A Pill for Action – Sexuality Improvement

After prostate removal, many men are advised to take erectile dysfunction drugs every night to protect against surgery-related impotence. But a new study of 423 patients who had undergone nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy found that taking vardenafil (levitra) only “on demand” in anticipation of sexual activity improved sexual function just as well as taking the drug every night.

The Six-Minute Fix FAST FORWARD

Many athletes have been straining through interval sessions once or twice a week along with their regular workout for years. But could it be that they are spending more time than they need to trying to get  fit? The answer, a growing number of sports scientists believe, may be yes. “there was a time when the scientific literature suggested that the only way to achieve endurance was through endurance-type activities.” Such as long runs or bike rides or, perhaps, six-hour swims, says martin gibala, phd, chairman of the department of kinesiology at mcmaster university in ontario, Canada. But ongoing research from gibala’s lab is turning that idea on its head. In one of the group’s recent studies, gibala and his colleagues had a group of college students, who were healthy but not athletes, ride a stationary bike at a sustainable pace for between 90 and 120 minutes. Another set of students grunted through a series of short, strenuous intervals: 20 to 30 seconds of cycling at the hihest intensity the riders could stand. After resting for four minutes, the students pedaled hard  again for another 20 to 30 seconds, repeating the cycle four to six times (depending on how much each person could stand). “for a total of two to three minutes of very intense exercise  per training session,”  Gibala says. Each of the two groups exercised three times a week. After two weeks, both groups showed almost identical increases in their endurance (as measured in a stationary bicycle time trial), even though the one group had exercised for six  to nine mintues per week, and the other about five hours. Additionally, mitochondria within the muscles” of the students had increased significantly, gibala says, a change that, before this work, had been associated almost excusively with proonged endurance training. Since mitochondria enable muscle cells to use oxygen to create energy,” chages in the volume of the mitochondria can have a big impact on endurance performance.”  In other words, six minutes or so a week of hard exercise (plus the time spent warming up, cooling down, and resting between the bouts of intense work) had proven to be as good as multiple hours of working out for achieving fitness. The short, intense workouts aided in weight loss, too, that effect. “The rate of energy expenditure remains higher longer into recovery” after brief, high-intestity exercise than after longer, easier workouts, gibala says. Other researchers have found that similar, intense, brief sessions of amoung people with heart disease. For example a new Scottish clinical study suggests that a 7-minute spurt of high-intenstity exercise like sprints can significantly improve factors such as insulin esistance and glucose tolerance linked to type 2 diabetes risk. By doing tense muscle contractions during such sprints, a person can enhance the ability of insulin to clear gucose from the bloodstream after eating. There’s a catch, though. Those six or seven mintes, if they’re to be effective, must hurt.” We describe it as an ‘all-out’ effort.” Gibala  says. You’ll be straying “well out of your comfort zone.” People ages 20 to 40 who are in good health but not fit could give the exercises a try, by cycling intensely, swimming or running up stairs in four to six 30-second bouts, twice a week. Older people or those with health conditions should consult a physician and boost activity more gradually.