HEALTH

Love Bytes: Twelve must-click sex, love and relationship links.

Based on data from more than 9,100 Americans age 50 and older who took part in a national health survey in 1992, those who were married reported feeling healthier than those who never married. However, recently divorced or widowed responders were on average 20% more sickly than the lifelong bachelors of the group.

So, I explained all about my hubby's illnesses. How about he may have been MISDIAGNOSED?!

So, I explained all about my hubby's illnesses. How about he may have been MISDIAGNOSED?!

More often than not clients wanting to improve their relationship skills at some point had to realize the importance of personal and interpersonal forgiveness to their well-being and overall happiness. The truth is that all of us have transgressed or acted in a way that brought about a negative impact on our self or someone else. So from this perspective, none of us is without the need for forgiveness, and each of us will encounter the opportunity to grant forgiveness. With that in mind, here are some important benefits associated with practicing forgiveness.

Commitment is linked to weight gain finds a new study published in the July issue of the journal Obesity. Just what is it exactly that makes it so easy to pack on pounds once commitment enters the picture?

Everyone knows that veggies are good for you but some people don't like broccoli and kale and all those other delicious, healthful foods. When you're in a relationship, this is problem, for two reasons. First, because when you live and eat with someone, you tend to consume the same things, so if your significant other isn't eating their veggies, chances are you aren't either. Second, if you love someone you want them to be healthy. Here's how to get him to love salad.

When your spouse gets diagnosed with a dibilitating heath problem, it puts a new meaning to "in sickness and in health".

Just in case you needed another reason not to get married, scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) have come up with a big one: marriage makes you fat. And not just a little bit. According to their research, married people are twice as likely to become obese as those who are merely dating.

We had been married for eight years. We had been trying to get pregnant for six of those years and between IVF and ICSI had gone through five fertility cycles. We knew we could get pregnant but we didn't know if we could stay pregnant. We had spent over $200,000, and all we had to show for it was a glossy photo of four egg cells. That photo still sits in the drawer of the night table besides out bed, buried there. We're unable to look at it—or dispose of it. Other friends who were on the IVF merry-go-round and got pregnant, had their children. Some had their second child while we waited and tried again. Every couple who had a child swore by their doctor, their method, their technique—success was its own affirmation.

Amy had been referred to a Beverly Hills fertility doctor, who was so reassuring that I took him to calling him Dr. Mellow. His office had a wall of photos of smiling babies, as if to say, "This will be you." We sat in his waiting room holding hands. We believed. We didn't know we had just taken our seats inside the Hope Factory. Once inside, the possibility of getting pregnant never ended. If one technique failed, you tried another, and kept trying. There seemed to be an infinite supply of hope.

Without referring you to the many, many, medical sites, books and journals I immediately consulted on the subject, there is some belief that a certain vein that traverses one or both testicles can, in one way or another, affect the quality of sperm production. Operating on it may, or may not, improve sperm quality. In my case, a double varocelectomy was recommended.

I suppose everyone remembers their first time. I certainly do. I put on some mood music, dimmed the lights and proceeded to romance myself. Eager to please the laboratory (and myself), I marshaled my forces to climax, and then promptly fumbled the collection. Most of my contribution missed the container.

Use your brain as the ultimate aphrodisiac: create sexy associative memories.