Love Workout

[entheogen808]

The love workout

By CONNIE PRATER

The mood is set — candles, body oils, music.

Gradually, your heart rate increases. The neural cells in your brain begin releasing endorphins — those feel-good chemicals that give you a sense of euphoria as potent as a shot of morphine.

What you aren't likely thinking about at the moment are the health benefits of what you're about to do. According to doctors, psychologists and sex therapists, it not only feels good, it may also be good for you.

Take note:

Sex increases blood flow and circulation throughout the body and may help reduce the risk of heart attack.

It is a mental tonic and stress reducer.

Thirty minutes of sex burns an average of 150 calories.

"You're burning calories and it beats the heck out of jogging," said Dr. Eva Ritvo, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Miami and head of the Department of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach. "Clearly the longer you're doing it, the more calories you're burning." Adds family practitioner Dr. Fleur Sack: "Exercise is good and sex is exercise and if you're doing it at least three times a week," you'll be healthier.

Though there's a mountain of research on how often Americans have sex and how much we enjoy it — or don't — there is scant information on its physical and health benefits.

Antidote to anxiety

One reason may be a lack of study subjects. (Imagine having your heart rate monitored or blood pressure checked before, during and after intercourse.) But one study conducted a decade ago by Dr. David Weeks at Scotland's Royal Edinburgh Hospital did look at 3,500 men between the ages of 18 and 102 (yes, 102!). The survey concluded that men having orgasms three or more times a week had a reduction in heart disease and lived longer than those who didn't.

Men also can take comfort in this: The more sex they have, the less their chances of developing prostatitis — an enlargement of the prostate due to fluid buildup. More frequent ejaculation may help relieve that buildup, according to Sack.

She also cited the research on heart rates. "When you're having sex with your spouse or someone in a long-term relationship, your heart rate goes up to about 120 beats per minute (from the normal of 70)," she said, noting that 120 beats per minute is a healthy range for cardiovascular fitness, but those whose rate goes higher increase their risk of heart attack. "If you're having extramarital sex, it goes up to about 180 beats per minute."

The incidence of heart attack during sex for men having affairs is higher than for those in committed relationships, she said: "The risk of being caught is high and it's more exciting." (Doctors cautioned against sex outside a committed relationship and urged the use of birth control against unwanted pregnancies and the practice of safe sex to avoid contracting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.)

But if you follow these caveats, you can have fun and boost your health. "It can improve sleep," said Amy Demner, a licensed clinical psychologist. "It can also help to reduce worry and anxiety. When your mind is focused on pleasure and sexy things, anxious thoughts will disappear."

The endorphins that are released in the brain also act like a booster shot for the body's immune system.

Nothing beats stress — that silent menace that many believe contributes to ulcers, migraines and other disorders — like a good round of sex, experts say.

"One of the mental-health benefits is being able to have complete trust in another human being," said Gary Neuman, a Miami Beach marriage counselor and author of "Emotional Infidelity: How to Affair-proof Your Marriage and Other Secrets to a Great Relationship." "We are very anxious about losing control, but if we allow ourselves to lose our sense of control with another person, it's a mental health benefit."

Neuman and Sack noted that couples should not focus solely on intercourse. Touching and caressing also carries with it the increased heart rate, blood circulation and stress-relieving bonuses.

"It could be just touching and hugging and kissing and playing with each other's bodies," said Sack.

[chrishaolin]

Originally posted by entheogen808

...according to Sack...

very fitting..

[siceone]

If this is how you get when you're getting some ass I hate to see what you're like when you get dumped

[entheogen808]

Originally posted by siceone

If this is how you get when you're getting some ass I hate to see what you're like when you get dumped

me???