We are celebrating Movember we want to help you to be the healthiest version of yourself possible - prostate and all! You already know that diet, exercise and sleep impact your overall health, vitality and sex drive, so I sat down with New York Times Bestselling author, Dr. Natasha Turner ND, founder of Clear Medicine Wellness Boutique, to address specific tips for prostate health.

Dr. Turner, who founded the 5-Week Plan To Reset Your Health and Hormones emphasizes that research related to the hormonal regulation of the prostate has primarily focused on androgen action until more recently. We now see evidence suggesting that estrogen may also play a role in the development of prostate conditions including prostate cancer, one of the most common forms of cancer in men.

She explains that estrogen accumulation can be related to both stress and xenoestrogens — substances that originate outside the body that have an estrogenic-like effect. According to...

The weekend is upon us and if you don’t mindfully carve out quality time with your partner, you may find that you only spend time together as roommates or co-parents.  Just as you have to plan and dedicate time to fitness, health and business, you need to specifically schedule time to be together as a couple. The beginning of the weekend is a great time to create a ritual that remind you both that you’re intimately connected — you don’t just live together, but you share an intimate bond that is worth nurturing.

Here are a few options for jump-starting your connection today:

1. Eliminate technoference. Put your phones in a box and place them in the car, a cupboard or in the basement. The mere presence of a cell phone (even if it’s in your pocket) detracts from connection, trust and collaboration, so invest in quality time with your partner at least once a week. You’ll naturally practice being present and mindful without distractions and this...

The World Health Organization defines Intimate Partner Violence as follows:

“Any behaviour within an intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological or sexual harm to those in the relationship. Examples of types of behaviour are listed below. Acts of physical violence, such as slapping, hitting, kicking and beating. Sexual violence, including forced sexual intercourse and other forms of sexual coercion. Emotional (psychological) abuse, such as insults, belittling, constant humiliation, intimidation (e.g. destroying things), threats of harm, threats to take away children. Controlling behaviours, including isolating a person from family and friends; monitoring their movements; and restricting access to financial resources, employment, education or medical care.”

Intimate partner violence (IPV) may include physical violence, sexual coercion, emotional abuse and controlling behaviour. Each of these factors has been shown to adversely affect the abused...

Cuddling and other forms of physical touch are important in most relationships, as physical affection is one of the ways we express love, desire and commitment.

In North America, we tend to reserve most forms physical touch for those we love and many of us are touch-deprived. A study of 509 adults found that those who lack affection (and crave more physical affection) experience lower levels of happiness and higher levels of loneliness, depression, relationship satisfaction and stress.

Obviously cuddling is more important to some people — especially those who perceive physical affection as the ultimate form of loving expression. It is therefore essential to communicate your needs to your partner and be open to listening to theirs. Some of us express our love primarily with our words and others do so through physical touch.

To improve understanding of one another’s desires with regard to physical affection, you might want to consider asking and answering a few questions:

Communication is essential to a lasting relationship, but simply opening your mouth and letting the words flow out doesn’t amount to effective communication. Communication involves both talking and active listening. And purposeful conversations about intense topics tend to be more fruitful than responsive ones.

If you want to make it in the long-run and have a fulfilling relationship, have conversations that make you feel uncomfortable. Consider the following topics:

Kids

Parenting is a source of fulfillment and conflict in relationships and it often starts before the kids arrive. You’ll want to discuss a wide range of questions and scenarios in advance so that you can discuss contentious topics without the pressure of a crying baby in the next room. Some questions to consider: How many kids do you want (if any)? When will you want to start trying? Or would you rather adopt? If you don’t get pregnant after a year, what methods would you consider? If you’re...

Flirting may be an art, but it is also a custom that is universal across all cultures. Not only is flirting essential to human reproduction, but evolutionary psychologists suggest that humans owe our advanced civilization and technological advances to this fine courtship skill. Our ancestors used body language, eye contact and verbal cues to charm one another and send signals with regard to sexual interest.

Today, we express our attraction to one another using a similar set of subtle (and not so subtle) prompts designed to take the place of awkward conversations. Rather than walking up to a stranger in the bar and asking “Is the attraction mutual?”, we utilize an array of signals ranging from shy smiles to licking lips to convey our desire.  This ability to test the waters and enchant our mates may be responsible for our rise to the top of the food chain and research reveals that those who rate themselves as more charming are more likely to get what theywant out of...

Most of us at some point in our sexual lives will have experienced, what we may consider to be, an atypical sexual thought or behaviour. But does atypical necessarily mean pathological? Today most sex scientists and therapists believe that only a small portion of atypical sexuality needs to be cordoned off as pathological. In most cases, variant sexual interests are at worst harmless oddities, and at best the spice of life for a relationship. But where do we draw the line?

According to the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Ed. (DSM V, i.e. the psychiatrist’s bible) sexual interests fall into two categories, those that are normal (normophilic) and those that are anomalous (paraphilic). According to the same source, paraphilias are defined as intense and persistent sexual interests outside of foreplay and genital stimulation with consenting adults. While the definition is broad enough to include hundreds of specific paraphilia’s, the DSM labels only...

Of course you can!

The Lifestyle is rooted in social interactions — both online and in-person — so it’s not uncommon for all couples (regardless of whether or not you identify as shy) to feel intimidated by the prospect of meeting, flirting with and pursuing new friendships and connections.

Being shy, however, does not mean that you cannot fully indulge in the swinging experience; with a little guidance and practice, you’ll find your groove and be well on your way to making new connections, cultivating lasting friendships and igniting the sexual spark with other couples in the Lifestyle.

I turned to my friends from PlayboyTV’s Swing (click here for the NSFW link which confirms they are the antitheses of shy!) for their advice for shy folks in the Lifestyle. Here’s what they had to say:

Tammy McCray of pdxsanctuary.com offers the following insight:

“Having our own Lifestyle club has really opened our eyes to how difficult it can be if a...

Orgasm: the subjective experience of intense pleasure and release at sexual climax, felt as a sequence of spasms in the genital area that can radiate to other parts of the body. But you don’t really need my Introduction to Human Sexuality textbook definition to know what I’m talking about. I mean we’ve all experienced this euphoric state…right? Not quite actually, in fact, it’s the disparity in orgasm frequency amongst women and men that led to the birth of the famous “orgasm gap”. Countless studies have shown that men report experiencing orgasm during sexual activity far more frequently than women. Early reports have even demonstrated that only 29% of women always experience an orgasm during sex, while 44% of heterosexual men say that their opposite sex partners always experience orgasm. This interesting difference in opinions has a lot to do with the goal-oriented nature men often enter into a sexual experience with.

So what are we the...

By Alison Minor

We all have a friend who always seems to be in a relationship and who never seems to be single for more than (what feels like) five minutes. I can sincerely say that I have been that person for a majority of my mature life. As a result of this, I became codependent in the process. It came to a point where I was dating people who were not a good fit for me. It became an issue that I was far too afraid to solve.

However, now that I've finally broke the habit of clinging to my partner-of-the-moment, I will never go back.

Whether you find yourself constantly involved in a relationship, but yearning for a sense of independence or you’re generally unhappy in a relationship, but too comfortable to leave, these are my tips to break free of “codependence.”

1. Find things you love to do. As someone who always had a partner, I found that I would lose my personality in them. If they liked hockey, so did I. If they liked spending time outdoors, so did...