Infertility

Yunani and Ayurvedic have been using honey for years in medicine to strengthen the semen of men. If impotent men regularly take two tablespoon of honey before sleeping, their problem will be solved. In China, Japan and Far-East countries, women who do not conceive and to strengthen the uterus have been taking cinnamon powder for centuries.

Women who cannot conceive may take a pinch of cinnamon powder in half teaspoon of honey and apply it on the gums frequently throughout the day, so that it slowly mixes with the saliva and enters the body.

A couple in Maryland, America had no children for 14 years and had left hope of having a child of their own. When told about this process husband and wife started taking honey and cinnamon as stated above, the wife conceived after a few months and had twins at full term.

Performance Anxiety

The brain is a major sex organ. It controls both sex hormones (female,Male) and sex thoughts. And what you think can make sex pleasurable - or a bit of a worry. Worry in the form of performance anxiety is a more likely cause of erectile dysfunction in younger men than physical issues, although the latter shouldn't be dismissed.

Physical causes in young men can include too much alcohol, not enough rest (fatigue), and smoking because it narrows the arteries that pump the blood that drives the erection. There are also possible genetic causes. That's why you need to visit your GP to get an accurate diagnosis and, if required, a referral to the right expert. Don't waste time and money on dodgy sex clinics or 'cures' ordered over the Internet. The real cure could start with good communication with your doctor, a therapist and your partner. Definitely don't leave your partner in the dark. It could make him or her feel rejected and make it all seem worse than it is.

Maybe you're anxious during sex because:
- It's your first time
- It's your first time with that partner
- You find using condoms awkward
- You're worried about whether you're doing it right
- Your partner isn't having an orgasm
- Your partner is having an orgasm and you're not
- You think your penis is too small
- Your partner's parents are coming home any moment!

Practising putting condoms on before you're with a partner will give you confidence. Taking your time during sex and communicating to ensure you're both comfortable will take the pressure off. Talking to qualified experts can set you straight about the rest. If it's a bit embarrassing, maybe you could start by calling a sex advice helpline.

SAFER SEX

Unless you're in a long-term, monogamous relationship or doing it on your own, there's no such thing as 'safe sex'. But there is 'safer sex' and you need condoms to do it. Sometimes people confuse safer sex with contraception because condoms do both. Safer sex is about minimising the risks of getting or spreading sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Contraception is about preventing pregnancies. Using anything other than condoms, such as being on the Pill, isn't safer sex.

The case for condoms
Condoms are the best way to help prevent you from getting STIs, which have health impacts ranging from smelly discharges to infertility to death. Condoms are portable, discreet and relatively cheap compared to the huge cost in potential consequences of not using them. And they come in different colours and textures ...

Condom cop-outs
Condoms sometimes get loaded with relationship or other issues that stop people from using them. Issues like:
- We're monogamous. Using condoms would be saying I don't trust him (or her)
- Sex is spontaneous. Having condoms looks like you're planning it
- It's not my responsibility
- I know I don't have an STI. I feel fine
- I know my date doesn't have an STI. He (or she) looks too healthy (or good-looking)
- I can't talk about this before sex, it's a turn-off
- It's embarrassing to talk about using condoms
- It gets in the way of a good time

If you cop out on condoms, that's a choice. But if you make that choice, don't tell yourself it's about trust issues or because 'it won't happen to me'. If that were true, STI rates wouldn't be so high.

Female Physiology

Even if you never have a baby, your body's capacity to conceive and carry children drives many of the important physical changes you experience throughout your life. Hormones, chemicals produced by your glands or other tissues, control these changes and others, such as the emotions you experience as you mature into adulthood.

Puberty
Puberty, the transition to sexual maturity, usually takes between 2 to 5 years. Girls usually start puberty between ages 12 and 15, but sometimes as young as 8. During puberty the female sex hormone oestrogen fosters the growth of the sex organs: the ovaries, Fallopian tube, and uterus. This is when your ovaries - your reproductive glands - start to fully function by releasing a mature egg each month. The lining of your uterus (or womb) builds up each month, ready to support a fertilised egg. The egg is carried into your Fallopian tube but if no sperm fertilizes that egg, the uterine lining sheds, mixed with blood, during your mnestrual period. Among other changes, oestrogen also makes you:
- grow tall quickly
- develop breasts
- grow pubic hair and underarm hair
- get broader hips
- perspire more
- get oily skin, and maybe pimples
- grow coarser hair on your legs
- have vaginal secretions.

Pregnancy
If you get pregnant, your body undergoes many more, dramatic changes, regulated by a variety of hormones. This includes the growth of the placenta within the uterus. The placenta acts like a spongy lifeline carrying nutrients, gases and wastes to and from the embryo. Externally, the most obvious changes to your body include the expansion of your abdomen to accommodate the foetus, weight gain and bigger breasts.

Menopause
Menopause is when you stop menstruating and usually occurs between ages 42 and 56. Your ovaries start producing less oestrogen in the years leading up to your last period and your menstrual cycle may become unpredictable - irregular, lighter or heavier, until they stop altogether. This lead-up to menopause is called perimenopause. You might also experience symptoms like hot flushes, weight gain, night sweats and mood swings, although some women have no such problems. For those who do, treatments to ease the symptoms include HRT (hormone replacement therapy) and natural therapies. Without the protective effects of oestrogen, after menopause women may be more vulnerable to other health conditions, such as osteoporosis (thinning bones) and heart disease.

Sometimes serious health problems may cause a young woman to experience early menopause, also called premature ovarian failure. This is when a woman stops ovulating, or producing eggs, or ovulation may become infrequent and unpredictable. Health problems that might bring on early menopause could include causes such as dysfunctional ovaries, difficulties with the pituitary gland, which releases hormones, radiation treatment or chemotherapy.

HIV / AIDS

HIV/AIDS stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. HIV is a virus which, if untreated, may later develop into the disease AIDS.

How do you get it?
HIV is spread by exchanging infected body fluids such as blood, semen, vaginal discharge and anal mucous during sexual contact and/or sharing needles with an infected person, receiving a transfusion of contaminated blood, or between mother and infant before or during birth (perinatal HIV), or by breastfeeding. Testing of pregnant women, antiretroviral drug treatment provided during pregnancy, labor, and delivery and then to the newborn, as well as caesarean delivery where appropriate, can reduce the rate of perinatal HIV transmission.

HIV is not confined to the gay community, nor to injecting drug users or sex workers, and the infection rates among women are increasing rapidly. Of the 4.8 million new HIV infections in 2003, 2 million were women. Studies have shown that young people are at particular risk, partly because they think it can't happen to them. But about half all new infections are of people aged between 15 and 24 - that means six young people are being infected every minute. HIV is not spread by coughing, sharing eating utensils, shaking hands, hugging or kissing.

Symptoms
You can have HIV and have no symptoms. If you do have symptoms, these might be similar to those for glandular fever, including weakness, muscular pain, sore throat, headaches, diarrhoea, rash and recurrent shingles. If you develop AIDS, your system becomes vulnerable to various infections and cancers.

Testing
People who come into contact with HIV develop antibodies (something the body makes to fight germs). Blood tests can detect the antibodies three months after infection. If you have the antibodies, you are 'HIV positive'.

If you are HIV positive it doesn't mean you have AIDS, although you do carry the virus and can pass it on.

Treatment
Antiretroviral drugs can be prescribed to manage the disease, but it can't be cured. People infected with HIV who can get treatment may have a normal life span, if the right drugs are available and used correctly. The medications often have side-effects that are difficult to live with and the long-term effects of taking these drugs is not known. So, don't assume that you can take risks and avoid the possible harmful consequences. Many researchers are currently trying to develop a vaccine to prevent HIV but this is expected to take years.

Prevention
Use condoms and get tested (both) if you have sex with a different partner, or if your partner is also having sex with others. There is only a small chance that the virus can be passed on through oral sex except where there are cuts or sores in the mouth or on the genitals. Avoid taking semen, menstrual fluid or vaginal discharge into the mouth.

Consequences
It can take months or years after infection with HIV for AIDS to develop. AIDS is fatal, although better treatments developed in recent years may prolong life

STI (sexually transmitted infection)

Anyone who is sexually active could get a sexually transmitted infection (STI). You get them because of what you do, not who you are. You can't tell by looking at someone whether he or she has an STI. The safest thing you can do is assume a new partner might have an STI and use condoms to minimise your chances of getting it. Some diseases often have no symptoms or the symptoms don't emerge for weeks or even years. By then, the damage to your health by way of infertility or other more dangerous complications has been done. That's why it's essential to get regularly tested if you aren't in a long-term, monogamous relationship - assuming that both of you have been tested at the outset.

If you are diagnosed with an STI, you need to have it treated before having sex again and to tell your partner or partners to ensure that they also get treatment.

Male Physiology

Whether or not you ever become a father, the male reproductive system is designed to help you do just that. Your male sex organs produce, store and deliver millions of tadpole-shaped spermatozoa ('sperm'), each primed to fertilise a female's egg after sex.

Many of the most dramatic physical and emotional changes you experience as you become an adult are driven by chemicals that your glands and other tissues produce, called male sex hormones or androgens. Your hypothalamus and your pituitary gland, at the base of your brain, control the release and levels of these hormones. Testosterone, which is mostly produced in the testes, is the most potent androgen in men.

Puberty
Puberty, the transition from child to sexually mature adult, usually takes between about 2 to 5 years. A growth spurt that could kick in between the ages of 10 and 16 may be the first outward sign for boys. Testosterone secretion surges, stimulating the growth of the beard, body hair, bone, muscle and prostate gland (your prostate produces some of the fluid that mixes with sperm when you ejaculate). Testosterone also fuels powerful emotional urges, most notably your sex drive and aggression.

Sperm journey
Testosterone also fosters the development of your sex organs, including your testes, where sperm is produced. From the testes, sperm move through the epididymis, which is five metres of tightly coiled tubing tucked up behind your testes. In the epididymis, sperm develop the essential ability to move or swim (become 'motile'). They are stored in the epididymis until you have an erection. In very simple terms, when you have an orgasm, muscle contractions move the sperm along a series of ducts where they collect fluids that mingle to become semen. The sperm-bearing semen is pushed out through the penis during ejaculation.

More changes
During puberty, as your glands become active, pumping out more hormones, you may grow:
- more muscular
- taller, broad-shouldered and heavier
- a deeper voice
- pubic hair, underarm hair and chest hair
- more sweaty
- oilier skin and pimples.

Along with the rest of your body, your penis and testes grow bigger and you get erections - your penis gets hard, sometimes when you least expect it. With puberty, as your sperm production begins you might ejaculate when you get an erection, releasing semen. Sometimes this happens while you sleep; it's called a 'wet dream'. It's a normal sign that the plumbing in your reproductive system works.

After age 40, male testosterone levels fall very gradually. In some older men, testosterone levels get too low, causing health problems. Older men are also more likely to suffer from conditions such as prostate disease and erectile dysfunction. Erectile dysfunction can affect young men too, but usually due to different causes.

Erectile Dysfunction

If you've ever had trouble during sex in getting and keeping an erection through to orgasm, be aware that most men experience erectile dysfunction at some time. Your first stop needs to be your doctor for an accurate diagnosis. Don't be tempted to pay a visit to the many 'clinics' that advertise cures unless you have checked these organisations out thoroughly.

The causes could be physical, psychological, or a combination of both. They could include:

- side effects of medication
- symptom of another problem, such as diabetes
- relationship difficulties
- pelvic injury requiring surgery
- hormone deficiencies, such as low testosterone.

It might also be caused by a relatively common genetic problem, called Klinefelter's Syndrome, that often goes undiagnosed. Men affected by this condition are unable to produce enough sperm and testosterone to function normally. Men with this condition have extremely small testes and trouble having erections. The treatment is medically supervised testosterone therapy.