Women Regret Love Failures More than Men

Women Regret Love Failures More than Men - While the common adage may encourage you not to dwell on the past, a new study finds that many harbor regrets, with romantic ones being particularly common.

But women outdid men in that category, with guys ranking work regrets above relationship ones, the researchers say.

The study involved 370 Americans who were asked to discuss a significant regret from their lives. The most common regrets had to do with romance, family, education, career and finance.

"Regret is a common part of our lives, and it's something that we see ... in people of all walks of life," said study researcher Neal Roese, a professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

But he said that regret could also be beneficial.

"The bad is obvious, but the good is it helps us put our lives together, helping us to put things into perspective," said Roese. With romantic regrets, he said, "It helps to recognize ideals and goals. ...You can channel it into a current relationship. You may see some kernel of insight you can implement in your current life."

Studying regret

Much of the research on regret is based on tests of college students, who are relatively inexpensive to compensate, simple to recruit and live on or near the campuses where the studies are done. In an attempt to get a better handle on regrets among the general public, this survey was done via phone to reach more diverse subjects.

Roese said that one finding in the current study that differed from past research was that romance, rather than education, was a primary source of regret.
However, he noted that there was a split. Nearly 45 percent of women expressed regret in the area of love, while less than 20 percent of men did. Meanwhile, nearly 35 percent of men expressed work regrets, compared with less than 30 percent of women.

"It does conform to a certain stereotype that we have, but it has been thought of for a long time that women are the keepers of relationships," said Roese. "That is an important element of their lives, and it makes sense that their regret would focus on failures to meet those ideals."

But the choice in what to discuss may have been impacted by the study method.

"There's a general idea in research that women are more concerned with social relationships than men are. Men are more concerned with career and self-advancement," said Joachim Krueger, a professor of psychology at Brown University who has researched gender stereotypes, and was not involved in the current study.

Since the survey was done by phone and not in-person where participants might have opened up more, women may have felt a greater need to conform to societal expectations.

"There's nothing in this study that would allow us to unpack that, and that's a pity," said Krueger. "There's nothing to say if this is how people feel ... or an opportunity to present themselves as reasonable and dutifully moral."

Missed opportunities

Overall, there was little difference in whether people regretted inaction versus action. The major distinction had to do with time.

"Missed opportunities stick in our brains longer, and they bug us for a longer period of time," Roese said. "Whereas something you did do, you are bugged by that immediately, and then it dissipates, or goes away. You're more able to make peace with it than a missed opportunity."

Krueger said that may involve the fact that the time to make up for a missed opportunity diminishes as a person ages (and thus gets closer to death).

"As people grow older, there's just a greater accumulation of opportunities that are gone," he said. "Younger people still have the illusion there's time left and they can fix things."

The study, co-authored by Roese and Mike Morrison, a doctoral candidate in psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. ( LiveScience.com )

READ MORE - Women Regret Love Failures More than Men

Make shopping time with him less taxing

Make shopping time with him less taxing - Does your boyfriend's face crumple every time you mention the word 'shopping'? Does he make inane excuses when you suggest a trip to the mall? And the times he agrees to come along, he either stays glued to the cellphone or trudges behind you in an aimless fashion.

Well, to most men, shopping is as drab as tackling a clogged drain, and they'd do anything to avoid or postpone it.

Time you gave an interesting spin to 'shopping' by adapting our quick tips.

Focus on his needs

Yes, we know you'd love to try on that pretty pink mink coat, but if you have promised to help him buy sneakers, don't get distracted by other items on the show window.

Stick to the budget

Men often try to minimize shopping time by purchasing the first thing they set their eyes on. This tendency can make shopping extremely boring. An interesting way out would be to fix budgets beforehand and engage in some bargain-hunting. The idea is to get him involved, and you are assured it'll minimise the chances of making a hasty decision.

Don't turn him a porter

How often have we spotted a harassed-looking man trailing his girlfriend with armloads of shopping bags while inviting sympathetic glances from all and sundry as he does. Such a scene gives out an important message; don't make him your luggage-boy, and resist the urge to have him hold all the dresses while you make a trip to the trial room.

Zero in on a destination

Guys get irked by hours of aimless shopping. So, know where you are headed and avoid a last minute change of plan.

Make it fun

Try out that quirky hat. Prompt him to shop something for himself. Compliment him. And not to mention, take out time for a cup of coffee while you go from shop to shop ( indiatimes.com )

READ MORE - Make shopping time with him less taxing

My Baby Died So That I Could Live

My Baby Died So That I Could Live - Twenty years ago, Isabel Walker lost her baby boy when she developed pre-eclampsia. She asks if new research brings us any closer to curing this deadly condition.

Nicola Bandy and I have something in common. Over 20 years ago, I lost my first baby, Benji, when he had to be delivered three months early to save my life. I had developed pre-eclampsia, a potentially dangerous complication of pregnancy. Benji died two days after his birth.

I recall not only the grief, but my bewilderment that, with all the advances of modern medicine, there was no way to control this condition other than by delivering my baby early and effectively ending his life, to save mine. Pre-eclampsia happens when the placenta, the organ that transports food and oxygen from the mother’s blood supply to the baby, fails to grow as it should. At present, the only “cure” remains delivery. Later, when contemplating a second pregnancy, I was dismayed to learn that there was no way to predict whether I would get pre-eclampsia again and no way to stop it happening.

Isabel Walker, who has suffered from pre-eclampsia and lost a baby 20 years ago and is now campaigning to raise awareness of the condition

Nicola has had pre-eclampsia too, but more recently. Six months into her first pregnancy, the first sign was when her feet and then her hands and face, swelled up to spectacular proportions: her feet, she says, were “like balloons”. She also she started to put on weight alarmingly fast. At 38 weeks, with her blood pressure rising, she underwent an emergency Caesarean. Her baby, Seth survived and is now 16 months.

But Nicola, who is 37, remains traumatised by what happened. Like me more than two decades ago, she finds the idea of another pregnancy frightening. 'I’m still struggling with the idea that I or my baby could have died,’ she says. 'I would love to give Seth a little brother or sister but the way I feel now I would be much too scared to try again.’

Why Nicola’s pregnancy had a happier outcome than mine is a mystery. In all likelihood I had a more severe, fast-moving form of the disease that left no room for the standard policy with pre-eclampsia – to watch, wait and deliver the baby when essential but as late as possible. Certainly, the difference has nothing to do with any progress in the treatment of pre-eclampsia: in the years between our two experiences, little has changed in this respect.

I was fortunate to go on to have two successful pregnancies and my children (Joe, 22, a father himself, and Mimi, 21, currently doing an MA in music ) are now adults. But my experience left me with a lasting interest in pre-eclampsia and a passion to support research into the prevention and treatment of this mystery condition, which still kills about 6 women in the UK every year. I’ve watched as research has produced numerous false dawns, with one potential panacea after another – including aspirin, calcium, vitamins C and E, magnesium and fish oils – showing initial promise but ultimately shown to be useless or (in the case of low-dose aspirin) of limited benefit.

But now it seems that progress in being made on several fronts. Experts are confident that within a decade it will be possible to accurately identify women at risk of this frightening condition, with screening available in early pregnancy. At the same time scientists are moving closer to understanding the causes of pre-eclampsia, which could open the door to more effective treatment - and even to prevention.

At the moment the underlying cause of pre-eclampsia is unknown. Most common in the last few weeks of pregnancy, it is thought to start with a defect in the placenta. As a result, the baby may suffer growth problems and the mother high blood pressure. As it gets worse, pre-eclampsia can cause kidney and other organ damage in the mother and starvation and oxygen deprivation in the baby.

Many women don’t realise they have it until it reaches a late and dangerous stage – which is why ante-natal clinics routinely carry out checks on blood pressure and urine, aimed to pick up early signs. It cannot be prevented and the only medical response is delivery – sometimes at the expense of babies, like Benji, who are too premature to survive. In the UK alone, pre-eclampsia leads to 5-600 deaths of babies every year.

Until now, it’s been hard to predict which women are at risk of pre-eclampsia. But new research offers hope that a blood test could become available within a few years. The study, involving 2,000 women, published in the journal Hypertension, found that high levels of a combination of 14 chemicals (called metabolites) in the blood of women tested at around 15 weeks of pregnancy could accurately predict the development of pre-eclampsia later.

The discovery of this particular 'metabolic signature’ opens the door for a screening test for pre-eclampsia that would be more accurate than current screening for Down’s syndrome, according to researchers. This will mean closer monitoring, earlier intervention and safer outcomes for mothers and babies.

Stephen Robson, Professor of Fetal Medicine at Newcastle University, who is planning a larger study, is enthusiastic about the prospects for screening, although he also warns it is at least five years away. “People tend to think there is no point in screening unless you also have a magic bullet that can prevent the disease” he says. “But what we can do here is transform the whole pattern of antenatal care to separate high risk from low risk women and streamline care accordingly.”

This year also saw a breakthrough in understanding the causes of maternal high blood pressure, which is usually the first sign of pre-eclampsia. Scientists from Cambridge University reported in the journal Nature that women with pre-eclampsia have high blood levels of a certain protein called angiotensinogen. This protein triggers the release of hormones called angiotensins, which cause blood vessels to constrict, so raising pressure. Understanding this process offers “real hope for developing strategies to prevent or treat this dangerous condition” according to Professor Peter Weissberg, Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, which funded the study.

It’s important, though, to sound a note of caution about the Cambridge findings on blood pressure – although important, these have been talked up in the media as scientists finding the cause of pre-eclampsia. But, in fact, high blood pressure is simply one of a number of outward signs of pre-eclampsia, not the cause. Preventing or treating this outward sign may not halt progression of the underlying disease.

So although things all looks promising, specialists are still wary about talk of immediate “breakthroughs”. Professor Chris Redman, formerly of the Nuffield Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Oxford University and an international authority on pre-eclampsia, describes the prospect of screening as 'only half a step forward – the other half being something that could stop pre-eclampsia in its tracks’. He also believes pre-eclampsia will never be totally preventable since he regards it as 'a hotch-potch of different kinds of problems that come together with the same appearance’.

The fundamental research question about pre-eclampsia remains: what happens inside a woman’s body to transform a healthy pregnancy into a time bomb that can threaten her own life and that of her unborn child?

Until this question is answered, ideas about prevention will be based to a considerable extent on guesswork. And women like me and Nicola Bandy, nurtured on the modern mantra that 'pregnancy is not an illness’, will continue to find, to their cost, that it can be just that. ( telegraph.co.uk )

READ MORE - My Baby Died So That I Could Live

So how does Tom Cruise (5ft 7) stand as tall as heel-wearing Cameron Diaz (5ft 9)?

So how does Tom Cruise (5ft 7) stand as tall as heel-wearing Cameron Diaz (5ft 9)? - She's two inches taller and wearing four inch heels.

But Tom Cruise still managed to measure up to Cameron Diaz at the Tokyo premiere of Knight & Day last night.

The actor, widely thought to wear inserts in his shoes, looking barely an inch shorter than his co-star.

The effect was heightened when the pair made clever use of a convenient staircase, with Cruise staying on step behind as they descended to meet the cameras.

Measuring up: She's two inches taller and wearing heels, but Tom Cruise stands as tall as Cameron Diaz at the Night and Day Premiere in Japan

Cruise's apparently fluctuating height has been widely noted.

The 5ft7 star has appeared as tall as his 5ft9 wife Katie Holmes on various occasions, sparking speculation that he wears shoe lifts.

These are inserts that can be placed inside shoes in order to discreetly lift the man's heel - and, thereby, his height.

A more extreme alternative, the so-called 'elevator shoe', sees the lift made an integral part of the footwear, allowing a man to boost his height by as much as four inches.

A full set of shoe lifts can cost £250, while a single pair of off-the-shelf elevator shoes will set you back between £50 and £100, with bespoke pairs costing up to £1,700.

He looks tall! Cruise stayed a step behind Cameron as the pair descended down a staircase to meet the press

Yesterday Cruise wore thick black boots tucked into his jeans as he walked the red carpet.

He and Cameron were once again promoting what was billed as their big summer hit, but failed to make an impact at the box office.

The movie was released in the U.S. and the UK at the beginning of August and has already dropped out of cinemas across both countries.

But if the Western world is sick of the sight of them by now, their reception in the Land of the Rising Sun was a different story.

Eastern beauty: Cameron looked stunning at the premiere in a figure-hugging black dress and trendy multi-coloured strappy heels

They were given a rapturous welcome as they arrived at the Roppongi Hills Arena today.

They've spent most of the summer attending premieres of the film in the U.S., Spain, Brazil, Germany, England, France, and Austria.

They even made an appearance on BBC2 show Top Gear to take part in the Star In A Reasonably Priced Car segment of the show.

But almost two months on, their smiles were still strong as they posed together on the red carpet.

While Tom looked very casual in jeans, a jumper and a shirt, Cameron looked her usual glamorous self in a tight black dress by Bottega Veneta that showed off her enviable slender figure.

She accessorised with a wide black belt and very funky, black, orange and pink strappy heels by Jimmy Choo.

Speaking to the crowd, Tom said: 'I'm very glad to be here, this place is very special to me.'

Konnichiwa! Tom greets fans at Tokyo International Airport as he arrives for the premiere

Yesterday he stopped and chatted to fans at Tokyo International Airport and still managed to look fresh-faced despite the early hour.

And even though it was 7.30 in the morning, he was greeted by dozens of fans, some of which spent the night in nearby hotels the night before to catch a glimpse of the Hollywood star.

They will both be hoping for a better reception in Japan to the film than the one received in the U.S. and the UK.

Many described it as 'far-fetched' and 'unmotivated and senseless', while the Daily Mail's Chris Tookey said, 'even to try to make sense of the storyline is to risk incurable brain damage', and that 'lightweight entertainment doesn’t have to be this atrocious'. ( dailymail.co.uk )

READ MORE - So how does Tom Cruise (5ft 7) stand as tall as heel-wearing Cameron Diaz (5ft 9)?

5 Tips To Save Your Relationship

5 Tips To Save Your Relationship - Most of us believe that romance dies when the relationship reaches a number of years old. We sometimes notice that the spark seems to flicker out from the relationship. It is harder for women to accept it because they are more emotional than men.

IN my opinion as a woman The flames of passion may have grown cold, but this does not mean that the flames have died out. Even if the romance seems dead in our eyes, we should never give up.

If women choose to breathe new life into these flames, it is more than possible for us to revive the romance that we may have already thought to be lost.

The most important thing about a long term relationship is that, it should be Healthy, and it comes with understanding and respect.Your relationship is healthy when both of you are happy.

Let’s say, you are very happy in your current relationship because your partner gives you everything in the world, but did you give your partner something that makes him/her happy too?

If only one partner is enjoying the life in your relationships ,it might be good to think what will you have in the future. If your partner is nice to you, you should be thankful and be nice to him/her in return.

How can you have the romantic life you have always wanted? If you want your fantasies to become a reality, then you must introduce them to reality.

Our partners are not mind readers, yet we tend to believe they are, expecting them to act out and the things we picture them doing in our imaginations.

1.Show Him How To Be Romantic

You do not necessarily have to ask your partner to act a certain way or do a certain thing, but you can introduce your romantic ideas by starting to act them out yourself.

This will paint a clear picture for your partner, helping him or her see what kind of romantic personality you have,and what you enjoy. You will also learn more about your partner, because you will see their response to your romantic suggestions.

It is better that you do this at the beginning of your dating process, or in the beginning of your relationship ,but also as long as you and your partner love each other it is never late to improve your relationship to a passionate and happy relationship.

2. Show Him Your Love

Men whose partners give them affirmation with words and gestures that show they are appreciated, respected, and loved, are twice as likely to describe themselves as happy in their relationship.

Men may need affirmation more than women. Women are constantly receiving flattery from friends and even strangers who say, ‘Love your outfit! But men don’t get that recognition.

Can you imagine a passerby stopping your guy to compliment him on how well his tie matches his shirt?It rarely happens between guys. That is why men rely on that attention from their mates. Luckily, there is another payoff to your flattery: He is more likely to return those loving deeds back to you.

Another way to show him your love is to touch him more. Touch is the best way to rekindle a dying romance. You could hug him goodbye every morning before he leaves for work, touch his face and kiss him when he comes back from work.

Offer to give him a relaxing massageonce in a while. Or after a candlelit dinner wear your prettiest dress and dance with him cheek to cheek and try to be the sexy lovely woman like you used to be when you just stated dating him. Touch him softly while dancing. The intimacy that touching brings is a sure way to light the fire up once more.

3. Spend Some Quality Time Together

A weekly date night always works as a way to reconnect, but sometimes all you need is a few minutes. Take just 15 minutes a day to talk about your relationship your feelings,anything except for responsibilities or your job.

knowing your partner intimately is not always about engaging in heavy conversations: Anything that helps you learn something new will bring you closer. You can talk about the new movie you have heard of and ask him if he is interested to watch it.

Or the new restaurant near by that you can go and have a romantic dinner. You’ll get to know each other’s inner world and strengthen your bond of happiness, when you talk enough. The problem comes when we are too busy to talk about our feelings and interests to our partner.

4. Understand Each Other’s Needs

The main reason long term relationships break up is not conflict, communication problems, or physical incompatibility. In my opinion it is frustration.

The day to day disappointment of the gap between what you expect and how your partner acts is the most damaging. To diffuse that frustration, share your expectations with each other.

Maybe you desire more affection and he craves more relaxed couple time. you should also stop complaining too loudly, being cross with him all the time, or nagging at him.

Men does not like women who complain all the time. If you be kind to him and know how to ask him, he will do what ever you want and will give you what ever you wish. You just need to know how to make him do it with kindness and patience not nagging and complaining.

5. Focus on the Good side on everything

Do you think the best way to make your relationship better is to work at fixing what is wrong?
No, The most effective way to boost fun and passion is to add positive elements to your relationship.

Positive energy makes us feel good and motivates us to keep going in that direction. This does not mean that you can not feel or talk about anything negative, but “pretend you are weighing your interactions on a scale.

If you want a happier relationship, the positive side needs to far outweigh the bad. The more you honor the love and joy in your bond, the sooner you’ll transform your partnership into one that is truly great.

Try these 5 tips and I promise your life will become better and happier. Never loose your hope and try to be a better person every day. If you expect the others to do something for you, you do it for them firs. If you want to be loved you should love first. Make your lover happy and he will make you the happiest. I wish all the joy and happiness in life for all of you.

There are many ways that you can make your lover happy and bring the love sprite back to your love life. 

The best way is using poems I think. They are very soft, romantic, and also effective. Add some spice to your love life with cute love poems, sweet love poems, romantic poems, valentine’s day poems. If you miss your lover, let him/her know with a sweet missing you love poem. Give it a try and surprise your partner today. ( mierue.com )

READ MORE - 5 Tips To Save Your Relationship

Trusting In God For Your Marriage

Trusting In God For Your Marriage. Who are you trusting in when things go wrong in your marriage? Are you trusting in self, or perhaps you go running to family and friends, explaining your side of the story? Some of us go running to therapists, counselors, divorce lawyers, and strangers on the street. But we seldom run to God.


Many of the people we go running to in times of marital troubles aren’t equipped in giving us proper advice and guidance. Most of them have had divorces themselves! How can someone fix our marital wounds when they can’t fix their own?


Most people mean well when they offer advice but is that advice really what your marriage needs? Family and friends are always bias toward your side of things. Anything you have to say about your spouse will be treated with such bias. Is that what you want, really?


Have you ever gone to the doctor with a certain ailment and the doctor sends you home with medicine to cover up the symptoms with? That’s what its like when we go running to family, friends, and counselors. I’m not saying we shouldn’t go to counselors, but what I am saying is, have you tried going to the Architect of marriage? Perhaps He can shed some light on your problems - do you think?


Why do people get sick with disease and illness? It is because they are putting something in the body, on a daily basis that it doesn’t like. The body is rejecting what it’s being given every day. For a healthy body we need to feed it nutritious building foods and then it will begin to heal itself. Whole foods in their pure form are what the body REALLY needs.


It is the same with marriage. Marriages fail because couples in marriage are getting fed lies and deceit from the world, and they believe it! The institution of marriage is rejecting what it is being given on a daily basis. For a healthy marriage we need to make the Designer of marriage a priority in our lives and let Him feed us with His truths. Christ-like principles are what marriage REALLY needs.


Don’t treat your marriage like everyone else does. Go to the Inventor of marriage. If you want a chocolate bar, you wouldn’t go to the hardware store to get it, would you? Where would you get your chocolate bar? The corner mini mart or the grocery store, right? But you still have to ask this question, where did that chocolate bar come from, originally? It came from the factory, but where did the factory get it? From the cocoa bean!


If it doesn’t come from the cocoa bean then its not real chocolate – it’s a fake. Look for the fruit, or in this case look for the cocoa.


It’s impossible to manufacture a REAL chocolate bar without first starting from the cocoa bean. ALL chocolate comes from the cocoa bean – it is its source. ALL people come from God – He is our Source! Chocolate makes a candy bar, which comes from the cocoa bean. Couples in marriage - a man and a woman, make a marriage, which come from the Creator!


My point? God created and designed marriage. He is the Master Architect! So then why are we not trusting in God for our marriage? All the principles for a healthy, abundant and blessed filled marriage derive from the Source and Creator of marriage – God our Lord and Creator of the universe has already given us everything we need to be fulfilled in our marriage.


All you have to do is put those blessings into action, and you do that by trusting in God. Trusting in God takes more than “saying what we’re going to do”. We actually need to change our way of thinking and attitude and be the people that God created us to be FOR OUR MARRIAGE. It’s a personal discovery, really. It’s a renewal of heart and mind – a transformation. ( heavenministries.com )

READ MORE - Trusting In God For Your Marriage

First dance makes men more nervous than first kiss!

First dance makes men more nervous than first kiss!. Most men are more nervous about the first dance with a girl, than the first kiss, a new UK study has found.

And the chat-up that impresses women the most is: ''Do you want to dance?'', reports The Telegraph.

The poll, which was commissioned by British dance event MOVE IT, revealed that women would be more likely to continue dating a bad kisser who could dance, than a bad dancer who could kiss.

To reach their conclusions, experts asked 500 men and women aged between 16 - 55 about their attitudes toward dating and matters of romance.

Only one-in-four men worry about keeping the conversation flowing compared to almost half of women while only just over one in 10 men worry about their appearance, compared to one-in-four women.

The study found, more than half of the women said their ideal date would be dinner then dancing.

Georgina Harper, creative director of national dance event Move It which commissioned the poll, said: "The results reveal a real gulf between each gender's attitude towards dating and, in particular, the role of dancing within the dating scenario."

Harper added: "Some men can find dancing a bit frightening when out on a date, and worry what their potential partner will think of their moves.

"Women often see dancing as romantic as being asked to dance has traditionally been an important part of the seduction process from fairy stories we were read as children to popular romantic movies.

"With a little guidance from the experts and a bit of practice in an informal environment, men can easily build their confidence and improve their skills.

"Being a more confident dancer can help you catch the eye of prospective dates and add a little sparkle to an evening out so we are calling on men throughout the nation to rid themselves of their dancing fears this Valentine's Day and hit the dance floor." ( indianexpress.com )

READ MORE - First dance makes men more nervous than first kiss!

Good sex everyday, keeps doctors away

Good sex everyday, keeps doctors away. You would have never thought that a kiss could help keeping dental worries at bay or a gratifying sexual act at night make you feel fit and fresh the next morning. But that's what studies across the web claim.

Healthy sex leads to a healthy life. You may have tried copious measures to get that extra glowing skin and shiny hair. You must have also worked out rigorously to achieve that perfect ten figure you've desired. But the key to your mind and heart is fulfilling sex. Even for those who lose their temper or are always in a depressed state of mind, 'sex' can be the solution.

A happy sexual life with your partner not only gets you in shape with better skin texture and silken tresses, it also burns extra calories, keeps you fit, combats asthma, relieves headache, reduces depression and tranquilises your mind. From make-up experts, hair stylists, sexologists and fitness connoisseurs – there's a common consensus that a vigourous sexual life leads to a healthy life – both physically and emotionally. We get them share more on this...

There have been several notions stating that 'sex' produces certain hormones that bring happiness, which lead to a fit body and a healthy mind. Shedding some light on this, Dr. Sanjay Chugh, specialist on sexual issues, states, "Sex contributes to general good health. Any sexual intimacy that is enjoyable and pleasurable promotes well being by providing several physical and psychological benefits. It is believed that sex boosts chemicals in the body that protects us against diseases. Research also suggests that sex and masturbation can help ease joint and muscle pain, combat depression, promote heart health and lengthen one's life span."

Dr. Samir Parikh, clinical physiatrist adds, "The basic fact is that a good sex life also means in a larger picture, a good relationship with one's partner and this makes the partner happier, less stressed and by virtue of that physically healthier."

Not just this, sex also accelerates blood circulation and one's basic metabolic rate, which further enhances the well-being of our mind and soul and helps us calm down.

On these emotional benefits, Dr Chugh adds, "A satisfying sexual relationship strengthens the bond between couples, making them feel secure and loved. The feeling of emotional connectedness adds to ones sense of belonging, which in totality helps them achieve a positive physical, psychological and spiritual state that is necessary for one's general health."

Elaborating further, on a scientific angle, Dr Avdesh Sharma, a consultant psychiatrist, and an expert on relationship issues shares, "Sex is a way of bonding at the physical, mental and emotional level and leads to health (including psychological) benefits. If it is used as a mechanical process, it may have limited benefits. There are physiological benefits of positive changes in parameters like pulse, heart rate, reduction in blood pressure (after an increase in B.P. specially if vigourous sex is tried), dilation of blood vessels and capillaries of the skin, leading to a 'glow', burning of a few calories (depending on the duration of the act and vigour), exercising of some of the muscles, thus improving lung capacity (during heavy breathing)."

However, we also need to understand that sexual acts work more in terms of improving resistance, but are not a safe guard or a treatment to illnesses. Any sexual act can neither be used as a treatment nor would it change your stresses of life, which one would need to resolve irrespective.

"The extra edge of sex may be due to the feeling of being wanted, an expression of emotions and certain hormonal and physiological changes that happen as an expression of love for another individual. Unfortunately, the benefits of sexuality are usually quoted out of context and people may look at this as a panacea for everything. But sexuality without emotions have limited value," concludes Dr Avdesh Sharma.

Here are some lesser known fun facts about sex.

Have sex stay fit :

Sex may seem like the safest sport you can take up. It de-stresses you, keeps you rejuvenated, elevates your moods and stretchs, tones and exercises your body muscles.

Expert opinion : Dr Ishi Khosla, clinical nutritionist, Director Whole Foods asserts, "Sexual acts certainly lead to a normal mental well-being and a healthy state of mind. This in turn creates a physically fit body. If there's an ill-health or manifestation of any problem, it would reflect on your outer body."

Dr Samir Parikh adds, "You would still need a balanced lifestyle, which means that if you compare two equals in terms of lifestyle age and other factors as a constant, then it's possible that a sexually active person feels better."

Sex burns extra calories :

It is indeed a form of exercise and naturally burns one's calories too.

Expert Opinion : Dr Geetu Amarnani, wellness expert at Kolmet Hospital, opines, "While having sex, the BMP (basic metabolic rate) increases and that ultimately helps in burning the calories, so it's widely believed that one can shed that extra flab through sexual encounters."

Sex for glowing skin and hair :

When women make love they produce the hormone oestrogen which makes their hair shine and their skin smooth.

Expert Opinion : Make-up expert Sylvie, also an expert on sexual issues asserts, "As sex helps releasing the extra level of frustration and stress on one's mind and body, so logically it leads to a glow on your face and your skin texture looks better too. Also, hormones in our body are activated at a faster rate than usual during sex, which helps in better blood circulation, adding that extra shine to one's skin and hair."

Sex brings relief from headaches, reduces depression and tranquilises your mind :

A satisfying love-making session releases tension that restricts blood vessels in the brain. It brings you out of a depressed state of mind and acts as a tranquilliser.

Expert Opinion : Dr Sanjay Chugh, "The pleasure that is derived from a satisfying sexual act tends to relax one's mind, taking away headache. It releases endorphins into the bloodstream, producing a sense of euphoria and leaving you with a feeling of well-being. Good sex leaves the person feeling relaxed and satisfied thus acting like a tranquiliser."

A kiss to keep dental problems at bay :

It is medically accepted that a kiss encourages saliva to wash food from the teeth and lowers the level of the acid that causes decay. It also prevents the build-up of plaque.

Expert Opinion : Dental expert, Dr. Vandana Jyoti opines, “Anything that increases salivation will help in bringing down the acid level, which causes damage to one’s teeth. It also prevents cavity. Other than a kiss, chewing gum and more of lemon intake also tend to act in the same manner. But one has to be extra careful, as it might act the other way round, in terms of spreading germs, if either of the two persons involved in a kiss is suffering from a tooth infection. ( indiatimes.com )

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