HARD TRUTH The 5 everyday habits that are decimating your sex life – and 4 things to reignite the passion

 Our happiness and health can both benefit from a good frolic.

Therefore, it might be disappointing if a bedtime session doesn't go as planned or if you have trouble igniting the passion.

However, it's occasionally worthwhile to take a closer look at your daily routine because seemingly harmless actions could be causing erectile dysfunction (ED) or decreasing your desire for sex.

Professor Geoff Hackett, a physician advisor for the men's telehealth business Hims, listed five potential causes of sexual dysfunction.

Here are five habits you might want to avoid, from overindulging in alcohol to picking up particular meals as snacks.

1. Eating fatty foods

Even though eating fatty foods occasionally can be a delicious indulgence, Geoff told Huffington Post that eating them frequently can lead to sexual issues.

That's because bad fats may promote atherosclerosis, which is the accumulation of plaque in your arteries.

This can restrict your arteries and reduce blood flow to your penis, making it challenging to get or keep an erection.

Fatty foods can do more than just ruin your mood; atherosclerosis increases your chance of heart attack and stroke.

"ED can be an important early warning sign that the smaller arteries of the penis are being affected and that larger arteries will be affected unless medical issues are addressed," said Geoff.

2. Having too much sugar

Sugary snacks are another frequent cause of your unfulfilling romp, especially if you consume them frequently.

Geoff claims that sugary foods raise blood sugar levels, which trigger the pancreas to release insulin to lower them.

The medical advisor cautioned that if you experience this cycle repeatedly, it may start to harm your sexual health.

In fact, he said, diabetes can occasionally show up as an early indicator of erectile dysfunction.

Erection issues are more prevalent among diabetics.

Early medical intervention, according to Geoff, can be beneficial.

3. Drinking too much

Thought the haziness of alcohol would make a romp appear romantic or exciting?

Geoff warns that it can actually ruin your mood when you finally get to the bedroom.

He claims that excessive drinking raises blood pressure, cholesterol, and lowers testosterone.

This can result in ED, decreased sexual drive, and difficulty orgasming, according to Geoff.

Steroids and muscle-building substances may have a similar effect, he added.

4. Smoking

Smoking is bad for your health, but it also has an impact on your sexual life.

"The main culprit is nicotine," says Geoff, "which is a known vasoconstrictor (a type of chemical that reduces blood flow through arteries)."

"The small blood vessels of the penis are especially vulnerable and smokers have 1.5 to two-fold increased risk of ED."

Even if you stop smoking, it can take up to six months for your ED to go away.

5. Stress

Stress may be a major mood killer in the bedroom.

"Stress is associated with increased levels of adrenaline which causes difficulty in maintaining an erection and also affects the production of sex hormones, especially testosterone, that may reduce libido," Geoff went on to say.

Cortisol, a stress hormone, can influence testosterone production.

FOUR WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR SEX LIFE

Geoff acknowledged that it can be difficult to avoid stress, but he recommended that you try breathing exercises, meditation, or sex therapy to relax and boost your desire.

There are numerous of foods that can improve your sex life, while they may not be as well-known as aphrodisiacs like oysters or chocolate-covered strawberries.

To increase your sex life, Dr Michael Mosley recommends eating foods like chickpeas, fatty salmon, pistachios, leafy greens, and beetroot.

Kegels were also recommended by Harvard Health authorities.

Whatever your gender, the exercises that entail tightening the muscles of your pelvic floor can improve your sexual fitness.

Results for TCS Q2: Net profit is Rs. 11,342 billion.

TCS Q2 earnings: A Moneycontrol poll expected TCS to report a 3.12 percent sequential growth in PAT at Rs 11,420 crore

image by moneycontrol

 

Despite a challenging business environment, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on October 11 declared a net profit of Rs. 11,342 crore for the third quarter of the current fiscal year, supported by a robust order book, particularly in the BFSI category.

The largest provider of IT services in India reported consolidated revenue of Rs 59,692 crore for the quarter. Order wins for TCS in Q2 totaled $11.2 billion, an increase from one quarter to the next.

For the quarter, its EBIT margin grew to 24.3% from 23.2 percent (QoQ). The IT industry leader generated $7,210 million in revenue in dollars.

Sequentially, PAT exceeded expectations, but rupee revenue growth fell short of expectations.

Findings are a great first step because they show that the Mauritius sea sponge produces compounds that can kill liver cancer cells.

 Natural ingredients, primarily plants, have been used to create medicines for thousands of years. But in recent years, researchers hunting for novel drugs have begun to focus on the enormous diversity of marine organisms.

Sponge species found in the sea have drawn a lot of interest. They are regarded as the best producers of molecules (sometimes referred to as "natural products"). These are created by them because they use toxic substances to ward off predators, communicate with their neighbours, or keep bacteria and algae from growing on them.

With over 9,000 species, marine sponges are a highly varied group of organisms. They come in a vast range of colours, sizes, and shapes, from tiny, unnoticeable forms to enormous, colourful reef-building species. Their name comes from the way they appear—a stationary lump of porous tissue on the seafloor.

They are among the planet's most primitive organisms, lacking sophisticated organs and tissues. They have evolved to survive by creating chemical compounds because they lack physical and mechanical traits to flee (fins, legs), attack (spines), and protect themselves (shells). Some of these substances have been discovered to have beneficial qualities against microbial infections and cancer.

Early in the 1950s, two new natural compounds derived from the Caribbean sponge species Tectitethya crypta sparked interest in these qualities. Later, the products were authorised for use as leukaemia and HIV medications.

Such findings have greatly increased interest in the therapeutic uses of compounds obtained from sponges.

Mauritius, where I'm from, has a tonne of promise in this area. There are many different species of sponge on Mauritius, providing the chance to find bioactive substances.

At the University of Mauritius, I earned a PhD in applied marine biochemistry. I conducted research on the anticancer potential of the sponge Neopetrosia exigua from the waters of Mauritius under the supervision of Ranjeet Bhagooli, Theeshan Bahorun, Vidushi Neergheen, and the late Alexander Kagansky as part of my studies.

We recently released a publication in which we demonstrate, for the first time, the ability of compounds produced by N. exigua to selectively kill liver cancer cells while causing little harm to healthy cells. We indicate that the Mauritian sponge N. exigua has the potential to be developed into a less hazardous treatment candidate against liver cancer based on our findings about its pharmacological properties.

Our research represents the initial step in the biodiscovery process. From the time when active chemicals are discovered until they are used as medicines in humans, there are a number of procedures that can take 15 to 20 years.

Studying how a sponge kills cancer cells

The initial stage in our investigation was to snorkel and scuba dive to collect a sample of N. exigua sponge from the Mauritian coral reefs. What could be more ideal for a dedicated ocean lover than to work in one of the world's most pristine marine ecosystems?

Once we obtained our sample, we carefully treated the sponge in the lab to produce various extracts that each contained unique natural compounds. The University of Edinburgh examined the toxicity of these extracts against a variety of human cancer cell lines. Cell lines are collections of living organism-derived cells that can continue dividing and expanding in the laboratory. They help researchers understand how cells behave, test novel treatments, and understand how diseases manifest.

To determine how hazardous the sponge extracts were to healthy cells, we also examined their effects on non-cancerous cells. This is especially intriguing because some anticancer medications indiscriminately cause DNA damage, killing both healthy and cancerous cells. Patients receiving those treatments for cancer may experience unfavourable side effects such as infections, anaemia, exhaustion, and nausea.

We discovered that one particular extract had a very low toxicity towards normal cells and the capacity to selectively kill liver cancer cells at extremely low concentrations.

We also saw the mechanism by which the extract accomplished this: N. exigua components triggered a number of proteins that resulted in the destruction of the liver cancer cells via a process known as apoptosis. By removing undesirable or potentially hazardous cells, this process aids in maintaining the general balance and health of an organism. These dangerous cells may continue to grow and divide if apoptosis isn't working properly, with the potential to develop into a cancer.

Biodiscovery process

The next stage will be to isolate and identify the natural components responsible for the extract's anticancer activity using cutting-edge analytical techniques like chromatography and mass spectrometry in order to validate its prospective usage.

This will pave the way for later assessments to examine its efficacy and toxicity in appropriate experimental animal models. If this stage is successful, the testing move on to clinical trials with humans.

Scientific data about the pharmacological properties of Mauritian marine organisms could create opportunities to promote marine biodiscovery research and sustainable use of the ocean resources in Mauritius. It will also add another reason to conserve the country’s marine biodiversity.

The marine sponge Neopetrosia exigua is highly distributed in the Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean (Caribbean Sea) and Pacific Ocean. However, its population density has significantly declined over the last few years in Mauritius due to a continued rise in ocean temperatures.