Antidepressant Medication Linked to Long-Term Weight Loss

Past studies have shown that people who are depressed are more likely to be overweight. This could be due to a combination of factors, including being more sedentary as a result of the depression or overindulging in “comfort” foods as a method of coping. Unfortunately, most anti-depressant medications are linked to weight gain, further compounding the problem.

New research by Group Health Research Institute (GHRI) demonstrates that bupropion – marketed under the name Wellbutrin – is a medication that is linked to long-term modest weight loss.

The team, who published their research in The Journal of Clinical Medicine, found that patients followed over two years lost an average of 2.4 pounds on bupropion versus those taking fluoxetine (Prozac), who gained an average of 4.6 pounds.

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Unfortunately, however, the effect was not seen in those who continued to smoke. Bupropion is also used under the name Chantix to help patients quit smoking. Smokers often gain weight while they are trying to quit, as they often replace cigarettes with food.

“Our study suggests that bupropion is the best initial choice of antidepressant for the vast majority of Americans who have depression and are overweight or obese,” said study leader David Arterburn, MD, MPH, the senior investigator at GHRI and an affiliate associate professor in the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine’s Department of Medicine.

Just keep in mind that not everyone can take bupropion, such as those with a history of seizure disorder, so it is important to discuss all health conditions with your physician to find the best treatment plan individualized to you.

Journal Reference:
David Arterburn, Tamar Sofer, Denise Boudreau, Andy Bogart, Emily Westbrook, Mary Theis, Greg Simon, Sebastien Haneuse. Long-Term Weight Change after Initiating Second-Generation Antidepressants.Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2016; 5 (4): 48 DOI: 10.3390/jcm5040048

Photo Credit: Photo by Pixabay, no attribution required

Antidepressant Medication Linked to Long-Term Weight Loss

What Is A Dry Orgasm: 'Fluidless' Male Orgasms Linked To Infertility, Too Much Masturbation

Guys, imagine this. You’re in the heat of sex when suddenly you begin to experience those familiar contractions, the pulsating pleasure of an oncoming orgasm. Lost in euphoria, you finally reach it, but, confusingly, no ejaculatory fluid comes out.

This sexual phenomenon is known as a “dry orgasm,” which occurs when a man reaches orgasm, but doesn’t release semen from the penis. This affects men of all reproductive ages, from adolescence to older adulthood, for a variety of reasons, which include a short supply of seminal fluid or even a condition known as “retrograde ejaculation.”

Dry Orgasms From Childhood To Adulthood

Full of Semen In Adolescence

Dry orgasm’s occur most often in younger men because they tend to recover more quickly following an orgasm, something that’s known as a refractory period. This enhances their ability to achieve multiple orgasms, and some may even climax up to five times in a row.

However, the more a teen orgasms, whether from having sex or through excessive masturbation, the lower their ejaculate volume will be — they’re using it all up, after all. Still, the volume “generally rebuilds quickly,” sometimes within a day, Dr. Nicole Prause, a sexual psychophysiologist, told Medical Daily . She stressed dry orgasms weren’t harmful to the adolescent boy’s body.

Retrograde Ejaculation

Typically occurring in middle-aged or older men who had prostate surgery, radiotherapy, or other prostatic treatment, retrograde ejaculation involves seminal fluid to travel backwards into the urinary bladder rather than out through the urethra. Dry orgasms are often the result of this condition.

However, the condition doesn’t only affect men who underwent the aforementioned procedures. It can still occur when “a valve on the neck of the bladder… becomes weakened… or sufficiently pressured,” such as with a tight grip on the penis just before ejaculation, Prause said. As a result, this can also cause the ejaculate to move back into the bladder. A weak pelvic structure can also increase a man’s chances of having the ejaculate move backward.  

Kegel Exercises

Men who practice kegel exercises may also experience dry orgasms, although this is likely their intended effect. These workouts, which are typically practiced by women to strengthen their pelvic floor muscles, also provide multiple benefits to men. “This includes both increasing their ability to overcome prostate contraction (and keep from ejaculating) as well as developing better control of the prostate contraction,” Steve McGough, an associate professor of clinical sexology, told Medical Daily .

The Final Verdict

Dry orgasms can be harmful, depending on your reason for climaxing. Physically, they can affect a man’s ability to conceive naturally, especially if he experiences retrograde ejaculation, which will deplete his sperm count — infertility is often a side effect of retrograde ejaculation. “When a man does not ejaculate and wants to conceive, he should be medically evaluated,” Prause warned.  

Psychologically, dry orgasms may also contribute to feelings of sexual inadequacy, which in turn can increase risk of anxiety and even sexual dysfunction — this is especially true if the man is trying to conceive or simply please his partner. Prause said that with over a third of porn videos portraying ejaculate as an essential, visible part of the sexual act, these effects can be amplified.

Because conversations about dry orgasms are seldom heard, it can be hard to determine whether you have the condition. If you feel you’re at risk of experiencing dry orgasms, visit a doctor to get a professional opinion. 

What Is A Dry Orgasm: "Fluidless" Male Orgasms Linked To Infertility, Too Much Masturbation

Infectious Diseases Are More Closely Linked to Sex and Gender Than We Think

By Liliana Losada Brown, PhD, Associate Director, Scientific Programs at SWHR

Did you know that more women get sick from salmonella than men [1]? Or that men are more likely to develop staph infections [2]? These are just two examples of the many infectious diseases that impact women and men differently [3]. Even though a new wave of research on these differences is paving the way to develop better prevention strategies, more work needs to be done to get this information into the hands of healthcare providers.

Differences in infectious diseases between women and men are commonly thought to develop from lifestyle choices ranging from food choices, day-to-day activities, type of occupation, choosing to smoke, or even whether you choose to see a medical professional when you get sick. For instance, more women get salmonella infections in the U.S. because more women than men choose to eat raw fruits and vegetables [1, 4] , which contain potentially harmful bacteria that have not been killed by cooking. A reason staph infections are higher in men could be that more men play contact sports, leaving them with scrapes and cuts that weaken the skin’s normal protection [2]. Some occupations that have a gender bias — like nursing or mining — also put people at risk unevenly. For example, up to 75 percent of Ebola deaths in some countries were women, because women made up the majority of nurses and caregivers for ailing family members [5]. In contrast, two-times more men than women have tuberculosis (TB) around the world [6], stemming from men’s more frequent exposure to lung-damaging toxins because of being employed in occupations like mining or construction, and smoking cigarettes more than women do [7]. However, smoking rates are on the rise in young women around the world [8], thereby increasing their risk of TB. Thus, surveillance and prevention of TB and other infectious diseases must account for sex and changing patterns in lifestyle choices in order to be effective.

New studies show that our biological sex also influences our risk of contracting an infectious disease. Research suggests that women fight off infection more effectively than men, giving women an ‘immunological privilege’ [3, 9]. This privilege might be due to the fact that women carry two X chromosomes, compared to men who have one X and a Y instead. The X chromosome carries genes that are essential to the immune system [10]. However, because a single X chromosome in every cell is randomly inactivated in a woman’s body, including in immune cells, it is possible that having two X chromosomes offers additional alternatives that result in better protection from invading pathogens.

Similarly, sex hormones — especially estrogen — help regulate the immune responses [10], so higher levels of estrogen in women may also result in more versatility in protection. Recently, researchers found that testosterone itself lowered the immune reaction against influenza [11], which can place men at higher risk. Interestingly, for many infectious diseases including staph, older women are actually at a higher risk than older men (in contrast to those young athletes mentioned earlier), suggesting that their immunological privilege might disappear after menopause [2, 3]. The effects of changing hormone levels across a woman’s life relating to their risk of contracting infectious diseases are not yet understood and are an ongoing area of research.

We need to better understand how our biological sex and our behaviors affect our risk of getting sick from infectious diseases. With better understanding comes better prevention and more targeted public health campaigns. More awareness will also encourage researchers to study sex differences in infectious diseases, which the Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR®) has been advocating for years. Understanding sex differences in infectious diseases can help us learn more about what makes women’s and men’s immune systems work and how pathogens make us sick thereby leading to personalized treatments and prevention. SWHR® is dedicated to promoting research on sex and gender differences in diseases. Click here to learn more about our work on infectious diseases.

References

1. Reller, M E., et al., Excess salmonellosis in women in the United States: 1968-2000. Epidemiology and Infection, 2008. 136(8): p. 1109-1117.
2. Humphreys, H., F. Fitzpatick, and B.J. Harvey, Gender differences in rates of carriage and bloodstream infection caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Are they real, do they matter and why? Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2015.
3. Giefing-Kröll, C., et al., How sex and age affect immune responses, susceptibility to infections, and response to vaccination. Aging Cell, 2015. 14(3): p. 309-321.
4. Shiferaw, B., et al., Sex-Based Differences in Food Consumption: Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) Population Survey, 2006-2007. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2012. 54(suppl 5): p. S453-S457.
5. Mulvihill, K. Why More Women Than Men Are Dying in the Ebola Outbreak. Yahoo Health News 2014 10/30/2015]; Available from: https://www.yahoo.com/health/why-more-women-than-men-are-dying-in-the-ebola-outbreak-95476080612.html.
6. Neyrolles, O. and L. Quintana-Murci, Sexual Inequality in Tuberculosis. PLoS Med, 2009. 6(12): p. e1000199.
7. Nhamoyebonde, S. and A. Leslie, Biological differences between the sexes and susceptibility to tuberculosis. J Infect Dis, 2014. 209 Suppl 3: p. S100-6.
8. World Health Organization, WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, 2013 : enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.(in IRIS). 2013, Geneva: World Health Organization. 202 p.
9. Spolarics, Z., The X-files of inflammation: cellular mosaicism of X-linked polymorphic genes and the female advantage in the host response to injury and infection. Shock, 2007. 27(6): p. 597-604.
10. Klein, S.L., A. Jedlicka, and A. Pekosz, The Xs and Y of immune responses to viral vaccines. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2010. 10(5): p. 338-349.
11. Furman, D., et al., Systems analysis of sex differences reveals an immunosuppressive role for testosterone in the response to influenza vaccination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2014. 111(2): p. 869-874.

Infectious Diseases Are More Closely Linked to Sex and Gender Than We Think

For seniors, sexual activity is linked to higher quality of life

(Reuters Health) – Older adults who value sexual activity and engage in it have better social lives and psychological well-being, according to a small study in Scotland

Older adults said “they miss and want to engage in sexual behaviors, whether that be a kiss to intercourse,” said study coauthor Taylor-Jane Flynn in an email. “For many, these behaviors remained an important element in their life.”

Flynn, a psychology PhD candidate at Glasgow Caledonian University, said the study was inspired by her work as a health care assistant for elderly people.

Although quality of life is a key consideration for older adults, sexuality is rarely studied, write Flynn and Alan Gow, an associate professor of psychology at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, in the journal Age and Ageing.

The researchers recruited 133 Scottish adults aged 65 and over by distributing questionnaires at local clubs, small businesses and older people’s groups.

About half the participants lived with a spouse or partner.

The questionnaire asked how often in the last six months participants had engaged in six sexual behaviors: touching/holding hands, embracing/hugging, kissing, mutual stroking, masturbation and intercourse.

Participants also rated how important those behaviors are to them, on a five-point scale ranging from “not at all important” to “very important.”

Additionally, the questionnaires assessed participants’ quality of life based on physical health, psychological health, social relationships and environment.

Between 75 and 89 percent said they’d engaged in kissing, hugging and holding hands or touching. Men and women scored about the same for frequency and importance of sexual behaviors overall, and for quality of life.

Although people with frequent sexual activity also placed higher importance on it, the analysis found the two measures were associated with different aspects of quality of life.

Participants reporting more frequent sexual behavior rated their social relationships as higher quality, while people who found sexual activity to be important had higher scores for psychological quality of life.

Overall, however, seniors’ health status had the strongest impact on all aspects of quality of life.

John DeLamater, a sociology professor at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, said the fact that participants were recruited in community settings – which may attract more healthy and active older people – might affect the results.

“If they are generally healthier (which the results show to be associated with quality of life), they are probably more sexually active,” DeLamater said in an email.

For people who have valued sexuality throughout their lives, he noted, “continuing activity provides protection against a sense of aging and loss, and of continuity if the person is in a long-term relationship.” That may explain the links between sex and well-being found in the study, he said.

While the current study only looked at associations and cannot determine whether sexuality raises quality of life, Gow noted, he hopes that future research will focus more on this subject.

“What we hope is that our current findings encourage other researchers interested in the determinants of health and well-being in older adults to also consider sexual behaviors,” Gow said in an email.

The sexuality of older people should be considered and encouraged, DeLamater said. “We should encourage couples to spend time alone, provide arrangements in care facilities that enable sexual intimacy, provide sexual health information in medical settings.”

SOURCE: bit.ly/1CXCiLh Age and Ageing, online July 14, 2015.

For seniors, sexual activity is linked to higher quality of life