Breakthroughs Today

DR. DAVE CURRIE AND GLEN HOOS Chinese Women Today A great sex life: we all want it. And, judging by what we see in the movies, we've all got it. Not so fast. It's not as easy as it's made out to be. In fact, as I've worked with couples over the years, I'd estimate that fewer than one third of married couples enjoy a mutually satisfying sexual relationship. Sexual issues are troublesome on a number of levels. First of all, they are felt very deeply by both partners: by men, because their sense of self-worth is tied so closely to their sex life; and by women, because sexuality is often an area of extreme vulnerability. Add to that the fact that sexual difficulties are tough to talk about - and even tougher to seek help on - and it’s easy to see why so many couples struggle in this area. Sex alone cannot be the foundation of a marriage. Nevertheless, when it's going well, there's no doubt that sex is a powerful glue that bonds a couple together and builds real

JANE SMITH eHow Published as "How to achieve closeness in a long-distance relationship" Being apart can be very difficult for couples, especially in the early stages of a relationship. Here are some ways to build closeness when you are far apart. The Reason Step1 There are many reasons why the love of your life might be far away: military deployment, business, work or simply that you met and fell in love over the Internet. Step2 No matter why you are apart, you each need a desire and commitment to maintain your relationship. It is not enough for only one half of the pair to do so. Step3 You will have to have patience with slow or interrupted communication. If your mate is overseas, there may be unstable or intermittent Internet connections, slow mail due to being in or near areas of global conflict and infrastructure issues, such as undersea communications cables being cut. Step4 You will need to trust one another and be honest with each other. Do not spend your precious t

ZOSIMO T. LITERATUS, RMT Sex is one intimate activity that reflects a lot the health and the stability of a heterosexual relationship. In fact, oftentimes, it can be used as indicator if the relationship is doing well or not. The reason for this is communication. A loving relationship thrives and grows through good and effective communication. Needless to say, bad communication can potentially, and has been known to, destroy a relationship. The same is true with sexual interaction, or euphemistically speaking, “making love.” The current study of Daniel M. Purnine and Michael P. Carey of the Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, tried to test male and female sexual satisfaction (or, as they called “sexual adjustment”) against the factors of understanding and agreement. That is, understanding the opposite’s preferences; and deriving an agreement on which sexual activities and behaviors to use and pursue together. Understanding, according to Purnine and Carey, “allows one to know ho

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE MSN News Published as "Sex invariably spells trouble, says Dalai Lama" The Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual and temporal leader, on Friday said sex spelt fleeting satisfaction and trouble later, while chastity offered a better life and "more freedom." "Sexual pressure, sexual desire, actually I think is short period satisfaction and often, that leads to more complication," the Dalai Lama told reporters in a Lagos hotel, speaking in English without a translator. He said conjugal life caused "too much ups and downs. "Naturally as a human being ... some kind of desire for sex comes, but then you use human intelligence to make comprehension that those couples always full of trouble. And in some cases there is suicide, murder cases," the Dalai Lama said. He said the "consolation" in celibacy is that although "we miss something, but at the same time, compare whole life, it's better, more independenc

PUSHKAR CHHETRI Bhutan Observer Published as "The price of doing drugs" Getting high on drugs might seem like another part of the world with all that excitement initially, but when this fun turns to fear, one might as well wish for a time machine to go back and erase the past. Tenzin (name changed), 28 has been doing drugs since he was 14. He has experimented with everything from marijuana, tablets to injecting Proxyvon. “I started using correction fluid and dendrite in the beginning not only for a high but to prove I was a tough guy,” said Tenzin. After a few years of education in Bhutan, he continued his education in Kalimpong where Tenzin became addicted to tablets. “Kalimpong was a whole new environment and to stay away from home meant a lot of freedom in terms of what I could do,” he remembers. His experimentation with tablets soon manifested into addiction within a few weeks time. “It was cheaper and easily available and I started having two tablets of Nitrosun-10 and

ZOSIMO T. LITERATUS, RMT Freedom has always been found at the time of making a decision, a choice of actions, things, and more. Once the choice has been made, freedom ends with the consequences of that decision or choice. Then freedom reappears with how a person handles the impact of the results from those decisions. The same natural process continues to play in marriage, from the choice of a partner, to the decision to enter into marriage, and the eventual decision to stay or separate ways. Professor emeritus of sociology at Rutgers University (New Brunswick, New Jersey USA) David Popenoe founded the National Marriage Project to provide research analysis on the state of marriage in America as one of its two-pronged mission. The project financially supported by the university in cooperation with private foundations came up a guideline entitled “Ten Important Research findings on Marriage and Choosing a Marriage Partner: Helpful Facts for Young Adults.” It was published in November 2004

ZOSIMO T. LITERATUS, RMT International health authorities do not agree on the limits of clinical features observed to qualify for a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome. However, I believe that you get the smallest measurements as your warning levels to be conservative. Early prevention is always better than doing it late. In health, disease reversal can be daunting and many times next to impossible at its final stage of deterioration. The World Health Organization (1999) requires that presence of diabetes mellitus (impaired glucose tolerance, impaired fasting glucose or insulin resistance) be diagnosed first and two of the following clinical levels before a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome is warranted: blood pressure, 140/90 mmHg; dyslipidemia [1] ; central obesity [2] , and presence of albumin in the urine [3] . The European Group for the Study of Insulin Resistance (1999) demands that insulin resistance be at the top 25% of the fasting insulin values for non-diabetic individuals and tw