The Nation Newspaper

Tag: libido

  • Appropriate diet can enhance male libido

    A traditional medicine practitioner has recommended food containing essential minerals and vitamins for men seeking a healthy libido.

    The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nature Healing Alternatives, Dr Leye Popoola, said diet plays a crucial role in men’s reproductive health.

    Dr Popoola said some vitamins, especially vitamin C and E help to mop up free radicals in the system to ensure good health.

    By this, the body will function at maximum capacity, he added.

    He said man’s diet can influence directly and indirectly by his sexual prowess.

    The traditional medicine practitioner said a man’s poor libido can be a direct consequences of his ailing heart or cardiovascular health.

    He said many fruits, such as mango, carrots and oranges are good for the body but not many Nigerian men take them.

    Besides these, there are other fruits that are grown locally, which are also good for men.

    He also recommended dark green leafy vegetables but cautioned that it should not be over-cooked.

    Popoola warned men against taking processed foods as these cause men’s weakness.

    “They should also avoid fizzy drinks and settle for wholly natural drinks. Alcohol too inhibit the system. So they must avoid it,” he said.

    He spoke of men living in denial because of shame, saying their problem is not without solution.

    “All they need to do is make some lifestyle modifications, especially in their food intake,” he said.

    He continued: “The food they consume often make them to have weak libido or ED. Men should keep off unnatural or devalued food, especially white flour or bread. They should abstain from  smoking and taking of alcohol. I observed that many men complain and actually have ED. It is alarming the rate at which they go for orthodox drugs as respite. I want to state that medication is not the only solution for treating impotence or ED, because there could be underlying factors, such as lifestyle, or stress that  should be addressed.”

    He said despite the social cultural issues surrounding the problem many men still keep to themselves. “It is surprisingly that most men would rather die in silence than agree that they are suffering from erectile dysfunction (ED) otherwise known as impotence,” he said.

    Dr Popoola said there are concoction made from gboingboin (Yoruba), sombo (Yoruba) and cayenne, which can solve their problem without any side effect.

    He said there is need to understand how man’s body is composed in order to understand ED and the way out. “When a sub-system is disabled the entire system is affected. Even headache and cough can affect sexual relationship. Similarly, high blood pressure can also predispose men to low libido. If a man is stressed up; experiences sleeplessness or eat too much fatty foods that clog the blood stream, impressive libido will be impeded.

    “In fact, impotence is an early warning sign that cardiovascular disease (CVD) may be looming. ED caused by narrowed arteries commonly develops years before any symptoms or problems of CVD, hypertension or diabetes become apparent,” he said.

    He said some drugs have side effects, especially hypertensive drugs, which can reduce men’s libido, adding: “This is why some men would experience lack of erection.”

    Diabetics, he said, experience impotence or have problem sustaining an erection. “Diabetes affects blood circulation to the extremities of the body, such as the tips of the fingers, toes and male organ. Most  impotent people often have a very high blood sugar level. Tests often confirm this,” he said.

    People with heart problems, he said, are also susceptible to poor libido.

    According to him, this is because the heart pumps the blood to the body. “When the heart cannot perform its functions effectively, there would be problems with other parts of the body,” he said.

    Popoola said people, who have Parkinson’s disease would not be able to have an erection. Backache, he said, may also not allow them engage in any sexual act because the back is the engine room of sexual intercourse apart from the male genital organ.

  • ‘Poor lifestyle, diseases cause men’s low libido’

    Poor lifestyle, injuries and diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension, have been identified as causes of low libido among men.

    According to Dr Narasimhan Subramanian, Senior Consultant Urologist at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals in Delhi, India,  poor libido also known as erectile dysfunction (ED), is common because  most men lack adequate flow of blood to their organs.

    Subramanian, who spoke at a training organised by Diamond Helix Health Support Ltd for physicians in Lagos, said poor lifestyle, such as smoking, drinking and fatigue/chronic stress, impact on a man’s sex drive.

    “The inability of men to achieve and maintain a normal erection adequate for penetration implies erectile dysfunction. Similarly, a delay in achieving erection or an inability to maintain an erection also implies ED. ED may occur under various circumstances, ranging from spinal injuries, neurological and psychological dysfunction, also unidentifiable cause is often common,”he said.

    Some extreme symptoms of ED, he said, were loss of erection, acute psychological distress and gradual loss of desire for sex.

    Subramanian said it was more frequent in diabetics and in those with cardio vascular diseases, hypertension and peripheral vascular disease.The effect on the nerves and on the blood vessels leading to poor blood flow seems to be the primary reason.

    He said in the country, plants and herbs have served as sources of medicines for the treatment of chronic ED among the poor but this may not be sufficient.

    Subramanian said various plant products and herbal medications have reportedly produced good results but there are no controlled studies comparing those with established allopathic medicines.

    To obtain impressive treatment, Subramanian advised men to seek qualified healthcare practitioners who would do an assessment of their blood sugar, cardiovascular health and measurement of hormones, such testosterone and prolactin.

    “Besides, a psychological evaluation will often benefit those who suffer from performance anxiety while depression is often seen as an accompanying factor of ED in many people. A detailed evaluation of one’s medication is also important. Smoking and excessive drinking are known to have significant adverse impact on ED, so it is good to avoid them altogether and embrace a holistic lifestyle,” he said.

  • Unruly libido

    Unruly libido

    University teachers have gone out of control in exploiting and harassing female students for sexual favours

    Sexual exploitation of female students by their teachers who should stand in loco parentis for them has for long been a disquieting but neglected phenomenon in Nigerian universities.  It gained national salience for a while in the late 1980s, largely through the attention it received from former first lady Maryam Babangida’s Better Life for Rural Women and allied women’s societies.

    Unfortunately, their intervention, seen largely by a skeptical attentive public as just another front on Babangida’s regime’s unrelenting crackdown on the universities, the bastion of resistance to his dictatorial rule and his agenda of self-perpetuation, soon fizzled out.

    Today, campus sexploitation has now grown to an extent that warrants forthright discussion and prompt action.

    This ugly phenomenon takes many forms.

    In perhaps the most brazen manifestation, lecturers blackmail female students into granting them sexual favours, on pain of failing a critical course.  Some lecturers even ask the unfortunate student to arrange, at her own cost, a rendezvous for her own violation.

    That is not consensual sex.  It is rape, pure and simple.  And it is not uncommon.  In one widely reported case, a professor and faculty dean at the University of Calabar has been cited in the investigation of a sexual assault on a 20-year-old female student. In another, an adjunct lecturer at the University of Lagos is alleged to have raped an 18-year-old, seeking admission into the university.

    In another common practice, some lecturers invite female students to their offers under the pretext of academic consultation or and advisement, only to grope and fondle them, without their consent and without the least regard for consequences.

    In a more subtle but no less deplorable manifestation, some lecturers lace their classroom presentation with gratuitous sexual allusions guaranteed to make female students uncomfortable.

    One line of argument in this tawdry business has it that some female students dress “provocatively” and thereby invites attention to themselves, wittingly or unwittingly.  This is simply untenable.  Lecturers are supposed to be disciplined adults in full control of their emotions, not predators.

    The instances the public gets to know about may seem few relative to the university population, but the fact is that, for every case reported, there are probably dozens that never get reported not just from for fear of further victimization, but also from the shame of it all.

    Returns from a survey conducted by the Dream Project for Africa in its End Sexual Harassment and Bribery in Nigerian Colleges indicate that 75 percent of those polled said that sexual harassment was common on their campuses.  One-third of the respondents said they or someone they know has been or is being sexually harassed.  More than one-third of them said they feared the idea of reporting the issue to anyone, and only one in 12 students believed that the authorities took the matter seriously

    That enough is not being done to address sexploitation on campus is clear from the recent announcement by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission that it has concluded plans to prosecute lecturers against whom a case has been established.

    The announcement should serve as a wake-up call to the university community.  With the National Universities Commission providing broad guidelines, University authorities should develop a code of conduct that defines sexual harassment in clear terms and specifies sanctions for conduct that violates it.  The code will be binding on serving and new appointees, and it must be rigorously enforced.

    A climate that offers protection to those reporting sexual harassment will have to be created.    Without such protection, they will not feel confident to come forward.  And unless they come forward, the problem will not get the forthright attention it requires.

  • Causes of low libido

    Stress: The body reacts to stress by releasing adrenaline and cortisol. Chronic stress, in particular, can interfere with your body’s hormone levels, and result in a low libido. The arteries can also narrow and restrict blood flow in response to stress, which can also lead to erectile dysfunction. Stress can also reduce your libido by distracting you and taking your mind off sexual desire.

    Depression: Libido and depression share a complicated link. “Depression can change the body’s biochemistry and therefore reduce libido,” says Mark L. Held, PhD, a clinical psychologist in the Denver area. “It’s also harder to feel sexual when you’re depressed.” Some medications commonly used to treat depression may also lower libido as a side effect.

    Low self-esteem. It’s hard to feel sexy when your self-confidence is down or when you have an unhealthy body image. “Someone who feels unattractive is less likely to want to engage in sex,” says Held. “Fears of rejection may also come in to play.”

    Alcohol or drug use. While a little alcohol can help lower inhibitions, too much can impair your nervous system and lead to fatigue making it difficult to become aroused. Other drugs can decrease your sex drive as well. For example, marijuana suppresses the pituitary gland, which regulates the production of testosterone.

    Lack of sleep. A good night’s rest might be hard to come by, but you need sleep to keep a sharp mind, a healthy body, and an active libido. “When you’re exhausted, you’d rather catch up on sleep,” says Alan W. Shindel, MD, clinical instructor and fellow of andrology at the University of California at San Francisco. Physically, a lack of sleep can elevate cortisol levels, which also leads to low libido. Even more surprising in the sleep-ED connection? One recent study found that men with restless leg syndrome (a neurological disorder characterised by jumpy, creepy-crawly sensations as you’re falling asleep) are at higher risk for erectile dysfunction, probably due to low dopamine levels.

    Medication. Some medications used to treat depression, high blood pressure, and other common illnesses can affect libido or cause sexual dysfunction.

    Erectile Dysfunction. Low libido is a common emotional side effect of ED. “Once a man experiences ED, he may get anxious,” says Shindel. “His confidence is shaken, and he might be afraid it will happen again. His libido shuts down to preserve his ego.”

    Hormone imbalance. Libido is directly influenced by testosterone levels. Therefore, low libido is often caused by low testosterone levels — a hormone imbalance. “Low testosterone can be caused by injury, inflammation, or tumors in the testicles,” says Ira Sharlip, MD, clinical professor of urology at University of California at San Francisco and a spokesperson for the American Urological Association. Other causes of a hormone imbalance include cirrhosis of the liver or pituitary diseases. “The liver is responsible for breaking down estrogen; when it fails, estrogen level goes up, and this causes low libido. And pituitary diseases reduce the amount of testosterone in the body,” says Sharlip.

     

    • Source: www.everydayhealth.com

     

     

  • ‘Causes ‘ll determine remedies for men’s poor libido’

    ‘Causes ‘ll determine remedies for men’s poor libido’

    As we age, our energy, stamina and virility level reduces. Many men have problems with their sexual lives, which we will rather not admit because of our ego. But it is high time we did so, as there are effective natural remedies guaranteed to reverse such problems.

    Indeed, of what use is it for your “third leg” to fail to perform adequately on the field of play and when it matters most. This could be most embarrassing not only for you but equally for your woman. That is why you must ensure it does not happen to you at all and or not again.

    The good news for men is that nature has provided us with several herbs to help men suffering low sex drive/low libido, weak erection, premature ejaculation and others.

    There are herbs in nature’s pharmacy for increasing and stabilising testosterone production and others that soothe and calm nerves. Most of them are essential in increasing the men’s libido and are available in my stable.

    A man should consult his physician/healthcare provider before taking any herbal supplements. This is because one needs to understand the cause and health profile of a man before providing solution. For instance, prolonged stress and poor circulation are common causes of diminished libido in men. Not only will Korean ginseng (paxan ginseng) increase your blood circulation, but it also has the added benefit of working on your central nervous system to calm nerves and quiet anxiety. It is the most commonly prescribed treatment for low sex drive in men in Japan and China. Korean ginseng is available in standardised powder, tablet and tincture form.

    A less common cause of low sex drive is low testosterone production. Wild oats will increase its production. There is also the extract from wild oat straw, avena sativa, which will free up and increase your circulation of testosterone. Read labels, many extracts available lack the essential active ingredient avenacosides. Stinging nettle root will work in conjunction with wild oats and avena sativa by keeping your testosterone in an active form and available for use. Nervines are a group herbs that work directly on the central nervous system. They can bring you to a more relaxed state of mind, which is required for a healthy sexual libido. Herbal aphrodisiacs increase sexual arousal and desire, usually in a short amount of time.The strongest natural aphrodisiac available is yohimbe. Take caution when taking this herb. It works so quickly that it can have a sharp and sudden change in blood pressure.

    Other, more subtle herbal aphrodisiacs include sarsaparilla, horny goat weed, damiana and maca. You can also increase your sex drive by including zinc and kelp into your diet, which are also aphrodisiacs.These are what helped our forefathers to maintain great virility despite old age. They are what they took from time to time to enhance performance. The secret of how they impress their many wives and concubines. You can also benefit from the secret and surely change your sexual life for the better. These herbs are good for intense sexual pleasure and stamina for repeat pleasurable performances, not stimulants; they are very natural, effective and highly guaranteed to work.

  • The Oba, his libido and the law

    On October 8, an Osun high court discharged and acquitted Oba Adebukola Alli, the Alowa of Ilowa-Ijesa, Osun State, of rape charges. But the same court lampooned the accused for sexual rascality that brought shame to himself, his family and his kingdom.

    The court said the Oba was morally culpable. But by law, he was in the clear: it had insufficient evidence to nail him for rape. If indeed the law is codified morality, then that “dual” judgment leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.

    The court lamented the absence, as damning evidence, of stained bed sheets (which the accused would have gleefully surrendered?), torn underpants and medical reports confirming forced penetration – and possible bruises – to prove rape. It then heavily descended on the Police, accused to have bungled the investigation.

    So, after all said and done, much less have been said than done. The alleged rapist is in the clear. The alleged victim is far from justice, rocked by emotional trauma, even after the rigour and humiliation of trial, at a stage during which the accused camp gleefully asked her to expose (if not to the open court, then to the judge in chambers!) her private part, to prove she was bruised! How callous can a judicial system be!

    What next then: is the coast clear for the next royal rapist – or any rapist at all – on the prowl? Or is the Nigerian court system still captive to the Kabiyesi syndrome of the Yoruba feudal era?

    The Kabiyesi, in Yoruba culture, is he who cannot be questioned. Indeed, he is next only to the gods, who themselves are next only to Olodumare, the Almighty.

    But, of course, that is the problem with feudalism! How can frail humans be invested with god-like privileges without something terrible giving?

    Indeed, history is replete with many a royal “unquestionable”, whose inability to question their libido landed them and their peoples in soup.

    In Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra, Anthony lost his half of the Roman Empire – and his life – virtually on the laps of Cleopatra, the bewitchingly beautiful queen of Egypt.

    Loose libido was also central to the destruction of ill-fated Troy. A Trojan prince, Paris, had seduced Helen (some sources suggested he actually raped her), wife of Spartan King Menelaus and most beautiful woman in antiquity; and eloped with her to his native Troy, sparking a Greek military expedition that eventually erased Troy.

    The whole of the Yoruba country quaked with Kiriji War (1877-1893) because someone exercised his libido with impunity. Ajele Oyepetun, the sitting Ibadan viceroy at Okemesi, had raped the wife of Fabunmi, an Okemesi son and intrepid warrior, who promptly beheaded the Ajele for the forced cuckoldry and its terrible stains. That baited the Ibadan imperialists to war. Though that war ended in stalemate, it put an end to Ibadan military hegemony in Yorubaland.

    Oba Alli’s alleged rape mess therefore falls squarely within the compass of royal licentiousness. But the difference between then and now is that the law tries to avail every citizen – king or commoner – justice; and avert collective catastrophe from individual recklessness. It is doubtful, however, if the Osun judgment, in this rape case, has served anyone justice.

    Oba Alli was alleged to have raped Helen Okpara, 23, a youth corps member, posted to his Ilowa-Ijesa community on National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) assignment, on 25 March 2011, at the Oba’s Osogbo residence, at Rasco Housing Estate, Osogbo.

    The young woman alleged it was rape, since the Oba had allegedly been making passes at her. Besides, when the Oba started pressuring and threatening her, prelude to alleged rape, she sent panic text messages to her NYSC employers and her pastor, who also alerted the Police. The Police, however, declared the time too late to do anything. By the time the Police jerked themselves awake, the following morning, the poor girl’s goose was cooked. The errant Oba had had his way.

    But the Oba countered it was consensual coitus, since both allegedly consenting adults were lovers. He even claimed the girl enjoyed it while it lasted!

    The court believed the Oba. But even at that, its heart quaked with moral guilt, as it railed at the Oba’s immoral and disgraceful conduct. That was enough stain; for a royal father should protect every member of his community.

    But rape or not, the Oba’s conduct is most reprehensible. Helen was a youth corps member from another part of the country, the South East. Aside from the Federal Government and the NYSC, Oba Alli, as traditional ruler, should have been her closest protector. Yet, his loose libido led him to embrace the infamy of alleged rape. How would the Oba and his community have felt if the reverse had been the case; and an Ilowa-Ijesa daughter, at the receiving end?

    Even if the Oba was sexually wayward, how does one justify his Ilowa-Ijesa community’s callousness during the trial? Newspapers reported a segment of the community mobilising pupils to demonstrate, near the court premises, in Osogbo: demonising the alleged victim, lionising the alleged rapist. How low can a community sink! And to think all that was done to intimidate the court!

    Just as well the Osun government frowned at that gross misconduct, threatening to punish the irresponsible teachers and community dealers (sorry, leaders!) behind that outrage. It should walk its talk; and do just that in full public glare.

    Oba Alli may not have been found guilty of rape. But the court proved and rebuked his sexual irresponsibility, which, to say the least, is a blight on his throne, which like Caesar’s wife, should be beyond reproach. If his community would tolerate such turpitude, then it is the bounden duty of the surrounding communities, nay, other Osun traditional rulers, to ostracise this monarch whose un-royal behaviour gives the Yoruba monarchy a bad name.

    The Osun government, on its own part, should appeal the case to secure justice for all. But even as the process is on, it should formally apologise to, and compensate Miss Okpara, on Oba Alli’s hideous behaviour. This is imperative to distance the state from this un-royal scandal.

    The NYSC authorities, on their own part, should insist on formal apology, from the Ilowa-Ijesa community; and a written commitment that no corps member would ever, in that community, suffer Miss Okpara’s trauma. Until these are done, it should not send new corps members to Ilowa-Ijesa.

    As for the law, it should shape up. A monarch with rampant libido is no roguish but fictional Baroka outwitting Lakunle for village jewel, Sidi, in Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel. He is rather a real danger to himself, his throne, his people and his culture.

    Such putative rapists should be nailed and thrown into the slammer where they belong. It is not enough for the court to morally wring its hands, while a probable rapist escapes the law.