Sensual and Intimacy Issues

SHAPE UP FOR SEX Striking out at the bar? Join a running club. When it comes to choosing a man, women with athletic builds are less superficial than those with curvaceous figures, say Polish scientists. After a detailed survey, they determined that the broader a woman’s hips were relative to her waist, the more importance she placed on a man’s looks. “Curvier women have more estrogen and a greater maternal urge to find a partner who looks like he’ll produce strong babies and provide for a family,” says the study author, Boguslaw Pawlowski, PhD.

IT IS IN YOUR HEAD

As if wilted wood is not bad enough, erectile dysfunction may be an early sign of Parkinson’s Harvard researchers who tracked 32,000 men for 16 years found that those with ED were 3.8 times more likely to develop Parkinson’s. According to the study authors, the disease alters brain circuits that control involuntary functions – like sexual arousal – years before the first hallmark tremors appear. To fight back, drink two cups of coffee a day. Scientist found that men who did so were less likely to develop the disease than those who skipped java.

SCENT SCIENCE

Pass on the horse – drawn carriage ride. Stinky air makes you less attractive, say Northwestern University scientist from Illinois. Women exposed to a faint foul odor rated faces as less likable than they did when in fresh air. Turns out, when women detect a stench, they associate it with the face of the person they are with. The good news: A waft of citrus spikes likability.

ASHES, ASHES WE ALL FALL DOWN
Before you try to hook up in a smoky bar, consider what might happen if you succeed: inhaling secondhand smoke can sabotage your erections, according to a University of Texas study. When men were given a nicotine dose equivalent to 30 minutes of smoke exposure, their erections were 23 percent weaker than those of men spared the stimulant. The nicotine in the smoke can trigger hormones that keep the veins in your penis from constricting and holding blood, say the study authors.

FACTS OF LIFE

53 percentages of people who have better sex lives thanks to a little experimentation; this includes role-playing, massage, and acting on sexual fantasies