The Health Risks of Uncircumcision

For my dearest blog fellows who are pregnant with baby boy, this is the time to think about circumcision. Especially for Asian people, circumcision is not widely practised as in Western countries.

Keep reading below and you will know how important is circumcision, BOTH for your boy and for his future wife.

Let's go back in history. If you happened to think that circumcision is unimportant as our ancestors back then never even have this procedures done, you are correct! But, only applicable for that period of ancient time, when our ancestors are still naked. In fact, the foreskin plays important role to protect the tip of penis from dust, sand, insects, and infections.

The above doesn't apply anymore in our time, where we are all wrapped in clothes, often dirty and sweaty. This has made it became unhygienic, especially for people who live in hot weather countries.

The reason why circumcision is important, because the inner lining of the foreskin is very thin. This does not give protection against injury and infection like normal skin does. In fact, 'smegma' or a whitish residue of dead cells and other material, is collected under the foreskin. This attracts bacteria and other microorganisms.

Statistically, uncircumcised men are more exposed to infectious diseases such as:

• Thrush
• Human papilloma virus
• Syphilis
• HIV
• Urinary tract infections
• Other inflammatory conditions of the skin
• Phimosis, a narrowing of the opening the foreskin that prevents it being retracted and makes sex painful
• Higher chance of prostate cancer

Meanwhile, their female partners are more prone to:

• Genital herpes
• Chlamydia
• Pelvic inflammatory disease
• Infertility
• Higher chance of cervix cancer

There is a one-in-three chance of an uncircumcised man developing one or more of these conditions over his lifetime.

However, there are always risks involving with any surgical procedure. In one in 500 circumcisions there's some minor bleeding. In about 1 in 1000, the circumcision needs to be redone. It is noteworthy though, that complications are fewest when it's done between birth and 4 months, although the procedure can be done at any age. Serious complications that requires hospitalisation is very rare. Mutilation or loss of the penis, and death, are practically unheard of if the surgeon is competent.

All in all, the benefits of circumcision still outweigh the risks of the procedure.

And to mothers to baby boys, now you can make your informed decision on whether or not to circumcised your boy, or leave it to him to decide later in his life.

---------------------

For reference:
• World Health Organization's website : http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2007/pr10/en/index.html
• Professor Brian Morris's website : www.circinfo.net
• The Royal Australasian College of Physicians policy statement on circumcision : http://www.racp.edu.au/
• Why circumcision is a biomedical imperative for the 21st century - BioEssays abstract : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez

Sexual Positions To Improve Chances of Pregnancy

Efforts to conceive can be both exciting and anxious experiences. It would be exciting at first, when the wife's period schedule is late for few days. Anxious if the home pregnancy test kit shows disappointing results. If this cycle repeats for few months down the road, it would be rather depressing experiences. Though you shouldn't be worried about anything if you have only been trying to conceive for several months. Couples are considered having fertility problems if they have been trying for more than a year without any results.

But before you head out to reputable IVF clinic that will definitely cost a fortune, you should know the basics first, that there are certain sexual positions that you should adopt to increase your chances of pregnancy.

The sexual positions that may encourage pregnancy are:

• Missionary Position
  This is the oldest and most traditional sexual position. The man is on the top. This position allows sperm the right entrance to the cervix. The woman might want to put a small pillow under her hips, so after ejaculation, she can tilt her hips and let gravity works its work.

• Doggy Style
  The woman is on her knees, and he enters from behind. This position allows for deeper penetration.

• Spooning Position
  Lying side by side, he enters her from behind. Also use a pillow under her hips after ejaculation.

There are certain positions that should be avoided.

• Woman on Top
  Ladies, despite how tempted you are for this position, do avoid this position as this only cause most of sperm to slide out when he separates himself from you.

• Standing Position
  Same reason as above.

Please note, though these 2 positions are less favourable for successful conception, these positions do not prevent pregnancy. With these positions, sperm can enter uterus with the force of ejaculation and contraction of uterus usually followed after orgasm.

Good luck!

Coffee: Good or Bad?

Some of us, including myself, need coffee to start a day. And even worse, we need caffeine to kick-in to get our brain start 'working'. This is actually quite a common situation for us, working people.

Well, some findings do show coffee contains higher anti-oxidants than found in fruits. And also that coffee consumption is beneficial for men. It is said that this would increase the swimming speed of sperms.

However, you should also know the side effects of coffee consumptions. Besides heart beating faster and insomnia, coffee actually have greater side effects that these common knowledge.

Coffee is indeed doing no good for women as it may cause infertility if it is consumed in excess amount.

In fact, there is a new US study shows that pregnant women who drink two or more cups of coffee a day can double their risk of having a miscarriage.

US researchers say they have conclusive proof to show that women who drink a lot of caffeine on a daily basis in the early months of pregnancy have an elevated risk of miscarriage.

The researchers say in a paper published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology to be absolutely safe, expectant mothers should avoid caffeinated beverages of any kind during the first five months of pregnancy.

Expectant mothers should avoid daily caffeine consumption, be it from coffee, tea, hot chocolate, caffeinated beverages, or a combination of all of these.

So, do watch out your caffeine intake, especially for working expectant mothers.