Archive for the 'Health' Category

photo by blmurch

Romantic comedies are not your best date night movie option!

Romantic comedies set up unrealistic expectations in relationships.  Researchers at Hariot Watt University found their study subjects, after watching such films,  to be more apt to believe in soul mates, magical consistent sex with one’s partner and that in a good relationship one’s partner should be able to predict your needs, even if you don’t explicitly state them.

Kimberly Johnson, who also worked on the study, said: ‘Films do capture the excitement of new relationships but they also wrongly suggest that trust and committed love exist from the moment people meet, whereas these are qualities that normally take years to develop.’

You can help out with their next study on relationships, personality and media consumption, you can take part in a survey here.

A while back I read about a study that found couples were more likely to hook up after watching a horror film than other genres included in the study.  (A study I, of course, can’t locate right now).  Horror films get the adrenalin pumping and the blood flowing with the disadvantage of making your call into questions various aspects of your current relationship.

Looking good, feeling better.

Market researchers for Astral moisturizer in the UK surveyed more than 1000 women between the ages of 45-60 about their sex appeal and satisfaction.

The age at which a women feels most sexy is 34, according to a new study, that also found those in their twenties and thirties have the most sex – 10.4 times a month on average

This figure is double the amount middle-aged women have, which works out at just 4.5 times a month, but the research suggests the older women take more pleasure from it.

More than half – 56 per cent – said they enjoyed sex more than they did when they were younger.

Seems reasonable.  Women feel sexiest when they’re getting the most nookie.  Their partner(s) make them feel more desirable, yielding more sexual encounters.   Like everything else in life, practice makes closer to  perfect.  Older women have spent years figuring out what feels good to their bodies, so one would hope a good partner who understands one’s need would make for better sex.

Birth control pill available without a prescription in London

Here’s a solution to the Bush administration’s planned HHS regulations allowing medical professionals and staff to deny procedures and sales of medications that violate their own moral code.

A very progressive Department of Health in the UK is running a trial, which includes selling the birth control pill without a prescription to women 16 or older at 2 London pharmacies. The study aims to see if greater and easier accessibility to the birth control pill could lower teen pregnancy rates in the country.

The UK is actually serious about cutting back on unwanted pregnancy, unlike the US.  Here, pro-birth advocates are hard at work to cut government funding to Planned Parenthood chapters nationwide.   Why? Abortions make up 3% of the service offered at Planned Parenthood. Nevermind that abortion is legal and 38% their patients are there for contraceptives to prevent an unwanted pregancy (page 6 of Planned Parenthood Annual Report)

Abortion doesn’t cause depression

A John Hopkins University review of more than 21 studies looking at post-abortion mental health found no linkage between abortion and depression, but instead found “post abortion syndrome” to be a convenient political gimmick for the pro-birth movement.

‘Based on the best available evidence, emotional harm should not be a factor in abortion policy. If the goal is to help women, program and policy decisions should not distort science to advance political agendas,’ added Vignetta Charles, a researcher and doctoral student at Johns Hopkins who worked on the study.