Your skin is your body’s biggest organ and also one of the most important along with your heart lungs and liver, yet many people don’t seem to look after it, after all if you don’t have healthy skin you won’t have a healthy body.

One of the most important things is to protect your skin from the sun, excessive exposure to UV light has numerous negative effects on your body, and the worst is skin cancer which can be caused by exposing unprotected skin to harmful UV rays. As well as that it can cause wrinkles, freckles, age-spots, rough and dry skin. So it’s important to have sun protection, especially if you are out when the sun is at its strongest. That said it doesn’t mean you should avoid going out when it’s sunny as vitamin D which is obtained from sun exposure is important for a healthy body and it’s also thought that a lack of vitamin D attributes to Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Not surprisingly smoking and drinking also affects your skin, smoking will make your skin look much older than it actually is and contributes to wrinkles. It also narrows the tiny blood vessels in the outermost layers of skin, which decreases blood flow. This depletes the skin of oxygen and nutrients, such as vitamin A, that are important to skin health and on top of that smoking also damages collagen and elastin, which stops your skin being as movable and ends up looking wrinkly. Alcohol also destroys vitamin A which if you smoke can make the effects much worse, on top of that alcohol also dehydrates you and in turn your skin. Alcohol also makes you more prone to breakouts as the toxins look to leave your body.

The first successful treatment for Erectile Dysfunction (ED), Viagra continues to be the most popular form of treatment for many men even though other treatments have come along since. Viagra offers hope to many men who suffer from the symptoms of ED which include; low sexual desire, inability to make erection or maintain it even after sexual stimulation. Around one in ten men can suffer from ED which leaves them with low self esteem, depressed and can cause problems within relationships.

Although Viagra isn’t a cure for ED it does offer men the ability to have successful sexual intercourse after they have taken the tablets, there are also some things you can do as well to reduce ED such as:

Improve your diet, the better your diet the better your general health. If you eat and drink healthier, your sleep improves leaving you feel energised and so does your circulation which helps blood flow around your body including your penile region.

Exercise is also important, the more you do the more strength and energy you gain. Again you blood flow improves but also you get a lesser chance for your cholesterol level to go up, and you become de-stressed.

Be stress free, worrying and stress has a negative effect on your sexual desire. It has been found out that low sexual desire can be caused by stressful conditions, and too much worrying.

Recently James Nesbitt has been sporting a rather fuller head of hair than he had in his past, and by the looks of it, it is not a wig either. So this begs the question, what did he do to reverse the effects of male pattern baldness? Well as the actor admitted last week that after many years of thinning hair, he underwent two follicular unit transplants, which replaced much of the lost hair, saying: “They’ve changed my life,’ he says. It’s horrible going bald. ¬Anyone who says it isn’t is lying.”

So there is hope out there that there are effective ways to combat male pattern balding, well if you have a nice large bank account as it’s not cheap, however there are other treatments out there which cost a lot less and have had good results, such as Propecia, which helps thicken your hair on the scalp and over time slow hair loss also.

Experts claim that millions of British women suffer from low libido and discomfort during sex, drug companies claim four in ten women have low libido, in a hope that the millions they have spent on finding effective solutions won’t be wasted. One study favored by the drugs companies calculated that 43 per cent of women have problems with sex, or female sexual dysfunction (FSD) as it’s known.

Because of the huge popularity of the male sexual dysfunction drug Viagra which is worth $500 million (£316m) in sales every year, the drug companies what to also capitalize on sexual dysfunction in women, with some companies looking at how to target blood flow, others the hormones or chemicals that affect mood. Currently available for women is a testosterone patch which can be prescribed to boost low libido called Intrinsa, other treatments currently waiting to be licensed include an anti-depressant-type drug that affects the feel-good brain chemical serotonin and one containing the hormone DHEA that the body can turn into testosterone.

However some people in the medical profession believe drugs may not be the answer, currently the effectiveness of some of these treatments is in question, as well as what they claim to do, with some people finding the quite misleading. Critics of the treatments say that, researchers and pharmaceutical companies are accused of ‘medicalising’ female sexual problems in order to sell drugs.

Your lifestyle can affect you in ways you may not realise one common health problem for men that is normally caused by their lifestyle is erectile dysfunction (ED) more than 50% of men between the ages of 40 and 70 experience ED in some form at some point. However there are a few things that you can do to overcome this problem, ED is most commonly caused by other health conditions, side effects from medication or your lifestyle. Most men will have heard of Viagra which is use to treat ED you can also buy Cialis and Levitra as well but your doctor is the best person to discuss this with and they will be able to help you the best option for you.

Some lifestyle factors that can cause ED include:

Smoking
Being overweight
Drinking too much alcohol
Not being physically active
Using recreational drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine, or heroin

As well as lifestyle factors there are also psychological factors that can also cause ED these include:

Depression
Stress at work, at home, or in social life
Anxiety about sexual performance
Relationship problems

If you suffer from ED caused by your lifestyle you are also more prone to suffer from the psychological affects as well.

To help combat ED you can make changes to your lifestyle, obvious ones are quitting smoking, stop taking recreational drugs, cutting down on how much alcohol you drink and maintaining a healthy diet, as well as that make sure you exercise frequently. If you are suffering ED from psychological problems then seek help for that, either learning to relax or getting counselling, you need to remember that although Viagra is now easily available it’s not a cure and only help out ED and not the root cause, so it’s always important to look at your lifestyle and make so changes.

If you are suffering from erectile dysfunction don’t worry you are not alone, it’s estimated that half of all men in the UK between 40 and 70 will experience erectile dysfunction at some point. There are now many treatments available such as Viagra or Levitra however it can be useful first to look at the causes, as many men do not understand how their lifestyle can affect them.

Problems can stem from many areas including other medications, a chronic illness, poor blood flow to the penis, consuming large amounts of alcohol or being too tired, a change in your lifestyle could affect the problems you are suffering in the bedroom, as well as medications and other holistic treatments. You just need to find one that suits you.

Not treating erectile dysfunction can also lead to other health problems, for example it’s not uncommon for men suffering from ED to feel upset and angry as well as unsure of themselves, and if these feelings are not properly dealt with it could lead to depression. You need to be honest with yourself, partner and doctor about your problems, and then you will be able to find a suitable solution because problems like these just don’t go away.

Stress can also be a huge factor in the causes of erectile dysfunction, so if you find yourself getting worked up you must learn how to relax to be able to deal with ED, learning to relax can also have positive benefits in other areas of your health, so it’s worth while taking this into account, especially when you aren’t feeling well. Relaxation exercises can help, try rhythmic breathing, if it is short and quick try slowing down to a gentler pace, also try deep breathing to focus yourself you could also try and relax with the aid of soothing music.

For many a sexual problem or sexual dysfunction can cause a struggle in a relationship, and can often lead to greater problems down the line if not dealt with as soon as possible. Sexual dysfunction refers to a problem during any phase of the sexual response cycle that prevents the individual or couple from experiencing satisfaction from the sexual activity, the response cycle consists of four phases: excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution.

There are a number of things that can cause sexual dysfunction, they can be either physical or psychological and can normally be treated with either some understanding of the problem, a lifestyle change or medication such as Viagra.

Some physical causes of sexual dysfunction include: diabetes, heart and vascular (blood vessel) disease, neurological disorders, hormonal imbalances, chronic diseases such as kidney or liver failure, and alcoholism and drug abuse. Also certain medications can also have an effect such as antidepressants. People also suffering from psychological problems which stem from work-related stress and anxiety, concern about sexual performance, marital or relationship problems, depression, feelings of guilt, and the effects of a past sexual trauma can have a huge effect on them.

It’s not only just men who suffer from sexual dysfunction, women do to, although in men there is physical side that can be seen with women its harder to see.  Low sexual desire is a common problem in women how with recent technical advance this can now be treated with Intrinsa, which is a patch worn on the skin that releases small amounts of testosterone into the bloodstream to increase sexual desire.

The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that by 2020 major depression will be second only to heart disease as the leading cause of disability worldwide. Looking at changes of lifestyle can show somewhat what the causes of depression and anxiety are and thoughts turn to how to reduce the problems.

Massage is one of the oldest forms of treatment for many ailments and although not always recognised as a medical treatment by many professional bodies it has been proved that it can have some effectiveness. Before advances in medicine in the early 1900’s massage therapy was utilized in sanatoriums and psychiatric hospitals as a form of treatment before medicines were introduced. Unfortunately massage therapy has not received the same attention from the scientific community as other forms of treatment however research into effectiveness may be able to finally prove its use.

Many of the studies conducted on the effects of massage therapy show a decrease in depression moods, anxiety level and stress hormones and this is thought to be because increased parasympathetic activity may be the underlying mechanism for some changes. Some people believe when you relax the body you also relax the mind however there isn’t much research into how this happens so until then many people rely on the experiences of others to decide if massage therapy would work for them.

Many people are quick to self asses and brand themselves as depressed when they are feeling low or a bit down, however those feelings which are short lived do not mean you are clinically classed as suffering from depression. When these symptoms go on for a longer period of time then you are more likely to be classed as clinically depressed and if you feel suicidal or have had thoughts then urgent medical treatment should be sought.

Depression is increasingly common, anything of significance can trigger periods of depression or anxiety, for example work stress, financial problems or family turmoil are some of the main contributors to depression.

When suffering from depression curing it by popping a pill does not always mean that that you will be cured, some people can be on medication for their whole lives to keep it at bay, however some research shows that alternative treatments can prove to effective in treating depression and anxiety as well as forms of medication. Looking into the ways you can alleviate the feelings brought on by depression and anxiety can often be as effective as taking medication prescribed by doctors.