Let's Talk Health (Page 7)

According to a study conducted by Purdue University, young people who leave their abusive relationships end up feeling significantly happier than they expected to feel. Researchers studied 171 people with an average age of 19, all of whom were in an abusive dating relationship. More than 80 percent of the participants were women. Participants reported at least one act of verbal, psychological or physical abuse....

Marriage has been shown to lower mortality rates among heterosexuals, and it looks like men in same-sex marriages may share this same marital benefit. A study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology found men in same-sex marriages had a slightly lower mortality rate than unmarried or divorced homosexuals. Researchers suggest this decline correlates with advances in HIV/AIDS treatment. However,...

The days are getting longer, the temperature is rising and soon millions of people will begin a summer romance. Why is this so? Isn’t it just as common to snuggle and fall in love beside a warm fire on a cold night? Yes, it is, but the search for that cherished mate begins months before. Science tells us why. The Earth’s biological cycles can affect our physiology and our behavior. Seasonal change can be linked to...

Does building a great body naturally lead to a great sex life? According to an interesting study, your level of fitness and your body image play a big role in how satisfied you feel between the sheets. The study, which was published in the Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality, found fitness level and body image account for 44% of women's and 21% of men's sexual confidence and satisfaction. While both men and women...

Like many other people suffering from a long-term illness, type 1 diabetics find their condition often affects their relationships. According to a study from The State University of New York and Brigham Young University, type 1 diabetes not only negatively impacts patients who suffer from the illness, it also negatively impacts a patient’s partner, both of whom feel fear and uncertainty related to the...

How early students begin to date may determine their success in school. A new study coming out of the University of Georgia’s College of Public Health found students who date in middle school are four times as likely to drop out and report twice as much alcohol, tobacco and marijuana use. Researchers recruited 624 students and tracked their personal lives and academic progress from sixth to 12th grade. Students...

Almost 1.5 million high school students suffer from dating violence every year, and Texas was the first state to mandate school policies on dating violence, according to a study. Yet Texas still has a long way to go in the fight against teen dating violence. The Crime Victims’ Institute at Sam Houston State University found one-third of the school districts in Texas don't make it clear enough to students that they...

How common is hooking up among college and high school students? According to research studies, 60 to 80 percent of American college students and 61 percent of sexually active high school students have had some sort of hookup experience. The research, which is soon to be published in the book "The End of Sex: How Hookup Culture is Leaving a Generation Unhappy, Sexually Unfulfilled, and Confused About Intimacy,"...

Can daily sex make you smarter? That depends on how long you’ve been with your partner, according to a study coming out of the University of Pavia in Italy. The study found daily sex increased nerve growth in the brain, which is linked to both increased memory and increased mental alertness. Researchers also found individuals who were in new relationships where they recently fell in love with their partners...

How does weight negatively impact a relationship? A study conducted by researchers at the University of Arizona and the University of Puget Sound found mixed-weight couples experienced more conflict than couples where both partners were about the same weight. Researchers looked at 43 heterosexual couples and examined the levels of conflict each couple experienced. "Mixed-weight couples were more likely to...

Can receiving a lot of emotional support from your partner be a bad thing for your health? A study found high levels of emotional support can turn into a health risk if that support doesn’t meet the recipient’s particular needs or prevents the recipient from developing self-sufficiency. Researchers, who examined data collected from more 1,800 married or cohabitating middle-aged individuals, said emotional support...

Differences in income can play a big role in both the sex life and general well-being of couples. According to research from Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, men who earned less than their wives were more likely to use erectile dysfunction medication than men who earned more than their wives, even when the amount was small. "Men who earned less than their wives were more likely to use...

Digital harassment is becoming more and more common among teenagers, a study finds. Published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, the study found 25% of teens said their love interest harassed or threatened them through texts or online platforms, such as email and Facebook. However, researchers found these digital platforms didn’t appear to be the cause of the harassment, but they did represent a new avenue...

Research shows marriage quality could impact how couples rate their own health. Christine Proulx, with the University of Missouri, said as happily married couples age, they are more likely to consider themselves healthy. Proulx looked at data collected over two decades from 707 married adults, ultimately concluding both positive and negative marriages have a big impact on how individuals rate their...

How secure an individual feels in a relationship could impact his or her health. According to a new study, individuals with high levels of attachment anxiety produce an average of 11 percent more cortisol and 11 to 22 percent more T-cells than individuals with less attachment anxiety. Lisa Jaremka, the lead author of the study with Ohio State University, asked 85 married couples about the stability of their...

A study has found a link between pre-teen literacy and teen pregnancy. Evaluating data collected from 12,339 seventh grade girls, the study found seventh grade girls with “less than average reading skills” were 2.5 times more likely to become pregnant in high school than girls with an average reading level. The study also found seventh grade girls with above average reading skills were less likely to get pregnant...

A study suggests straight men suffer more depression than gay and bisexual men. Published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, the study found straight men have one-third higher levels of stress than gay and bisexual men. Researchers measured stress levels of 87 men and women (with an average age of 25) through a combination of questionnaires and biological testing. Researchers evaluated depression, anxiety and...

Marriage, divorce and weight seem to go hand in hand, according to one study. Researchers at Ohio State University found individuals were highly likely to experience a significant weight gain (21+ pounds) within the first two years of either getting married or getting divorced. However, after looking at 10,0071 men and women, researchers found this weight gain was tied closely to gender, with men more likely to...

Why get married? For starters, marriage might just keep you alive longer. A study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found single men were 58 to 66% more likely to have a heart attack than married men and single women were 60 to 65% more likely to suffer from a heart attack than their married counterparts. The study, which looked at data coming from more than 15,300 individuals who...

Why do women find men with low-pitched voices attractive? One theory states secondary sexual characteristics in men, such as low voices, indicate those men are more fertile than other men with less defined characteristics. A study funded by the Australian Research Council Professorial Fellowships tested this theory and found men with low-pitched voices actually had a lower concentration of sperm than men with...

Reader Question: I am 70 and he is 68. He has ED (erectile dysfunction). He has tried ED medication but has been allergic to the three he has tried. I have had radiation in my pelvis but nothing works down there anymore, including urinary and fecal incontinence. I have not told him about that. We are both lonely. He is very interested in me. I see him as a good guy who is very kind. We both enjoy kissing and...

Can bad sleep habits ruin relationships? Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, evaluated the sleep patterns of more than 60 couples and came to the conclusion a poor night’s sleep can cause both short-term and long-term relationship strain. Researchers asked participants to keep a journal detailing both their sleep patterns and how they felt about their relationship partner. Researchers...

Testosterone levels spike in the presence of mutual attraction, according to a study aiming to evaluate the hormonal profiles of speed daters. The study, coming out of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, found testosterone levels only increased when participants shared mutual attraction. One-sided attraction failed to produce a jump in testosterone levels in either participant. Researchers looked at the...

Using the Internet to meet strangers is a more common online behavior for teenage girls than most would expect, according to a study. The study, conducted by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, found 30 percent of teen girls have met people in person they first encountered online. Looking at 251 girls between the ages of 14 and 17, half of which had either been significantly abused or neglected, the...

Marriage may hold the key to living a long life, says one study. The study evaluated information coming out of the University of North Carolina Alumni Heart Study. Looking at responses from 4,802 individuals, researchers found being married correlated directly with surviving until old age. Specifically, the study noted being married during midlife correlated with a lowered risk of premature death. "Individuals...

Relationship violence among teenage students is more common than most admit, according to a study. The study found intimate partner violence not only occurs early in teenage relationships, but the proportion of students who experience violence in their relationships remains the same throughout teen student years. Researchers at the University of Georgia tracked and interviewed a group of participants as they moved...

Why are bisexual men more likely to experience mental health issues than gay men? A study attempted to get to the bottom of this question, with fascinating results. The study looked at the mental health of more than 200 bisexual men living in New York City. Each of these men was in a significant committed relationship with a woman, yet secretly had sex with at least one man over the previous year. In other words,...

How can a woman tell if a man will give her a big family? Just count how many brothers he has. Research indicates men who have a lot of brothers are more fertile than other men, as determined by sperm motility. A man’s sperm “motility” roughly refers to the speed of his sperm. The faster a man’s sperm, the more fertile he is and the easier time he will have conceiving a child. While it takes high fertility levels...

Can chronic illness negatively impact an individual’s relationships? A new study suggests just that. The study looked at 6,126 adults suffering from fibromyalgia, a chronic illness where individuals regularly, and randomly, experience pain and extreme tenderness throughout their entire body. Participants were asked to discuss the impact their illness had on their relationships, with an emphasis on their...

Depression and teen sex has been a correlation for a long time now, but a new study suggests all sex isn’t bad for a teen’s emotional state — only casual sex. The study, coming out of Cornell, is one of the first to look at the context surrounding teenage sex lives instead of painting them all with the same broad strokes. Jane Mendle, the study’s lead researcher, found teens who were having sex within...