all.

“So-called ‘moderate’ drinkers do not live longer than nondrinkers,” said review co-author Tanya Chikritzhs. She is a professor and director of the Alcohol Policy Research team at Australia’s National Drug Research Institute.

Not everyone agrees with that conclusion, but some health experts do.

“Scientific data continue to support the premise that small to moderate amounts of alcohol on a regular basis are consistent with a healthy lifestyle for middle-aged and older adults,” said Dr. R. Curtis Ellison, professor of medicine and public health at Boston University School of Medicine.

Chikritzhs and her colleagues contend that previous reviews missed an important limitation: People who abstain from drinking often do so because they’re ill. As a result, the researchers said, abstainers are more likely to die earlier, a fact that can throw off findings about the influence of alcohol consumption on life span.

In the new review, the researchers examined 87 studies and removed those that didn’t take into account the fact that abstainers may avoid drinking due to illness. After the study authors “corrected” this issue, Chikritzhs said, they found no sign of a life span benefit from moderate drinking.

In addition, she said, “among people who drink, it was actually the ‘occasional’ drinkers — those who drank less than a drink every 10 days or so — who did the best.” But, she added, this finding appears to be a statistical fluke because that isn’t enough alcohol to influence health.

In addition, she said, “It is becoming clearer that it is much more likely to be the case that being a low or moderate drinker in middle age or older is a marker of good health, not a cause of it.”

In the big picture, Chikritzhs said, “alcohol is a legal substance that many people enjoy, and that’s fine. But when it comes to health or thinking of alcohol as some sort of ‘medicine,’ even low doses are unlikely to prevent death.”

And, she said, when you consider its potential for addiction and negative effects when used to excess, “for most folks, when it comes to health, drinking less is better.”

Ellison said the new review was biased and “does not stand up” to the vast research in this area. “Anytime you have to rely on humans to tell you what they actually drink, there is always the chance that there will be mistakes in their reporting,” he said.

Experiments involving people and animals show that “small amounts of an alcoholic beverage, especially wine, are associated with less atherosclerosis [clogged arteries] and coronary heart disease — even in rats, mice and pigeons,” he said.

Jurgen Rehm, professor and chair of Addiction Policy with the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, agreed that experiments show beneficial effects from alcohol. However, he said, even a single drink can boost some risks, such as that of breast cancer — thus, canceling out the benefit.

“If people drink only one drink a day,” he said, “it is a wash. There are much better ways to get health benefits.”

The new review appears in the March issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

More information

For more about the health effects of alcohol, try the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1MzDnZh