“Early To Bed…”

In yesterday’s newsletter, we asked you for your (health-related) views on orgasms.

But what does the science say?

Orgasms are essential to good health: True or False?

False, in the most literal sense. One certainly won’t die without them. Anorgasmia (the inability to orgasm) is a condition that affects many postmenopausal women, some younger women, and some men. And importantly, it isn’t fatal—just generally considered unfortunate:

Anorgasmia Might Explain Why You’re Not Orgasming When You Want To

That article focuses on women; here’s a paper focusing on men:

Delayed Orgasm and Anorgasmia

Orgasms are good for the health, but marginally: True or False?

True! They have a wide array of benefits, depending on various factors (including, of course, one’s own sex). That said, the benefits are so marginal that we don’t have a flock of studies to cite, and are reduced to pop-science sources that verbally cite studies that are, alas, nowhere to be found, for example:

• For women: 9 Orgasm Benefits That Might Surprise You
• For men: 9 Ways Orgasms May Benefit Your Health

Doubtlessly the studies do exist, but are sparse enough that finding them is a nightmare as the keywords for them will bring up a lot of studies about orgasms and health that aren’t answering the above question (usually: health’s affect on orgasms, rather than the other way around).

There is some good science for post-menopausal women, though! Here it is:

Misconceptions About Sexual Health in Older Women

(if you have the time to read this, this also covers many very avoidable things that can disrupt sexual function, in ways that people will errantly chalk up to old age, not knowing that they are missing out needlessly)

Orgasms are good or bad, depending on being male or female: True or False

False, broadly. The health benefits are extant and marginal for almost everyone, as indicated above.

What’s that “almost” about, then?

There are a very few* people (usually men) for whom it doesn’t go well. In such cases, they have a chronic and lifelong problem whereby orgasm is followed by 2–7 days of flu-like and allergic symptoms. Little is known about it, but it appears to be some sort of autoimmune disorder.

Read more: Post-orgasmic illness syndrome: history and current perspectives

*It’s hard to say for sure how few though, as it is surely under-reported and thus under-diagnosed; likely even misdiagnosed if the patient doesn’t realize that orgasms are the trigger for such episodes, and the doctor doesn’t think to ask. Instead, they will be busy trying to eliminate foods from the diet, things like that, while missing this cause.

Orgasms are better avoided for optimal health: True or False?

Aside from the above, False. There is a common myth for men of health benefits of “semen retention”, but it is not based in science, just tradition. You can read a little about it here:

• What to know about semen retention
• What are the side effects of not releasing sperm?

The short version is: do it if you want; don’t if you don’t; the body will compensate either way so it won’t make a meaningful difference to anything for most people, healthwise.

Small counterpoint: while withholding orgasm (and ejaculation) is not harmful to health, what does physiologically need draining sometimes is prostate fluid. But that can also be achieved mechanically through prostate milking, or left to fend for itself (as it will in nocturnal emissions, popularly called wet dreams). However, if you have problems with an enlarged prostate, it may not be a bad idea to take matters into your own hands, so to speak. As ever, do check with your doctor if you have (or think you may have) a condition that might affect this.

One final word…

We’re done with mythbusting for today, but we wanted to share this study that we came across (so to speak) while researching, as it’s very interesting:

Clitorally Stimulated Orgasms Are Associated With Better Control of Sexual Desire, and Not Associated With Depression or Anxiety, Compared With Vaginally Stimulated Orgasms

On which note: if you haven’t already, consider getting a “magic wand” style vibe; you can thank us later (this writer’s opinion: everyone should have one!).

Top tip: do get the kind that plugs into the wall, not rechargeable. The plug-into-the-wall kind are more powerful, and last much longer (both “in the moment”, and in terms of how long the device itself lasts).

Enjoy!

Detox: What’s Real, What’s Not, What’s Useful, What’s Dangerous?

Out of the subscribers who engaged in the poll, it looks like we have a lot of confidence in at least some detox approaches being useful!

Celery juice is most people’s go-to, and indeed it was the only one to get mentioned in the comments added. So let’s take a look at that first…

Celery juice

Celery juice is enjoyed by many people, with many health benefits in mind, including to:

• reduce inflammation
• lower blood pressure
• heal the liver
• fight cancer
• reduce bloating
• support the digestive system
• increase energy
• support weight loss
• promote good mental health

An impressive list! With such an impressive list, we would hope for an impressive weight of evidence, so regular readers might be wondering why those bullet-pointed items aren’t all shiny hyperlinks to studies backing those claims. The reason is…

There aren’t any high-quality studies that back any of those claims.

We found one case study (so, a study with a sample size of one; not amazing) that observed a blood pressure change in an elderly man after drinking celery juice.

Rather than trawl up half of PubMed to show the lacklustre results in a way more befitting of Research Review Monday, though, here’s a nice compact article detailing the litany of disappointment that is science’s observations regards celery juice:

Why Are People Juicing Their Celery? – by Allison Webster, PhD, RD

A key take-away is: juicing destroys the fiber that is celery’s biggest benefit, and its phytochemicals are largely unproven to be of use.

If you enjoy celery, great! It (when not juiced) is a great source of fiber and water. If you juice it, it’s a great source of water.

Activated Charcoal

Unlike a lot of greenery—whose “cleansing” benefits mostly come from fiber and disappear when juiced—activated charcoal has a very different way of operating.

Activated charcoal is negatively charged on a molecular level*, and that—along with its porous nature—traps toxins. It really is a superpowered detox that actually works very well indeed.

But…

It works very well indeed. It will draw out toxins so well, that it’s commonly used to treat poisonings. “Wait”, we hear you say, “why was that a but”?

It doesn’t know what a toxin is. It just draws out all of the things. You took medicine recently? Not any more you didn’t. You didn’t even take that medication orally, you took it some other way? Activated charcoal does not care:

• The effect of activated charcoal on drug exposure following intravenous administration: A meta-analysis
• Activated charcoal for acute overdose: a reappraisal

Does this mean that activated charcoal can be used to “undo” a night of heavy drinking?

Sadly not. That’s one of the few things it just doesn’t work for. It won’t work for alcohol, salts, or metals:

The Use of Activated Charcoal to Treat Intoxications

*Fun chemistry mnemonic about ions:

Cations are pussitive

Anions (by process of elimination) are negative

Onions taste good in salad (remember also: Cole’s Law)

Bottom line on detox foods/drinks:

• Fiber is great; juicing removes fiber. Eat your greens (don’t drink them)!
• Activated charcoal is the heavy artillery of detoxing
• Sometimes it will remove things you didn’t want removed, though
• It also won’t help against alcohol, sadly