Author: Jay Patterson

The prostate is a relatively small gland underneath a man’s bladder. It’s only about the size of a walnut, but as a man ages it often enlarges… and then problems start. When It’s Just Enlarged Prostate It’s fairly common for a man’s prostate gland to expand with age. When it does, it squeezes the urethra, the tube that allows for easy urine flow, and that makes passing urine difficult. This enlargement is called benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH, for short. The article Treating Prostate Problems offers a fairly good discussion of more basic methods for treating BPH, but here’s one…

The venue was an antiquated general hospital on the northern shores of the Welsh coastline. The building looked like a prefabricated relic from the post war era from the early days of the NHS. I was ushered by a matronly looking, stern but caring type of middle aged nurse, into a side room. Her uniform, and the authority it represented, may have excited some men … but not me. The room itself was painted in two shades of clinical green. It contained a desk, an examination table, and various medical paraphernalia, including a stethoscope, a wound trolley, and x-ray viewing…

Menstruation is a difficult topic for blokes. I remember travelling in India and meeting a young couple on a gap year after ‘A’ levels. They had been travelling through some of the more isolated and impoverished parts of the sub continent. Both were traumatised by the experience and took several days to settle down and start talking to people. When I chatted to the bloke on his own, it was clear that he was not just traumatised by the poverty, but travelling in intimate proximity with a women menstruating in hot insanitary conditions. It wasn’t just the hygiene he found…

We all like a little bit of eye candy, but is it OK if you’re in a loving relationship to still fancy other women? When reflecting on this remember that both Hollywood and the advertising industry spend millions of dollars on attractive men and women to entice us to buy their products. They know that men (and women too) can’t resist looking at beautiful people. The truth here is that it is simply not possible to stop noticing and fancying other people. The problems start with the significance people attach to such casual glances. Let me explain why. I have…

In the olden days, or so I am led to believe, it was considered wrong for boys and men to masturbate. No doubt heavily influenced by Roman Catholicism, this view seemed to be received wisdom throughout much of the 19th and 20th Century’s. Then came the 60’s. With the sexual revolution, masturbation became good, almost compulsory. Received scientific thinking, led by the great sexologist Kinsey, ‘normalised’ masturbation, so that it became, if not immoral, then at least acceptable. Of course boys and most men masturbate, but is there any reason to think you could be masturbating too much? I think…

Why Skin Loses Moisture Dry skin happens when the outer layer (stratum corneum) doesn’t have enough water or oil to seal that water in. Common culprits include cold, windy weather, low indoor humidity from heating or air-conditioning, long hot showers, harsh soaps and detergents, smoking, and excess sun or tanning beds. Age also plays a role because natural oil production declines over time. Daily Fixes That Actually Work The goal is simple: add water and then seal it in. These evidence-based habits help most people: Targeted Tips Ingredients & Products to Consider For stubborn dryness, look for: Fragrance-free and alcohol-free…

A team from the Population Health Research Institute (McMaster University, Canada) systematically reviewed studies published between January 1980 and April 2005 to understand how common key risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) are across the Middle East. They included English-language studies from the region with at least 1,000 participants and reported the prevalence of one or more well-established CVD risks. Key Risk Factors Assessed What the Review Found The researchers reported a high prevalence of diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and smoking in Middle Eastern populations. Smoking was more common among men, whereas obesity and high blood pressure were more common among…

Depressed mood is one of the most common problems I see in men. It rarely arrives alone: low energy, sleep disruption, reduced libido, anxiety, and appetite changes often travel with it. Sometimes life can feel so bleak that suicidal thoughts appear. Depression is a serious health problem that should never be ignored. The question is: how should it be treated? A three-part plan that works I usually recommend a three-pronged approach: medication (when appropriate), cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and structured exercise. Why exercise helps Exercise can lift mood through multiple pathways: it improves sleep, increases exposure to rewarding activities, reduces…

Smell is one of several subtle cues that can influence sexual attraction, and science is beginning to explain why. While looks, values and behavior matter a lot, natural body scent may also carry information our brains quietly use when assessing compatibility. What early studies suggested In a well-known experiment from the 1990s, researcher Claude Wedekind asked men to wear cotton T-shirts for several days (no deodorant or fragrance). Women later smelled the shirts and tended to prefer the scent of men whose major histocompatibility complex (MHC)—a set of immune-related genes—was more dissimilar from their own. The idea is that pairing…

Since 1987, the United States maintained a policy that barred people living with HIV from entering the country, based on the view that they posed a public health risk. A shift in policy to lift this ban brings U.S. practice closer to the majority of nations that do not treat HIV status as a ground for inadmissibility. For an overview of how different countries approach this issue, see the UNAIDS summary of HIV-related travel restrictions. What the previous ban meant in practice Why lifting the ban matters Ending HIV-specific entry restrictions reduces stigma and aligns policy with current public health…