Do you know why women may have diminished libido?

Prof. Know Why answers for your general knowledge and awareness on why women may have diminished libido:

Are you having problems in your sex life? Is your woman having diminished libido? Well, she may be suffering from pelvic floor disorder, which may impact women's sex life!

Incontinence and other disorders of the pelvic organs can take a toll on a woman's sex life, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that among 300 women aged 40 and above, those with symptoms of a pelvic floor disorder were more likely to have a diminished libido, pain during sex, or problems reaching orgasm.

Pelvic floor disorders refer to problems with a woman's pelvic organs - the uterus, bladder and rectum; and the muscles and connective tissue that support them. Among the most common of these are urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, where weakened muscles and supporting tissue allow one or more pelvic organs to drop down and protrude into the vagina.

Some symptoms of prolapse include pressure in the vagina, pain in the lower abdomen or lower back, and chronic constipation.

It has been estimated that one-third of U.S. women have at least one type of pelvic floor disorder, but studies have come to conflicting conclusions as to whether the conditions hinder women's sex lives.

The new findings, reported in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, suggest that many women with these disorders, do in fact, have problems with sexual function.

However, the risk of sexual dysfunction was not elevated among women who had mild prolapse that was not causing symptoms, said lead researcher Dr. Victoria Handa, an associate professor of gynecology and obstetrics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. This is important, she explained, because it indicates that women who have sexual complaints but no other potential symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse do not need to be evaluated for the disorder.

The findings are based on 301 patients recruited from gynecology offices affiliated with Johns Hopkins. Eighty women were seeking care for a pelvic floor disorder, including bladder control problems and pelvic organ prolapse. The rest of the women had other conditions or were getting a routine checkup. All of the women completed questionnaires on their overall health, pelvic symptoms and sexual function.

Overall, the researchers found, women with pelvic floor disorders were more likely to have symptoms of a diminished libido, pain during sex and infrequent orgasms - regardless of age and whether they had gone through menopause.

According to the findings of an earlier study by Dr. Handa and her colleagues, women's diminished libido and sexual function are often improved after having surgery to correct significant prolapse.

So, women with pelvic floor disorders should talk it out with their doctors about any sexual difficulties they have. That may only help, improve their diminished libido.

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Do you know why exercise may protect girls from future breast cancer?

Prof. Know Why answers for your general knowledge and awareness on why exercise may protect girls from future breast cancer:

We are all aware of the fact that exercise is good for health. And middle-aged women have long been advised to get active to lower their risk of breast cancer after menopause. But, starting young, pays off, too. A new research shows, exercise during the teen years — starting as young as age 12 — can help protect girls from breast cancer when they're grown.

Dr. Graham Colditz of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the study's lead author, points out that the benefit of sustained physical activity from adolescence through the adult years, gets the maximum benefit.

Researchers tracked nearly 65,000 nurses, ages ranging from 24 to 42 who enrolled in a major health study. They answered detailed questionnaires about their physical activity dating back to age 12. Within six years of enrolling, 550 were diagnosed with breast cancer before menopause. A quarter of all breast cancer is diagnosed at these younger ages, when it's typically more aggressive.

Women who were physically active as teens and young adults were 23 percent less likely to develop premenopausal breast cancer than women who grew up sedentary, researchers reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The biggest impact was regular exercise from ages 12 to 22.

The women at lowest risk of breast cancer, reported doing 3 hours and 15 minutes of running or other vigorous activity a week — or, for the less athletic, 13 hours a week of walking. Typically, the teens reported more strenuous exercise while during adulthood, walking was most common.

But, why exercise may protect girls from future breast cancer? How exactly, would it help? A big point of exercise in middle age and beyond is to keep off the pounds. After menopause, fat tissue is a chief source of estrogen.

In youth, however, the theory is that physical activity itself lowers estrogen levels. Studies of teen athletes show that very intense exercise can delay onset of menstrual cycles and cause irregular periods.

While the study examined only premenopausal breast cancer, "it's certainly likely and possible" that the protection from youthful exercise will last long enough to affect more common postmenopausal breast cancer, too, Colditz added.

Dr. Alpa Patel, a cancer prevention specialist at the American Cancer Society, who praised the new research, said that though the moderate exercise reported in this study of breast cancer was nowhere near enough for those big changes, but it probably was enough to cause slight yet still helpful hormone changes.

Dr. Patel believes that even if someone was a bookworm as a teen, it's not too late, because other researches on the middle-age benefits of exercise show, mom should join her daughters for that bike ride or game of tennis or at least a daily walk around the block.

There are quite a few breast cancer risks that a woman can't change, like:

• How early she starts menstruating
• How late menopause hits
• Family history of the disease

But, physical activity and body weight are such factors that women can control. Women who engage in physical activity not only during adolescence but also during adulthood, lower their risks of breast cancer, said Dr. Patel.

So, what are you still waiting for? If your young daughter is a bookworm or simply a TV buff, just simply get her off the couch.

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Do you know why women can’t be medically fit when fat?

Prof. Know Why answers for your general knowledge and awareness:

The popular belief that supports the 'fit but fat' theory, has recently got a setback. New research challenges the notion that you can be fat and medically fit at the same time, finding that being active can lower but not eliminate medical risks like heart attacks and other complications, faced by heavy women.

Previous research has gone back and forth on whether exercise or weight has a greater influence on heart disease risks.

The new study involving nearly 39,000 women helps sort out the combined effects of physical activity and body mass on women's chances of developing heart disease.

The study by Harvard-affiliated researchers appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Participants were women aged 54 on average who filled out a questionnaire at the study's start, detailing their height, weight and amount of weekly physical activity in the past year, including walking, jogging, bicycling and swimming. They were then tracked for about 11 years. Overall 948 women developed heart disease.

In the study, women were considered active if they followed recommended guidelines and got at least 30 minutes of moderate activity most days of the week, including brisk walking or jogging. Women who got less exercise than that were considered inactive.

Weight was evaluated by body mass index: A BMI between 25 and 29 is considered overweight, while obese is 30 and higher.

It was found that compared with normal-weight active women, the risk for developing heart disease was 54 percent higher in overweight active women and 87 percent higher in obese active women. By contrast, it was 88 percent higher in overweight inactive women; and 2.5 times greater in obese inactive women.

Women over 50, who eventually develop heart attacks or other cardiovascular problems, excess weight can raise those odds in many ways, by increasing blood pressure and risks for diabetes, and by worsening cholesterol. But exercise counteracts all three to some extent – it was observed.

"It is reassuring to see that physical activity really does make an impact," said lead author Dr. Amy Weinstein of Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. However, she added, "If you're overweight or obese, you can't really get back to that lower risk entirely with just physical activity alone."

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Do you know why we have heartburn?

Prof. Know Why answers:

Before you start thinking something else, let me clarify what is heartburn! Heartburn has nothing to do with ‘heart’. Also known as pyrosis, heartburn is a form of indigestion. It is a painful burning sensation in the esophagus below the breastbone, caused by regurgitation of gastric acid.

Now let’s see how we have heartburn! Heartburn happens when acid from your stomach gets forced upwards into the oesophagus (gullet). This is called acid reflux. The stomach wall is coated with a layer of mucus that protects it from digestive acid. The oesophagus does not have this protection, so any acid that leaks up, irritates and damages its lining. This causes the burning pain associated with heartburn.

But why do we have heartburn? Heartburn is becoming the single most important factor behind the rise in gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) that nowadays largely affects the urban population, mostly due to their long working hours, erratic lifestyle, bad posture (the way you sit and stand) and bad eating habits.

Foods that may cause heartburn are:

• Alcohol (especially red wine) and Tobacco (in any form).
• Caffeinated and carbonated beverages like Coffee, tea, cola and soda.
• Chocolates and ice creams.
• Citrus fruits and juices; tomatoes and sauces.
• Spicy foods; fatty foods; dry foods like peanuts.
• Red pepper; peppermint and spearmint.

Remedies: Drink lots of water and maintain a proper diet. If heartburn occurs when lying down, raising the head with pillows or sitting up frequently may provide some relief. Doctors treat heartburn with antacids or H2-receptor antagonists and proton pump inhibitors (in that order).

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Do you know why does hair turn grey?

Prof. Know Why answers:

Generally with age, our hair turns grey, although people can get grey hair at any age! Some people go grey at a very young age, whereas others may be in their forties before the first grey strand is seen. And in most of the cases, our genes determine how early we get grey hair.

But what is grey hair? How does our hair turn grey? And why at all does our hair turn grey? Lets find out the answers! Melanin is the pigment that is responsible for producing color. To put it simple, - when the cells present at the base of the hair root, stop producing this melanin, the hair shafts turn grey.

Melanin is made up of specialized pigment cells called melanocytes. These are found at the openings on the skin’s surface (follicles) through which hair grows. As the hair is being formed, melanocytes inject melanin pigments into cells containing keratin (a protein that makes up our hair, skin and nails). Throughout the years, melanocytes continue this process, giving the hair their colorful hue of black, brown, blond, etc. But with age comes the reduction in the amount of melanin and the hair gradually turns grey.

Well, people who get grey hair in their twenties might not like it, but grey streaks or salt-and-pepper hair at a matured age surely gives one - a ‘distinguished look’ or so they say!

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Do you know why broken heart can be fatal?

Prof. Know Why answers:

You feel great when you are in love and it shows, because your health glows. But why and how does your health react in case of an undesired break-up? Scientists say, intense stress caused by bereavement can make someone ‘die of a broken heart’.

While it has always been suspected that emotional problems can put the heart under pressure, this was believed to have been caused by ‘primitive’ brain regions, such as the brain stem sending messages to heart tissue. Bereavement has been one such unexplained problem.

Researchers say, that in such a situation, the regions of the brain responsible for learning, memory and emotion can destabilize the cardiac muscle of someone who already has heart disease. So, when we are under stress like this, the ‘higher regions’ of the brain take part in a vicious circle of activity which can trigger harmful rhythms in the heart.

Doctors say, the activity in ‘higher level’ regions, such as the cortex make the heart to stress, often worsening the situation. And thus, the brain areas responsible for regulating heart function can be unbalanced, which in turn can increase the risk of sudden death through cardiac arrest.

So now, do you know why broken heart can be fatal? Just take care and take things easy, if and when you are going through such a situation in life!

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Do you know why people go bald?

Prof. Know Why explains:

Normally, there are about 100,000 to 150,000 hair strands on the human scalp. However many people cannot retain them and eventually go bald.

Androgenetic Alopecia, the most common type of baldness — otherwise known as male pattern baldness — occurs due to a chemical known as Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) that builds up around the follicle and eventually kills the follicle and the hair. In simple terms, the growing cycle becomes shorter. So the hair does not grow as long as it once did. It becomes finer, and eventually the growth cycle is eliminated.

A follicle’s resistance to DHT is genetic – which is why some people go bald and others do not. If you have relatives with thin hair or who are bald, you may well develop the same problem. Doctors say that the gene can be inherited from either the mother’s or the father’s side of the family and skips generations.

In other conditions, such as Alopecia Totalis and Alopecia Universalis, the entire scalp and entire body become completely bald due to a viral condition.

Patch baldness, in which hair falls out of the scalp in patches, is caused by stress or poor nutrition or adverse scalp conditions. In this case, the hair usually grow back once the cause has been rectified.

While the effects of hair loss can be devastating, there are treatment options from non-surgical techniques to hair transplants that can slow or stop hair loss or even gain the appearance of a full head of hair. So just don't worry too much and be happy!

Do you know why people snore?

Prof. Know Why explains:

This is one of the most common problems worldwide. Snoring occurs when the muscles at the back of the throat relax during sleep and narrow the passage through which you breathe. As the air passes through this narrowing, the soft palate and uvula vibrate and produce the sound of snoring. The airway can be further narrowed due to:

- Poor muscle tone (after alcohol or sedative use).
- Enlarged tonsils and adenoids.
- A long soft palate or uvula.
- Blocked nasal airways from polyps, a deviated septum, allergies or a cold.
- Excessive weight causing tissue at the neck to be bulky and flaccid.
- Tissue swelling from cigarette smoking.
- Hypothyroidism.

However, snoring can be treated medically.

Somnoplasty is a new technique to treat snoring painlessly. It involves placing an electrode for a brief moment into the soft palate to locally reduce the quantity of tissue. As it heals over the next few weeks and the soft palate shortens and stiffens, the vibration of the soft palate decreases and snoring is eliminated.

In selected cases, laser treatment is the best choice. It is done using a high-intensity laser beam to trim and reshape the uvula and soft palate.

Wearing a dental appliance at night can also offer another solution. Molded to the teeth, this appliance keeps the lower jaw in a forward position during your sleep therefore decreasing your snoring. This appliance is often used to treat obstructive sleep apnea.

Do you know why we have gallstones?

Prof. Know Why explains:

In medicine, gallstones (choleliths) are crystalline bodies formed within the body by accretion or concretion of normal or abnormal bile components. In easier words, they are small, hard, pathological concretions, composed chiefly of cholesterol, calcium salts, and bile pigments, formed in the gallbladder or in a bile duct.

Researchers believe that gallstones may be caused by a combination of factors, including inherited body chemistry, body weight, gallbladder motility (movement), and perhaps diet.

Cholesterol gallstones develop when bile contains too much cholesterol and not enough bile salts. Besides a high concentration of cholesterol, two other factors seem to be important in causing gallstones. The first is how often and how well the gallbladder contracts. Incomplete and infrequent emptying of the gallbladder may cause the bile to become over concentrated and contribute to gallstone formation. The second factor is the presence of proteins in the liver and bile that either promote or inhibit cholesterol crystallization into gallstones. In addition, increased levels of the hormone estrogen as a result of pregnancy, hormone therapy, or the use of birth control pills, may increase cholesterol levels in bile and also decrease gallbladder movement, resulting in gallstone formation.

Low-fiber, high-cholesterol diets, and diets high in starchy foods are suggested as contributing factors to gallstone formation. Other nutritional factors that may increase risk of gallstones include rapid weight loss, constipation, eating fewer meals per day, eating less fish, and low intakes of the nutrients folate, magnesium, calcium, and vitamin C.

On the other hand, coffee, wine, fish, and whole grain bread may decrease the risk of gallstones.

Do you know why pregnant women crave for pickles and ice cream?

Prof. Know Why explains:

Pregnant women are famous for their midnight yearnings for pickles and ice cream. And the desire for chocolates is the stuff of legend.

It’s tempting to believe –as many people do –that cravings are the body’s way of telling us that we are lacking a certain nutrient which the food we crave can supply. Chocolates, as the belief goes, might soothe a broken heart by replacing compounds lost in oceans of tears. But pregnant women might crave ice cream because they need calcium and pickles because they lack sodium.

Pregnant women rarely crave for fruits and vegetables. More often, they yarn for foods that are very sweet, spicy or salty. From an evolutionary standpoint, this makes sense. A craving for highly palatable foods may have been nature’s way of boosting calorie intake, ensuring a healthy pregnancy.

So would-be fathers –get ready for your sweet-heart’s sudden demand of a chocolate-ice cream in the wee hours of the night.

Do you know why we suffer from blocked ears?

Prof. Know Why explains:

While travelling by aeroplane or climbing mountains we might have temporary ear blockage, which is not associated with loss of hearing though. This happens due to an imbalance in air pressure. Let’s see how it happens.

Ear comprises of three parts –external, middle and internal ear. And for normal hearing, we need to have proper air balance in the middle as well as the external ear. The ‘hearing mechanism’ works like this: A membrane called Tympanic membrane separates the middle ear from the external ear. The middle ear is connected with the upper part of the Pharynx by a tube called the Eustachian tube. Now, when we breathe in, a portion of the air enters the middle ear through this tube. So to balance the pressure within the ear for normal hearing, some amount of air also enters the external ear through the external auditory canal.

But when in a flight or on higher altitudes, the atmospheric pressure inside the middle ear remains the same, while that on the outside reduces, resulting in a pressure imbalance causing temporary ear blockage.