Dismiss the stigma attached to masturbation.

People in early recovery from alcoholism, addiction and codependency are often advised to avoid new relationships that involve emotional ups and downs. These people may also be fearful of masturbation to relieve the natural urges and processes of being human.

This article puts to rest some of the guilt and shame generating myths that we may have in our heads.

Masturbation still gets a bad rap in society, probably because it is a private behavior rarely shared or discussed in public with even the closest of friends. But masturbation is a normal part of sexuality in people, even if they are involved in a relationship with another person. In this article we answer the top ten myths regarding masturbation.

1. Does masturbation cause blindness?
2. Do spouses continue to masturbate after marriage?
3. Why are people so embarrassed about masturbation?
4. Why do women often have trouble reaching orgasm during intercourse?
5. How much masturbation is too much?
6. What do I tell my “touchy” toddler?
7. Will eating Kellogg’s cornflakes make me stop doing it?
8. Is shower massager masturbation okay?
9. Can masturbation help me learn to have an orgasm?
10. Should I tell my partner that I masturbate?

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Youngsters are, on average, 16 years old and sober when they make their sexual debut with somebody they have known for a while. However, condoms feature in just half of sexual encounters with new or casual partners, reveals a major survey on the sexual habits, attitudes and knowledge of young people carried out by the University of Gothenburg on behalf of the Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control.

“Condoms [are] an essential part of having sex,” says Ronny Heikki Tikkanen, one of the researchers behind the study which polled 15,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 29 right across Sweden. “The fact that so many don’t use condoms, even though they know that they offer protection against both STIs and unwanted pregnancies, shows how important it is to work on attitudes and behaviour.”

The survey clearly demonstrates that those who start having sex at a young age and are generally inclined to take risks with alcohol and drugs are also likely to do so with sex. It is also more common for risk-takers to have accepted payment for sex. Those identified by the study as having exposed themselves to sexual risks have generally encountered HIV prevention initiatives without them having impacted notably on their behaviour.

Young people happy with their sexual experiences but many take risks.

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The authors assessed sexual functioning among treatment-seeking obese men (n = 91) and women (n = 134) using the comprehensive validated Sexual Functioning Questionnaire.

Scores were lower for women than for men, indicating reduced sexual functioning.

• Men’s scores fell between those of a group of cancer survivors and a general population group,
• whereas women generally had lower scores than both of these groups.

Increasing body mass index was associated with decreasing sexual functioning only for arousal and behavior.

Sexual functioning was also reduced on most subscales for individuals who reported sexual inactivity in the past month.

Sexual Functioning in Obese Adults Enrolling in a Weight Loss Study – Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy.

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Facebook is Not Such a Good Thing for Those with Low Self-Esteem

In theory, the social networking website Facebook could be great for people with low self-esteem. Sharing is important for improving friendships. But in practice, people with low self-esteem seem to behave counterproductively, bombarding their friends with negative tidbits about their lives and making themselves less likeable, according to a new study which will be published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

“We had this idea that Facebook could be a really fantastic place for people to strengthen their relationships,” says Amanda Forest, a graduate student at the University of Waterloo. She cowrote the new study with her advisor, Joanne Wood. The two are generally interested in self-esteem, and how self-esteem affects the kinds of emotions people express. People with low self-esteem are often uncomfortable sharing face-to-face, but Facebook makes it possible to share remotely.

In one study, Forest and Wood asked students how they feel about Facebook. People with low self-esteem were more likely to think that Facebook provided an opportunity to connect with other people, and to perceive it as a safe place that reduces the risk of awkward social situations.

The researchers also investigated what students actually wrote on Facebook. They asked the students for their last 10 status updates, sentences like, “[Name] is lucky to have such terrific friends and is looking forward to a great day tomorrow!” and “[Name] is upset b/c her phone got stolen :@.” These are visible to their Facebook friends, the people in their network.

Each set of status updates was rated for how positive or negative it was. For each set of statements, a coder – an undergraduate Facebook user – rated how much they liked the person who wrote them.

People with low self-esteem were more negative than people with high self-esteem – and the coders liked them less. The coders were strangers, but that’s realistic, Forest says. In earlier research, Wood and Forest found that nearly half of Facebook friends are actually strangers or acquaintances, not close friends.

Forest and Wood also found that people with low self-esteem get more responses from their real Facebook friends when they post highly positive updates, compared to less positive ones. People with high self-esteem, on the other hand, get more responses when they post negative items, perhaps because these are rarer for them.

So people with low self-esteem may feel safe making personal disclosures on Facebook – but they may not be helping themselves. “If you’re talking to somebody in person and you say something, you might get some indication that they don’t like it, that they’re sick of hearing your negativity,” Forest says. But when people have a negative reaction to a post on Facebook, they seem to keep it to themselves. “On Facebook, you don’t see most of the reactions.”

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College Drinking: Changing the Culture.

CollegeDrinkingPrevention.gov is your one-stop resource for comprehensive research-based information on issues related to alcohol abuse and binge drinking among college students.

Alcohol and You: An Interactive Body

Virtually every organ system is affected by alcohol. Drinking in moderation may cause problems to one’s body, and drinking heavily over the years can cause irreversible damage. However, most diseases caused by excessive drinking can be prevented.

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Are We Too Obsessed With Facebook? [INFOGRAPHIC].

Facebook profiles are like belly buttons: Everybody’s got one.

Perhaps that statement’s still a bit of an exaggeration, but by the numbers, we (that is, Internet users around the globe) are becoming more obsessed with Facebook by the day.

One out of every 13 Earthlings and three out of four Americans is on Facebook, and one out of 26 signs into Facebook on a daily basis.

We could rattle off stats like that until the cows come home, but instead, we’d like to show you this fascinating infographic from SocialHype and OnlineSchools.org.

Here, in a visual nutshell, are some highlights about Facebook usage, 2010 trends, adoption numbers and a great deal more.

Go to; Are We Too Obsessed With Facebook?

Related articles

• Facebook fan pages as marketing tools (soleblogging.com)
• Characteristics of Workaholics (recoveryissexy.com)

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Universitat de Barcelona – Snoring and sleep disorders: A dental approach to a major public health issue.

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