Many men and women claim that they are relaxed after sex, physically and mentally. They sleep better after the sex act. Women who work and live together with men folk get their menstrual cycle synchronised.
The male scent plays a role in maintaining the health of women, particularly the female reproductive system. There is definitely a link between regular sex and the well being of women’s reproductive system. This has been revealed in a series of studies. The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has found that women who have sex with men at least once a week are likely to have normal menstrual cycles and milder menopause than celibate women or women who have sex rarely or sporadically.
In two studies, researchers collected underarm secretions from seven men and women to test the effect of sexual aromas known as pheromones. A “soup” of aromatic essences was taken from underarm pads worn by volunteers for 18 to 27 hours a week over three months period. The male’s essence mixed with alcohol was applied to the upper lips of six women with abnormal menstrual cycles and no current sexual relationship. The cycle of three women speeded up or slowed down to an average towards 29.5 days. The irregular cycle of six women in the control group, dabbed with only pure alcohol remained same. In a second group, ten women who received male essence showed a significant trend towards synchronised menstrual period after only a few cycles. A control group showed no such change.
But there was a definite awareness that men and women in each other’s company seemed to feel more relaxed and their intimate relationship kept them healthier. An architect friend stresses the fact that design and even the colour of the home have an effect on the mind. Houses can be designed in a way that the resident feels mentally peaceful. There is also a theory that haunted houses are nothing but badly designed houses which have a horrible, ghastly effect on the mind.
According to study, Children growing up in flats in skyscrapers have more mental problems. Playing and running on the ground soil, living nearer to the earth as it were, has a beneficial psychological effect. Live in a bungalow if you can afford it, but a hut will be equally relaxing. Let your children be in constant contact with mother earth.
People living in a combined family seem to be emotionally more stable. Children growing in their grandparents laps get mutual affection and time. Thus the individuals get more support in moment of an emotional crisis.
Because of the last war, the British have suffered a lot in terms of parental love and a family life. According to the findings of a nationwide opinion poll commissioned by the “Sunday Express” to determine the style most favoured by Britons in 1986, today they crave for traditional family life with parental supervision and family get together.
The result of this poll came as a massive backlash to the type of permissive society seemed to have evolved with marriage considered outdated. Free love and taking drugs were fashionable. The Wheel has now turned. The Britons today are against a world of permissiveness, or single parent families and quick divorces. The traditional family has won a massive vote of confidence with special emphasis on the need for children to be brought up by both parents. This poll was conducted among 1500 adults aged 15 plus.
In India, we are better off. The combined Family is still a tradition with us and permissiveness a few steps away. How long we will be safe is yet to be ascertained as foreign habits, ways, customs and style of living are flowing faster this side of the world.