Sunday, February 16, 2020

Discover better sex

Could you quit caffeine?

Shots

Hanna Barczyk for NPR

Women Are Reclaiming Their Sexual Pleasure. Here's How 

A landmark study from 1999 found that over 40% of women surveyed weren't feeling satisfied by sex. How can more women allow themselves to experience sexual pleasure?

Health researcher and journalist Katherine Rowland explores that question in her new book The Pleasure Gap: American Women and the Unfinished Sexual Revolution

Rowland talks to women who've taken charge and reignited their libidos. Among other nuggets of wisdom she gleaned: Orgasms, far from being elusive, are learnable, like "riding a bicycle." She also explains that when women's male partners get on board and focus on her pleasure, good things result for both. 

Read on to learn more about discovering new levels of sexual satisfaction. 
 

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Karl Tapales/Getty Images

Zinc Supplements Can Shorten A Cold

The common cold is a top reason for missed work and school days. Most of us have two or three colds per year, each lasting at least a week.

There's no real cure, but studies from the last several years show that some supplement containing zinc can help shorten the duration of cold symptoms by up to 40% — depending on the amount of the mineral in each dose and what it's combined with.

A recent meta-analysis concludes that 80 to 92 milligrams per day of zinc, given at the onset of cold symptoms, reduced duration of the common cold by 33%.

Read on for more details about what to look for in a supplement and the back story of how zinc was discovered.
 

Abdulrhman Al Shidokhi/Getty Images

Could You Live Without Caffeine For Three Months?

When author Michael Pollan temporarily gave up coffee and tea “cold turkey” while writing his book Caffeine: How Coffee and Tea Created the Modern World, he expected to get a headache and be extra drowsy.

What he didn’t expect was a striking inability to concentrate and a sudden loss of confidence that lasted several days. He lasted three months without caffeine.

"I just couldn't focus," he says. “The whole book seemed like a really stupid idea. And loss of confidence is actually listed as one of the symptoms of caffeine withdrawal."

Pollan talked to Fresh Air’s Terry Gross this week about the psychoactive aspects of caffeine withdrawal.

"There are studies that show that people's both mental performance and athletic performance are improved by coffee," Pollan says.

Read on to learn more about the science behind caffeine’s effects on the brain.

More of this week's health stories from NPR

As Congress proposes solutions to surprise medical billing, doctors push to protect their pay.

Would the U.S. health care system be ready for a surge in coronavirus cases?

How AI could help pick the right antidepressants for patients with depression.
We hope you enjoyed these stories. Find more of NPR's health journalism on Shots and follow us on Twitter at @NPRHealth.

Your Shots editor,

Carmel Wroth
 
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