It used to be called impotence. But thanks to the proliferation of drug industry advertisements that now threaten to overwhelm our television programs, today we know it as erectile dysfunction, or, more discreetly, simply as E.D. Whatever you want to call it, though, it’s the man’s inability to achieve or maintain an erection sufficient to satisfy him or his partner during intercourse.

When it occurs in young men, it’s usually just a matter of momentary anxiety. In middle-aged men, it’s often caused by stress, guilt, or overwork. In fact, most men experience it at some point in their lives by age forty, though usually only briefly, and they are not psychologically affected by it.

But it gets more common with age, and for some men – as many as 30 million of them according to the drug companies – it occurs frequently and causes serious emotional and relationship problems.

In many cases, E.D. is due to the deterioration of the blood vessels that carry blood into the penis. A host of things can cause this deterioration, including nicotine, which narrows the blood vessels, excessive alcohol, and certain prescription drugs, notably antidepressants. Some physical problems can contribute to the deterioration, too, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity.

If you have difficulty getting an erection, get help. Discuss it with your partner, and consult your doctor, who will help you find the cause of your E.D. Treatment will, of course, depend on the cause. Though there are a number of mechanical devices that can help men get a better erection, including splints, rings, and pumps, it’s the E.D. drugs that have revolutionized the treatment of this problem. They work well for most men, and if one drug doesn’t work for you, try one of the others – but always work with a doctor’s guidance since the drugs can have significant side effects.

Nobody wakes up one morning and suddenly decides to be a smoker. Smoking is a habit picked up from others who smoke. It’s a social disease. Individuals do it in imitation of somebody they respect who smokes, like parents or teachers, or they do it because their high school or college friends smoke and they want to fit in.

But once you put a cigarette in your mouth, you are exposed (not to mention that you are exposing everyone around you, as well) to the effects of nicotine, which is one of the most highly addictive drugs available today. And the more you smoke, the greater is your urge to smoke, and the more addicted you become.

The smoking habit will wreak havoc throughout the decades of your life because once you start to smoke, its deleterious effects spiral out of control, much like credit card debt. Smoking is associated not only with all kinds of cancer, from oral cancer to cervical cancer, but also with heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in the United States today for both men and women. Since smoking also affects the respiratory system, chronic smokers have a higher incidence of bronchitis (an inflammation of the lining of the tubes that connect the windpipe to the lungs) and emphysema (a chronic lung disease usually caused by exposure to toxic chemicals or tobacco smoke) than those who don’t smoke.

And smoking interferes with the immune system as well; that is, smokers are more prone to getting chronic diseases, flu, and viral illnesses than are nonsmokers.

Then there are the secondary effects that smoking has on others. Pregnant women who smoke have smaller-sized babies and have higher rates of premature babies. And children who are exposed to secondhand smoke have higher levels of asthma.

If you are a smoker, there may be no better thing you can do for your health than to quit smoking, and the best time to quit is as a young adult. You may have started smoking in high school or college, but now you are on your own, away from the peer pressures of your schoolmates and the influence of your parents (who may be smokers themselves), and making a new life for yourself. This is the easiest time to kick the habit.

Of course, quitting is easier said than done. As Mark Twain remarked: “Quitting smoking is easy. I’ve done it a thousand times.”

The reason it’s so difficult to quit is that it’s really a dual challenge, and you are unlikely to succeed in your quest unless you meet both challenges head-on.

The first challenge involves breaking the physical dependency that smoking causes. An absence of nicotine leads to withdrawal symptoms, including anxiety, nervousness, and an overwhelming desire for more nicotine. Very few people can go cold turkey and never pick up another cigarette again. Most people need to be gradually desensitized of their nicotine addiction.

One way to do that is with Nicorette gum or the nicotine patch. These products allow you to alter, over a course of weeks, the amount of nicotine that you ingest, until your body gets used to having no nicotine at all. Acupuncture and hypnosis have also helped people reduce or eliminate the withdrawal symptoms–irritability, depression, and lack of energy–that come from kicking the nicotine habit.

The second challenge for the smoker seeking to quit involves breaking the mental habit that smoking reinforces. The best way to do that is through the same system that got you smoking in the first place, through a peer support system. Just as in overcoming any addiction, breaking the smoking habit requires a support group, which can consist of friends, family, and/or coworkers. But you have to have somebody who is willing to be there for you, to give you the support you need when you are most likely to want to pick up another cigarette.

Quitting should be celebrated at every little step of the way because you’ll be seeing the benefits of your efforts in the minutes, days, weeks months, and years after you quit:

–Twenty minutes after you smoke your last cigarette, your heart rate drops.

–Twelve hours later, the carbon monoxide level in your bloodstream returns to normal.

–Two to three weeks after quitting, your circulation improves, and your lungs begin to function normally.

–One year after you quit, the excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker.

–In five years’ time, your risk of stroke is reduced to that of a nonsmoker.

–In ten years’ time, your risk of dying of lung cancer is about half that of a smoker.

–And in 15 years, your risk of coronary heart disease is like that of someone who never smoked.

The long and short of it is, the sooner you quit, the quicker you’ll regain your health.

I think Americans generally pay more attention to the gasoline they put in their cars than to the food they put in their mouths. We are a society of excess, and one of our more impressive excesses is the way in which we eat and what we choose to put in our mouths.

We are the leading country in the world in almost everything, yet our mortality rates, our cancer rates, and our neonatal death rates don’t rank among the best in the world. We lead in research, we lead in academic training, we lead in freedom of information, yet we don’t lead in taking care of our health.

We have all the knowledge in the world about everything in life, but that has made no impact on our health. Why? I think nutrition is part of the reason, and I think I know why.

No one is ever taught about nutrition. We certainly don’t teach the subject in grammar school, and it’s rarely taught in high school. Some colleges may offer it as an elective. But our parents certainly don’t talk to us about carbohydrates and proteins the way they do about the birds and the bees. If you combine this lack of knowledge with our appetite for diversity, taste, and presentation, what you have is a lot of people who know nothing about the food on their plate.

It’s never too late to learn about nutrition. The fundamental issue with nutrition is learning how to balance your caloric intake with the number of calories you burn. Everything we eat has a caloric value. If you take in more nutrients that contain a lot of calories and you don’t burn them up, the excess caloric energy is going to be stored as fat, and you’re going to gain weight. That weight and that fat will then interfere with all the normal functions of your body.

On the other hand, if you consume too few calories, say fewer than 1,200 calories a day, then your body doesn’t have sufficient energy to maintain adequate functioning. The caloric intake for a normal adult should range between 1,500 and 2,000 calories a day.

The body requires certain nutrients in order to work properly. Nutrients are the chemicals our body gets from food. These nutrients are used to build muscles, improve cell-to-cell transmission, and manufacture hormones. In describing nutrients, the word “essential” means that the body must consume them; it cannot produce them on its own. The nutrients we need include:

Essential amino acids.
The body requires amino acids to produce new body proteins and replace damaged proteins to build and maintain the body.

Vitamins and minerals.
These are recognized as essential nutrients that are specifically linked to the functionality of cells. If we’re deficient in vitamins and minerals, we develop a weak immune system, cell metabolism disorders, premature aging, scurvy, goiters, and bone loss.

Fatty acids.
Also essential, fatty acids are crucial for maintaining the body’s normal health. They are responsible for the normal formation of hormones and creation of some of the biological pathways responsible for dealing with inflammation and cell repair.

Sugars.
They are essential because they provide the fuel our cells need to function adequately, which allows the other nutrients to be utilized properly. If cells don’t have the sugar molecule necessary to generate the energy required for repairing, functioning, transmitting, and utilizing nutrients, then cellular damage and disease will result.

Each nutrient carries out one or more unique tasks your body needs to function. And because you need many nutrients to stay healthy—protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals—you have to eat a wide variety of foods to get them all.

It’s when we don’t recognize the necessity of all those elements that we begin getting into trouble. It’s like filling your gas tank with gasoline and forgetting to change the oil every 3,500 miles, or forgetting to put water in the radiator. The car needs the gasoline, the oil and the water, all in the proper proportions, in order to function properly. The same is true of the human body.

The problem, as I’ve mentioned before, is that about one-third of all American meals are prepared foods. And the problem with prepared foods is that their contents are not nutritionally balanced.

Our lack of knowledge of nutrition, combined with our obsession with processed foods, is really damaging our health. So we have to get back to fundamentals, a good example of which is the diet of people who live in the Mediterranean. Their diet is well balanced with vegetables and fruit, fish and lean meat, and the good unsaturated fats like olive oil.

Today, many people think that if they stick to low-fat or nonfat foods, they won’t gain weight. That’s a myth, because gaining weight has to do with calorie intake. If you take a salad and you add cheese and eggs and everything else in the book, even if you select low-fat ingredients, you’re still consuming a tremendous load of calories. And size matters, too; the size of your portions does make a difference in terms of the total amount of calories consumed. It’s just a plain mathematical calculation.

There are no magical foods that are going to help you burn calories or increase your cell metabolism either. There is no such a thing as a food that is more active in the body than others. People think that eating a grapefruit each day or having cabbage soup for lunch is going to burn off their fat. But that’s a myth. There is only one way to burn off those extra calories: exercise, any exercise at all.

How to Eat
It’s not just what or how much we are eating that’s the problem these days, it’s the way most of us eat. Many people skip breakfast, gulp down a quick lunch at noon, and then consume a large meal at seven o’clock at night.

Trouble is, they don’t need all that fuel at night. They need a little bit throughout the day when they are active—either moving, thinking, or both.

So what happens in the middle of the day if this is the way we eat? Without a supply of energy, our metabolism gets altered. Our blood sugar level is erratic. Our hormones go haywire trying to figure out where to obtain the fuel we need. People are always telling me, “I don’t eat, so how come I’m not losing weight?”

That’s the answer. Their metabolism is out of whack, and they need to get it back in order.

Supplements
If you eat a balanced diet with fruits, vegetables, grains, fish, and all the rest, you don’t need to take supplements. But how many of us really eat such a balanced diet?

And even if we do, because we are all predisposed for certain diseases and the aging processes, being proactive and adding certain supplements to our diet may be a good idea. But before popping supplements like candies from a bag of M&M’s, check with your doctor about what’s best for you. Some supplements can be toxic. Others may cause allergies or cross reactions with medications you may be taking. But there is no doubt that certain supplements can have specific health benefits and can lower the cost of health care at the same time.

An Important Word About Supplements
Many supplements contain active ingredients that can have strong effects on your body, and some supplements can interfere with prescription medicines. Always consult with your doctor or pharmacist before taking supplements.

I am particularly bullish on five supplements that have been well studied and are proven to support optimal health.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids
I love the omega-3 fatty acids. They are an important contributor to the improvement of human health. Some studies have shown that omega 3s are good for the prevention of heart disease, as well as for depression, rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma. You can get omega 3s by eating leafy greens and fish or by taking a fish oil tablet. Omega 3s assist with fat metabolism and help maintain a balance of good and bad cholesterol.

Calcium
Calcium is another very good supplement, specifically calcium with vitamin D. Calcium intake is an important factor in bone health and may play a role in the prevention of colon cancer, though it doesn’t appear to be the silver bullet that everyone hoped it would be. Research has shown that calcium supplements can significantly lower the occurrence of hip fractures among those aged 65 and older.

Folic Acid
Folic acid and folate are forms of a water-soluble vitamin B that occur naturally in leafy vegetables such as spinach and turnip greens, dry beans and peas, fortified cereal products, and some other fruits and vegetables. Folic acid supplements have been a lifesaver in the prevention of neural tube defects in children. They are also very beneficial for cell function and the prevention of heart disease.

Glucosamine
I also like glucosamine. It has good anti-inflammatory effects, especially for individuals with arthritis. It doesn’t prevent arthritis, and it doesn’t repair or rejuvenate cartilage, but I think it’s a very good supplement because it helps promote joint function and relieves the symptoms of inflammation and pain.

Other supplements that are thought to make a positive contribution to health include saw palmetto, the fruit of the fan palm, for men. Native Americans consumed it as food and used it to treat urinary and genital problems. Some research has shown that it could be effective for the treatment of an enlarged prostate in men. It increases urinary flow and has no known safety hazards.

You would never think so looking at it, but the skin is an organ just like the heart or the liver. In fact, it happens to be the largest organ in the body.

The skin, as the border between the self and the outside world, is also the organ that defines us. It protects our internal organs from environmental threats. And for many people, the skin’s appearance, the presence or lack of wrinkles, for instance, is what defines aging, more so than the condition of their vital internal organs. Our skin is very important to us, but skin health is not something to which we give much (or any) thought.

The Skinny on Skin

Number of days it takes for the skin to renew itself: 28

Thickness of human skin in inches: 0.06 to 0.16

Average weight of adult male skin in pounds: 7

Surface area of adult male skin in square feet: 22

Millions of skin cells in average adult: 300

Number of hairs on a square half inch of skin: 10

Number of sweat glands in a square half inch of skin: 100

Number of feet of blood vessels in a square half inch of skin: 3.2

Number of days it takes for the skin to replace itself: 52 to 75

As that part of our body that is the most exposed to the environment, the skin’s greatest threat is the sun’s rays, and overexposure to these rays appears to be the most important factor in the development of skin cancer, which is on the rise worldwide. One out of every five Americans will develop skin cancer, and nearly 10,000 will die from it each year. Skin cancer was long considered a problem only for people over 50, but in the last couple of decades, the rate of skin cancer for people in their forties and younger has multiplied explosively. You need to think about your skin before it’s too late.

Sunny Myths

Sunscreen protects you against all ultraviolet rays from the sun.

FALSE. It protects you from the sun’s UVB rays, but no sunscreen product screens out all UVA rays, which are the cause of melanomas. So just because you put on sunscreen, you are not 100 percent protected.

You don’t need to reapply sunscreen when you come out of the water if you use waterproof sunscreen lotions.

FALSE. There’s no such a thing as a waterproof sunscreen. If you go into the water, you have to reapply these creams immediately because they get washed off.

Suntans are a sign of healthy skin.

FALSE. A tan is a sign of skin damage. The tanning occurs when the skin produces additional pigment (coloring) to protect itself against burns from the sun’s ultraviolet rays.

The sun produces two types of ultraviolet radiation. The ultraviolet A (UVA) rays, which penetrate deeper into the skin, are more responsible for melanoma, the most deadly type of skin cancer. The ultraviolet B (UVB) rays are responsible for sunburns and cause nonmelanomas, the squamous and basal cell skin cancers. Though melanomas account for only 4 percent of skin cancers, they are responsible for nearly 75 percent of all skin cancer deaths. Melanomas usually begin as flat, quarter-inch-sized, mottled, light brown to black blemishes with irregular borders. These blemishes can then turn red, blue, or white; crust on the surface; or bleed. Most frequently seen on the upper back, torso, lower legs, head, and neck, they can occur anywhere on the body.

Anyone can get skin cancer, but you are at increased risk if you

–have a family history of skin cancer

–have many moles or large moles

–have naturally blond or red hair

–have blue or green eyes

–have had five or more sunburns

–have been overexposed to the sun early in life

–are Caucasian with fair skin

While skin cancer is the most common type of cancer, and kills more young women than any other type of cancer, it is also the most preventable.

The best defense against skin cancer is sun protection. Because the sun’s ultraviolet rays can damage the cellular structure of the skin, the use of sun protection is important beginning at a young age and continuing throughout life. Whenever you are out in the sun, it’s a good idea to use a sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or higher. Apply it 15 to 30 minutes before going outdoors, and reapply it every two hours. If you can’t avoid being out and about in the hours of peak sunlight—ten a.m. until four p.m.—seek the shade whenever possible and wear a hat, visor, sunglasses, and other protective clothing during prolonged periods of sun exposure.

Since skin cancer has a 95 percent cure rate when detected early, by your late thirties you should have a skin physical every two years. This is particularly important if you are at greater risk for skin cancer. At a skin physical, a dermatologist will go over your entire body looking for atypical birthmarks, blemishes, and moles. This exam could save your life.

Skin cancers aside, chronic sun exposure also creates skin stains and premature wrinkling. Smoking, too, is bad for the skin. On the other hand, the aging of the skin can be slowed by a good diet. Certain foods, like salmon and the omega oils found in salmon, have been found to be extremely beneficial for skin health. On the other hand, while skin creams may reduce dryness, or improve excessive oiliness, they will not alter the overall health of the skin. Creams merely affect the superficial layer of the skin. Good skin health comes from within.

When faced with any sort of unstructured time, children are likely to get bored. They are also likely to let you know about it often! Summer is meant to be a time for rest and relaxation but also for exploring and education outside of the classroom. Here are some ideas for keeping your kids happily engaged this summer.

*Have a scavenger hunt in the house on a rainy day. Vary the clues depending on your children’s age. For younger children, use clues such as “Go to the room where you take a bath,” or “Go to the room with the blue walls.” For older children, use clues such as “This is the room where Dad watched the baseball game last night,” or “Find the room where Mom likes to read quietly.” The prize can be a gift certificate to a local bookstore or a new game the family can play together. Make sure everyone gets a prize or that it’s a team effort and everyone works together to find the prize. If not, you’ll be hearing “Not fair!” instead of “I’m bored!”

*Have a backyard camp out! Bring sleeping bags, tents, and build a fire. If you don’t have camping equipment, lay out an old sheet or blanket to sit on. Instead of telling ghost stories, have each family member tell a story about their favorite thing about your family. Don’t pressure your children to sleep outside, as they may be nervous or uncomfortable. Staying up late and having some special snacks is plenty fun! Just remember to use bug repellent so you don’t wake up with itchy campers in the morning!

*Use an old shoebox and create a special art box. Store all sorts of “extras” inside: buttons, scraps of paper, ribbon, washable markers and glue. Allow your children to create their own masterpiece on a piece of construction paper using all the materials inside the box. Make sure the items in the box are things your child can use independently. This way, your children can sit at the table and work while you make dinner or throw in a load of laundry. You can also use old magazines and cut out pictures to tell a story or re-create a family event.

These are just a few fun things you can do with your family this summer. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and try something new. You can always have a family meeting afterward to discuss the pros and cons of your new, adventurous outing. The important thing to remember is relax and enjoy time together as a family, regardless of what you are doing.

Stress is our body’s ability to respond to our surroundings–how we react to our family, our work, and various events in our lives.

Stress is normal. Everyone is under some kind of stress—every day. But there are two kinds of stress: the good and the bad. Good stress can be something like getting a new job or buying a first home. Bad stress can range from experiencing a difficult financial situation to having a sick family member, to missing a flight to getting a flat tire in the pouring rain.

Short-lived stress rarely affects long-term health. But stress becomes a problem when it’s chronic and difficult to identify. Stress manifests itself through feelings of sadness, anxiety, anger, frustration, guilt, or excitement. Our mood starts to fluctuate. Some people drink or smoke; others opt for healthier outlets such as jogging. Some just go shopping.

Eventually, our body starts to ache here and there, first a little bit, then more and more. Those may seem like “phantom aches” at first, but as time goes by, they can become legitimate physical health threats. If left unchecked, stress can ultimately cause blood pressure oscillations and weaken the immune system, which makes us much more susceptible to illnesses that our body, under normal circumstances, would be able to fight.

People can eventually die from the effects of stress because, at the end of the day, those under stress are going to have more heart disease, more diabetes, more obesity, and more gastric problems like ulcers than people who are relatively stress-free.

One of the most severe types of stress is called post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that occurs after experiencing an extremely stressful situation or witnessing a life-threatening event, like a terrorist attack, a violent personal assault, or a natural disaster.

People suffering from PTSD have symptoms that include flashbacks, difficulty sleeping, mood changes, depression, and the inability to deal with everyday life. These are not those nutty people walking around in ripped and filthy clothes, talking to themselves and their imaginary friends. They are fully functional people, people like you and me, who may be stressed out by the daily media reminders of kidnapped children, serial killers, and sexual abuse. And oftentimes, these people don’t even know they have PTSD.

Signs of Stress

–Do you tend to race through the day, do everything yourself, and set unrealistic goals?

–Do you make a big deal of everything, blow up easily, and get angry when kept waiting?

–Do you frequently neglect your diet, exercise, and your sleep?

–Do you lack close, supportive relationships outside your family?

–Do you often fail to see the humor in situations that others find amusing?

–Do you ignore symptoms of stress and have no time for questions like this?
If you answered yes to most of these questions, chance are you are STRESSED OUT. Do something about it.

It’s important that you take stress seriously and learn how to handle it.

First, recognize the signs and acknowledge them.

Second, ask yourself: Am I leading a healthy life, exercising, not abusing drugs, including cigarettes and alcohol? If not, you have to make some lifestyle changes. The solution, many times, is right in front of you. But for the most part, if you recognize stress as something that is out there, and if you’re able to manage it adequately, it will have no dire effects on your health. It is only when you ignore it and it becomes chronic and unstoppable that you need to seek professional help.