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  • midlifelove 1:40 am on February 9, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bathroom, , dead skin n cells, dummies, loo, poo, removal, , underwear, undies, weighing scale   

    5 Worst Valentine’s Gifts 

    If you’re feeling sour rather than sweet about your 21010 Valentine, we’ve got suggestions for the Five Worst Valentine’s Gifts ever. These are little somethings that are guaranteed to offend.  If you risk giving them, be ready to handle the fall out, or make sure the (misplaced?) object of your affections has a great sense of humor.

    1) Sex for Dummies Book

    2) Installing two person loo for your loved one to poo at the same time as you

    3) Underwear to fit two people

    4) Chocolate scale to remind her that she’s got lots to lose

    5) Remove your own dead skin and fallen hair

     

  • midlifelove 11:55 pm on February 7, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: AARP magazine, , hot marriage, Jim Jerome, keeping up with young wife, male enhancement, ,   

    Michael Douglas: Keeping Marriage Hot 

    Michael Douglas answers the questions we’d all like to ask – like how does his 65-year-old body keep a smoking-hot marriage going with much younger wife Catherine Zeta-Jones – in a recent interview in AARP magazine.

    And not surprisingly, like many men his age, he relies on a little male enhancement.

    On Catherine: “God bless her that she likes older guys. And some wonderful enhancements have happened in the last few years—Viagra, Cialis—that can make us all feel younger.”

    Pick Up Line That Almost Blew It

    He talks frankly with interviewer Jim Jerome about how he almost blew his first meeting with Catherine, when he opened with a leaden pick-up line.

    “I want to father your children,” he said.

    “I’ve heard a lot about you,” she responded calmly. “It’s nice to know it’s all true. Good night.” And she was gone.

    Smitten, he persevered with roses and romance and the rest as they say is history. His second time round chance at marriage and children is something he never expected.

    Family Most Important

    “My career was the most important thing in my life, followed by marriage and children,” he confesses. “And it’s completely reversed now. I never anticipated starting a family and the joy of raising kids at my age.”

    Early on, the couple came to terms with the 25-year age gap between them: “Catherine is an old soul,” Douglas says.

    Still, there were complications. Douglas’s future in-laws-David, a retired confectioner, and Patricia, both now 62—were three years younger than the groom.

    “I wasn’t quite the son-in-law they’d envisioned. I do like to wind up Catherine’s father and call him Pops.”

    Hands-On Dad

    Just finished filming Wall Street 2, Douglas is playing “house husband” while Zeta-Jones comes home at midnight and sleeps in late with her starring role in the Broadway musical A Little Night Music.

    He is waking before 6:00 to help get the kids off to school. “I love to be the first face they see,” he says. “It’s a selfish pleasure. It’s a very special time, the mornings.”

    Zeta-Jones says that Douglas thrives on his at-home role: “Michael tells me that [new fatherhood] keeps him agile. He’s a terrific, extremely hands-on father.”

    Staying Fit at 60

    Douglas stays fit and energized by hiking, diving, and taking family skiing trips near his Quebec farm. But he admits that age has its limitations, in particular when he goes to the gym. “It used to be you got that 30-minute cardio workout and that great sense of euphoria. Now you finish and go, ‘Phew, I’m glad that’s over.’

    These days, the Douglases’ social life often amounts to hanging out with the kids or catching up with friends at a local restaurant. “You’ve got these few years of unequivocal love when Mom and Dad can do no wrong. So we’re a tight family unit.”

    Different from Dad Kirk

    It’s a different domestic scene from the one Douglas grew up in. His father, Kirk, according to Michael, didn’t handle parenting well. “I was the product of a divorced family,” he recalls. “My dad was always torn; he was working really hard and would want to see us. But then, with all his Kirk Douglas passion, he’d try to be a father for a week, a summer, whatever. It was tough.

    “I think it’s easier for me to be a good father. I’m not so concerned about my career,” Douglas continues. “I like to be home a lot more now.”

    Natural Enhancement

    If like Michael you’d benefit from a boost to your sex life, but prefer herbal to pharmaceutical products, there’s plenty to choose from.  For more information see  http://www.herbaligniteusa.com.

     

  • midlifelove 11:28 pm on February 5, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: belly fat bad, big butt healthy, Dr Konstantinos Manolopoulos, fat stored on hips, Large thighs good, Oxford University, spare tire unhealthy   

    Long Live Big Butt Women 

    Those curves are making cardiologists smile.

    A new study out of Oxford University in England reported in the NY Post found women with “pear-shaped” figures — ample extra padding around the hips, buttocks and thighs — are actually at a lower risk for heart and metabolic diseases.

    “It is shape that matters and where the fat gathers,” said Oxford’s Dr. Konstantinos Manolopoulos, explaining that fat stored on the hips and in the rear absorb harmful fatty acids and further prevent arteries from clogging.

    Belly Fat Is Bad

    “Fat around the hips and thighs is good for you, but around the tummy is bad,” he told BBC News, noting that the proverbial “spare tire” around the belly leads to higher incidences of heart disease.

    The findings help explain why women traditionally have lower rates of heart disease then men until they reach menopause, when their rates rise as they begin to gather fat around their midsections.

    “The only thing I can say is that women who have large thighs shouldn’t be anxious about it,” Manolopoulos said. “Their body shape is associated with health.”

    Scientists believe genetics play a large role in where a body stores fat.

     

  • midlifelove 2:43 am on February 3, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: death rate decreased, exercise benefits, Harvard School of Public Health, , Stacey A Kenfield, survival rate increased, US News.com,   

    Running Beats Prostate Cancer 

    Three or more hours of physical exercise a week improves survival rates for prostate cancer, a new Harvard study suggests.

    The death rate from prostate cancer for men who exercised vigorously was 12 per cent lower that for those who didn’t, US News reports. Because the study sample was small, it didn’t quite reach statistical significance, says lead author Stacey A. Kenfield, a research associate at the Harvard School of Public Health.

    Nevertheless, “this is the first study to show an effect of physical activity not only on overall survival, but on prostate cancer survival,” she said.

    Boosts Immunity, Reduces Inflammation

    The study looked at the levels of physical activity among 2,686 men in the study who were diagnosed with prostate cancer.

    It found, as many other studies have, that exercise is good for overall health, with a 35 percent lower death rate for men who reported three or more hours a week of vigorous physical activity, such as jogging, biking, swimming or playing tennis.

    It’s already well known how physical activity reduces overall mortality, Kenfield said. “It affects immune function and reduces inflammation, among the major processes involved. But it’s not clear yet how it is related to prostate cancer and survival.”

     

  • midlifelove 2:23 am on February 1, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: aggressive women, blonde warrior, blondes, Dolly Parton, Reese Witherspoon, Type A women   

    Blondes More Warlike Than Brunettes 

    Multi-talented blonde Reese Witherspoon became one of Hollywood’s highest paid actresses playing a ditzy sophomore who’s really smart in the Legally Blonde movies.

    Dubbed “Little Miss Type A” by her family when barely out of kindergarten, she has carried on the family joke by naming her production company Type A Films.

    Like Dolly Parton before her, she’s a role model for blondes who are warriors rather than wimps – and according to a new study, they’re performing to aggressive type.

    Get More Attention

    The University of California study found blondes are more likely to display a “warlike” streak because they attract more attention than other women and are used to getting their own way — the so-called “princess effect”.

    Even those who dye their hair blonde – like Dolly – quickly take on these attributes, experts found.

    The research, reported on Times Online, was designed to discover whether women who are judged more attractive than others are also more likely to lose their tempers to get what they want.

    Prepared To Fight

    “We expected blondes to feel more entitled than other young women — this is southern California, the natural habitat of the privileged blonde,” said Aaron Sell, who led the study which has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. “What we did not expect to find was how much more warlike they are than their peers on campus.”

    The researchers believe this is a useful measure of how far women are prepared to fight for their own interests.

    The study, which examined links between confidence and aggression, involved 156 female undergraduates.

    It showed that blondes were more likely to be treated better than other women and were more willing to “go to war”. However, they were less likely than brunettes or redheads to get into a fight themselves — possibly to ensure they preserved their looks.

    Blonde Bubble

    The research did confirm one theory: when male students were asked to rate the attractiveness of their female counterparts, blondes gained the highest scores.

    Sell suspects that blondes exist in a “bubble” where they have been treated better than other people for so long they do not realise that men, in particular, are more deferential towards them than other women.

    “They may not even realise they are treated like a princess,” Sell said.

     

  • midlifelove 2:31 am on January 30, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , how to have a great marriage, Ian and Mary Grant, , mens and womens brains different, tips for better marriage, unhappy marriage   

    How to Have a Great Marriage 

    Marriage is a two-storey house – that’s her story and his story, quips Ian Grant*, parenting and relationship guru, who with Mary, his wife of 40 years runs the highly successful Hot Tips on Marriage seminars in New Zealand and Australia.

    Now the couple have combined to write Growing Great Marriages, a book based on the Hot Tips seminars which offers hundreds of practical strategies for giving and getting the love you want in your marriage. Some of their ideas from the book:

    Top Five Tips for A Better Marriage

    1) Watch your language

    Research shows the ratio of praise to blame is like spring rain – praise and your marriage will flourish, blame and it will wither. Couples who say five positive things for one negative should be OK. When the threshold drops to one to two they are in trouble.

    Thousands of trials have shown men are much more affected by arguments than women are:  “flooding” – when brain messages bypass the thinking and judging mechanisms and go straight to the “old reptile brain” – the section of the brain that generates negative emotions and knee jerk reactions – happens at much lower levels of criticism in men than women and they stay in that flooded state for longer.

    2) Commit and invest in the relationship

    A 2002 study by the Institute for American Values in New York showed it was wrong to assume that someone in a troubled marriage has two choices: stay married and be miserable, or get a divorce and be happy. A survey of so-called “unhappily married” couples showed two thirds of the couples who stayed married were actually happier five years later.

    Other research shows if a partner invests into a relationship, he or she is happier. When you invest in something, you bond to it.

    3) Remember men’s and women’s brains work differently:

    Think of the brain like a house: In men brain activity focuses on different sections of the brain and they switch from section to section like someone moving from appliance to appliance in a house, switching them on when needed and then turning them off.

    Women’s brains function more globally – they’ve switched on everything in the house and left it on!

    Bill and Pam Farrel’s best seller Men are Like Waffles Women are Like Spaghetti (Harvest House)  gives a great picture for the way gender affects  the way men and women think.

    Women are good at multi-tasking because like a plate of spaghetti , their brain wiring is made up of lots of different strands, touching and intertwining with each other.  Women process life through interconnections. Every thought and issue is connected to every other thought and issue.

    Men’ brains are geared to work in a more compartmentalised way – like squares on a waffle. Don’t engage Dad in meaningful conversation while he is cooking the barbecue because he is focused on one thing – getting the meat cooked. Men will work on one square at a time, and then move on to the next one.

     

    4) Operate a love bank

    When difficulties arise, focus on restoring love, not resolving conflicts.

    Only one in four marriages is saved through counselling, which has traditionally focused on conflict resolution. But what most couples want is to maintain the feelings of romantic love, and if they can do that the conflict resolves itself. (Romantic love triggers the endorphins which give the pleasurable feeling of being in love)

    The Love Bank idea was developed by Dr William Harley, author of Fall in Love, Stay in Love. Think about the “love currency” you can deposit for your partner.

    Ask yourself “What can I do that makes him feel the best?” Men thrive when offered recreational companionship, sexual fulfilment and admiration from their wives. Women thrive on affection, openness and honesty. What makes people happiest is receiving attention from the people who matter most to us.

    5) Plan dates

    Ian and Mary Grant have dozens of great ideas of sharing positive time together. Amongst their suggestions:

    A 48 hour retreat; book somewhere special, take candles, special lingerie, etc and create your own haven.

    Work through the alphabet for date nights – some may be elaborate, and others as simples as a DVD you both want to see.

    Stage regular “cloth napkin dinners” with a formal setting, best cutlery and candles.

    On your wedding anniversary each year plan a special dinner and repeat your wedding vows to one another.

    *Ian and Mary Grant are high profile parenting and relationship gurus who founded Parents Inc, an Auckland based centre which runs nationwide seminars and courses on family and relationships.

     

  • midlifelove 12:43 am on January 28, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: incurable optimist, , Parkinsons Disease, successful Hollywood marriage, Tracy Pollan   

    Incurable Optimist: Michael J Fox 

    Family Ties and Spin City star Michael J. Fox is the first to acknowledge his diagnosis with Parkinson’s Disease at the age of 29 could have been the undoing of his life in many ways.

    He’d been married to fellow actor Tracy Pollan for just two years. The first of their four children, Sam, was just a baby.

    “It could have left us undone,” the Back to the Future megastar says in his latest book Always Looking Up – The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist.

    And if there was ever evidence needed that he is indeed, an optimist, you only need to look at how he has handled the challenge of living with illness.

    He and Tracy went on to have three more children (twins Schulyer and Aquinnah, and six years later, Esme) and build one of the most enduring marriages in Hollywood.

    An Amazing Life

    Michael was faced with a choice, he says. ”I could concentrate on the loss – or I could just get on with my life and see if maybe those holes started filling in themselves.  Over the last ten years they have, in the most amazing ways.

    “For everything the disease has taken something of greater value has been given. It may be one step forward two steps back but I’ve learned what is important is making that one step count.

    “Parkinson’s Disease has taken physical strength, spontaneity, physical balance, manual dexterity, the freedom to do the work I want to do when I want to do it, and the confidence that I can always be there for my family when they need me.”

    Happy Marriage

    In a chapter on family life titled ‘Why I’m still with Tracy and Shaky When I’m Not’ Michael says “Some people ask me the secret of a long and happy marriage, just as they ask me about the key to raising children. My flip answer in the kid department is “love ‘em, feed ‘em and keep ‘em out of traffic.” As for marriage, I often reply with equal brevity “Keep the fights clean and the sex dirty.”

    “Parkinson’s is always putting me in a box, and Tracy has become expert at folding back the flaps, tipping it over and easing me out.

    “She’d tell you probably with a laugh, that the greatest challenge she faces isn’t having a Parkinson’s patient for a husband, it’s having me for a husband. And by the way, I am a Parkinson’s patient.”

    Gains Greater Than Losses

    “The more complicated our marriage has got, the more it seems to bring out the best in us.

    “I was a big believer in my own PR: a happy-go-lucky lottery winner who had it all, a great career, a beautiful wife, a healthy son. I was struggling, though, with figuring out how to keep it all going. I was working more than I needed to, worrying more than I liked to admit, and drinking more than anyone should. I was, to put it mildly, not well positioned to deal with what was coming.

    “The change that Parkinson’s has forced up me and Tracy and the family, pales in comparison with the changes we have brought upon ourselves. We give more to each other than Parkinson’s could ever take away“.

     

  • midlifelove 12:23 am on January 26, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Bill Gates, Dr Hilary Tindle, fewer heart attacks, , live longer, lower heart risk, , optimist, University of Pittsburgh research study.research study on optimists   

    Optimists Enjoy Better Health 

    It seems life’s most public optimists – “Can Do” power houses like Lance Armstrong, Bill Gates and Michael J Fox – are onto something.

    New research indicates being an optimist significantly cuts your chances of suffering a heart attack, and even helps you live longer.

    In the largest study done on the effect of positive thinking on health, University of Pittsburgh researchers found that compared to pessimists, optimists had a nine per cent lower risk of developing heart disease and a 14 per cent lower risk of dying from any cause.

    Bad Times Bring Good

    Seven times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong credits much of his own success on the bike to his battle with testicular cancer.

    “I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that none of, none of my success on the bike would have been possible without that disease,” he said. “Life wouldn’t have been necessarily empty, but it would not have looked like this.” Armstrong also said his optimism is inspired by his mother, who overcame her own set of challenges as a teen mom.

    “I give all the credit to my mom,” he said. “She’s really a survivor. She’s as strong and tough as they come and she never looks at anything in a negative light.”

    Incurable Optimist Michael J Fox

    Armstrong’s personal example, and the LiveStrong foundation he set up to support cancer survivors, inspired actor Michael J Fox to start his own Fox Team foundation for research into Parkinson’s Disease.

    In his most recent book Always Looking Up – the Adventures of an Incurable Optimist Fox says that “for everything the disease has taken something of greater value has been given. It may be one step forward two steps, back but I’ve learned what is important is making that one step count.”

    Bill Gates – Impatient Optimist

    He’s in good company. Microsoft founder Bill Gates has characterized himself as an “impatient optimist.”  And for those that know him, both terms describe him well.

    Gates has focused on his philanthropic efforts–which focus on areas where there is great suffering as well as the means to alleviate that suffering through attention and increased resources. But, too often, he says change is not coming quickly enough.

    The University of Pittsburgh study – on post-menopausal women – found the positive benefits of being optimistic were independent of income, education, or “health behaviors like [controlling] blood pressure and whether or not you are physically active, or whether or not you drink or smoke,” says Dr. Hilary Tindle, lead author of the study. “I was surprised that the relationship was independent of all of these factors.”

     

  • midlifelove 5:20 am on January 24, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: weight sexual turn-off, worry about weight and sex life   

    Sex and Weight Biggest Worries 

    Worry about weight and how it affects our sex lives is life’s major fear for many people, according to a Reader’s Digest global survey.

    Australians appear to be the world’s biggest worriers when it comes to weight and how it affects performance in the bedroom.

    The Sydney Morning Herald reports a hefty 52 per cent said excess weight “seriously impacted” their sex lives – more than any other country except Mexico, which came in equal first with Australia.

    Wish Partner Would Lose Weight

    50% of Aussies thought they cared much too much about their waistlines, but at the same time secretly wished their partners would lose a few kilos.

    The revelations are part of a large-scale survey conducted by Readers Digest that took in the thoughts of some 6000 people from 16 countries around the world.

    In the workplace, one in three Australians believe being fat “seriously interferes” with career advancement, while four per cent have dieted in a bid to impress the boss.

    Do You Worry Weight is a Turn Off?

    Do you sympathise with people who feel insecure about their weight? Do you worry your weight makes you sexually unattractive?  Do you catch yourself thinking your partner would be more desirable if they lost a few pounds?  Let us know how your thoughts about weight affect your sex life and your romantic fantasies.

     

  • midlifelove 5:08 am on January 22, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , living alone, men in their 40s and 50s, men living alone, , , solo   

    More Men Living Alone 

    Men in their 40s and 50s are the fastest growing part of Australia’s living-alone population – and according to new research many of them are lonely, struggling, and hoping their solo state is temporary.

    The increase in men alone is due to more never having married, and many more getting divorced but not living with their children, according to a recent Sydney Morning Herald report.

    A survey of 2006 census data, and a related La Trobe University project shows the proportion of people aged 40 to 49 who live on their own has risen 75 per cent from 5.2 per cent to 9.1 per cent.

    Living Alone in Your 40s

    People in their 40s are now more likely to live alone than those in their 20s or 30s.

    Living Alone in Australia, shows that for people under 60, living alone is mainly a male phenomenon, and the men have become older.

    The middle-aged men who were living alone were on average less well-off, less educated and in lower-status jobs compared with middle-aged women living alone, or other men, the paper said.

    They also tended to say they were lonely. ”They are considerably more socially disadvantaged,” researcher Professor David de Vaus said. ”It might be they find it harder to partner, or re-partner.”

    Have Your Say

    Are you living alone, or have you had a period living alone in the past? Which do you prefer? What are the pros and cons of living with someone else? Give us your ideas on what you enjoy the most.  If you’re a man who’s worried about starting a new relationship help is at hand at with a new natural sex enhancer which  could give you a new sense of confidence.

     

    • Poppa John 7:00 pm on January 29, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      I lived with a life partner for 43 years until she died. Living alone stinks. I am sure I will find someone to share my bed but I doubt that I will ever find another person to share my mind. Dont go to church and the person I’m looking for wont be there anyway. Wont find many superior minds in bars so not likely to look there. In the end I’ll settle for the bed being filed and my family, children and grandchildren sharing my mind.

      • midlifelove 12:56 am on February 2, 2010 Permalink | Reply

        You are so right you will never find another companion who will share your life for 43 years like you last partner. but I wouldn’t be quite so defeatist about never finding someone special again. Why not think about how you can give back to your community in an area you enjoy and are interested in? You just might find someone who shares many of your interests – when you are focusing on needs beyond your own.

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