Sex and long life

[Gingertom3]

On the MSN hotmail page I read that frequent sex helps to extend a man's life. Not only is it fun but it can add years to your life. i think we already suspected this because sexual activity certainly is good for respiration and circulation as well as exercising the muscles in arms,legs,buttocks, and pelvis. And when you feel better in yourself and with yourself, that psychological boost itself must add years to your life.
So our women are real lifesavers, aren't they? Thank God for women.

Jim

[Genome]

You mean..."Thank God for women who are willing to have sex much as we need it." Many women are not.

Also, frequent ejaculation...daily or more...reduces risk of prostate cancer.

[Gingertom3]

That's right, Genome. The article was based on research at Queen's College in Belfast Northern Ireland. From studying 1000 men within a certain age group over a ten year period they concluded that mortality rates among the men who had frequent sex was markedly lower than among men who had sex infrequently. And as for frequent ejaculation, it supposedly flushes out the prostate gland and reduces the risk of prostate cancer.
Well, maybe that is so. I didn't masturbate often when I was young, nor did I have sex frequently. And I did get prostate cancer. It is genetic, so I'm told. But who knows? Maybe my father and his brothers, who died from prostate cancer, didn't have strong sex drives. Perhaps low libido is genetic.
Anyway, what a fun way to look after your health, don't you think?
As for women, of course they have got to see the health benefits for us and for themselves.
Some of us are fortunate to have a willing woman to hold us tight. I wish all men could be so blessed.

[Genome]

I hope the studies are correct that conclude frequent ejaculation reduces chances of prostate cancer. If it is true, with my masturbation frequency over the last 54 years, beginning before puberty (started about age 10) , I should not get prostate cancer til i am at least 337 years old.

[Gingertom3]

I can't see from your profile whether you had a prostatectomy. If not, it's still a good idea to have a psa test just to make sure your prostate is in good nick. As you say, your frequent masturbation should have kept it healthy.

[Genome]

Thanks for the reminder about PSA. I have an annual psa test and it oscillates back anf forth from 1.7 to 2. Been that way for decades.

[Trying Hard]

I may be wrong here, but the Orientals say that after a certain age,
you should be ejaculating less often; that doesn’t mean have less sex.
You just do it without ejaculating every time. Of course I don’t want “blue balls” either!
I would force it if the ejaculation didn’t come naturally and I felt I would have blue balls.
Do read some tantra books to check this out.
I myself embrace that theory. You do lose a lot of energy, according to them.
My PSA so far, so good.( I’m in my early sixties)

[Genome]

I guess i respectfully disagree (without being disagreeable) about the ejaculation issue promoted in the far east. The reason is that (1) several leading long range medical studies indicate that it is wrong. That frequent ejaculations actually helps the prostate (2) that old semen oxidizes in the body, turning it into carcinogenic chemicals that promote cancer (3) and the tired feeling after sex is caused, not by loss of energy, but by the release of prolactin into the blood that circulates to the brain and gives that pleasantly tired feeling. That chemical is released, among other things, to constrict arteries in the penis, causing the penis to become flaccid. It is a relaxer....and is why men want to fall asleep after sex but women do not, even when they do all the work.

Trying hard.....I am sorry if i come across as a smart azz in saying this. I mean no disrespect to you or anyone holding to that philosophy. I respect any opinion that is well researched.....and you are obviously well read on semen-retention philosophy. And besides...I can be wrong and have been wrong. I am just explaining why i agree with the topic of this thread...that frequent sex (including ejaculation) is very good for ones health.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3 ... ancer.html

[Trying Hard]

Thank you for posting and for the link.

Masturbating may protect against prostate cancer
19:00 16 July 2003 by Douglas Fox, Adelaide
It will make you go blind. It will make your palms grow hairy. Such myths about masturbation are largely a thing of the past. But the latest research has even better news for young men: frequent self-pleasuring could protect against the most common kind of cancer.

A team in Australia led by Graham Giles of The Cancer Council Victoria in Melbourne asked 1079 men with prostate cancer to fill in a questionnaire detailing their sexual habits, and compared their responses with those of 1259 healthy men of the same age. The team concludes that the more men ejaculate between the ages of 20 and 50, the less likely they are to develop prostate cancer.

The protective effect is greatest while men are in their twenties: those who had ejaculated more than five times per week in their twenties, for instance, were one-third less likely to develop aggressive prostate cancer later in life (BJU International, vol 92, p 211).

The results contradict those of previous studies, which have suggested that having had many sexual partners, or a high frequency of sexual activity, increases the risk of prostate cancer by up to 40 per cent. The key difference is that these earlier studies defined sexual activity as sexual intercourse, whereas the latest study focused on the number of ejaculations, whether or not intercourse was involved.

The team speculates that infections caused by intercourse may increase the risk of prostate cancer. "Had we been able to remove ejaculations associated with sexual intercourse, there should have been an even stronger protective effect of other ejaculations," they suggest. "Men have many ways of using their prostate which do not involve women or other men," Giles adds.

Macho exaggeration
Giles accepts the possibility that the men who completed the questionnaires could have lied about their habits. But he doubts this skewed the results, since questions about masturbation are unlikely to evoke the same macho exaggeration as questions about, say, number of sexual partners.

But why should ejaculating more often cut the risk of prostate cancer? The team speculates that ejaculation prevents carcinogens building up in the gland. The prostate, together with the seminal vesicles, secretes the bulk of the fluid in semen, which is rich in substances such as potassium, zinc, fructose and citric acid.

Generating the fluid involves concentrating these components from the bloodstream up to 600-fold - and this could be where the trouble starts. Studies in dogs show that carcinogens such as 3-methylcholanthrene, found in cigarette smoke, are also concentrated in prostate fluid.

"It's a prostatic stagnation hypothesis," says Giles. "The more you flush the ducts out, the less there is to hang around and damage the cells that line them."

Sexual repertoire
His findings suggest an intriguing parallel between prostate cancer and breast cancer, as recent studies indicate that lactating reduces a woman's risk of breast cancer, perhaps because this also flushes out carcinogens. Alternatively, ejaculation might induce prostate cells to mature fully, making them less susceptible to carcinogens.

"All these mechanisms are totally speculative," cautions breast cancer expert Loren Lipworth of the International Epidemiology Institute in Rockville, Maryland.

But if the finding is confirmed, future health advice from doctors may no longer be restricted to diet and exercise. "Masturbation is part of people's sexual repertoire," says Anthony Smith, deputy director of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University in Melbourne.

"If these findings hold up, then it's perfectly reasonable that men should be encouraged to masturbate," he says.