From puberty until death, men’s bodies are continuously producing sperm. Sperm are created in the testicles and remain there as they mature, a process that takes about two and a half months. When a man ejaculates, about 1-2 teaspoons of semen are released. Only a microscopic amount of that fluid is sperm, but that small amount – tiny enough to fit on the head of a pin! – contains between 100-600 million sperm.

 One of the most basic “facts of life” is that it only takes one sperm and one egg to create a new life. But each sperm itself has a limited life span, and the clock starts ticking from the moment it leaves a man’s body.
Sperm and Fertilization:

Of the many millions of sperm released each time a man ejaculates inside a woman, far fewer live long enough to make an attempt at fertilization. After unprotected intercourse, sperm can sustain its reproductive viability for several days – if it makes it up as far as the cervix.

 If the sperm gets no further than the vaginal canal, it will survive for just a few hours, due to exposure to acidic vaginal secretions. However, a woman’s body has a built-in mechanism to give the reproductive process a boost: around the time of ovulation, a healthy female body produces a particular cervical mucous that creates a protective, hospitable environment for sperm; in fact, the consistency of the mucous even helps the sperm make its way (commonly referred to as “swimming”) through the vagina to the cervix. Under ideal circumstances, if healthy sperm get beyond the cervix into the uterus and up to the fallopian tubes, they can live as long as 5-7 days after ejaculation. On average, though, sperm live about 3-4 days once they’ve made it all the way to the fallopian tubes, where fertilization takes place. (A woman’s egg, on the other hand, is viable for only about one day once it leaves the ovary.)
Sperm’s Shelf Life: Outside of the Body!

Sperm can live outside of the body for only about 20 minutes to an hour, depending on how exposed the semen is to the air and other environmental factors.

 To avoid the slightest risk of pregnancy, a woman should make sure that ejaculated semen doesn’t get at all close to her vagina. Once semen has fully dried, it no longer contains any living sperm. If couples are relying on the withdrawal method for contraception, the man must withdraw fully before ejaculation and then be careful that when he does ejaculate that none of the semen gets near the opening of the vagina, to ensure that no sperm can make their way inside the woman, where they can survive much longer.

 These couples should also remember that some fluid is emitted prior to ejaculation as a natural lubricant; this pre-ejaculatory fluid can contain sperm, and if it gets inside the woman, there is a small possibility that pregnancy can occur.
Sperm Donation

For a number of reasons, men sometimes choose to make a sperm donation – to try to produce a baby through in vitro fertilization, for use in impregnating a woman without having sexual intercourse (artificial insemination), for anonymous donation to a sperm bank or to save it for future use – in which case the man’s ejaculate is treated in a laboratory to separate the sperm from the rest of the seminal fluid. The sperm is then frozen, which preserves it for an indefinite period of time, keeping it alive and viable for fertilization by medical procedures at a later date.

VIGILANTE parents are attacking teachers and students as young as six in vicious schoolyard confrontations after their own children fall victim to bullies.

In what the NSW Department of Education fears is a growing trend, at least 20 frustrated parents engaged in "violent and anti-social behaviour towards pupils and teachers" in the first half of 2012 - most of which was fuelled by the belief schools weren't doing enough to protect their children.

In one shocking example, the father of a female student in the Hunter region allegedly approached a boy in year 11 and verbally abused him before punching him in the mouth and splitting his lip.

In another incident, a school mother allegedly threatened to assault a deputy principal's son because she was frustrated the Bourke school wasn't doing enough to prevent her year 9 son being bullied.

She then allegedly verbally abused a female teacher in the library then grabbed her by the throat.

In another outburst, police were called after the mother of a North Coast student allegedly violently and repeatedly punched, kicked and scratched her school's principal within full view of students.

Even students as young as six haven't been immune to the violence. In May, the mother of a primary school student in the Illawarra allegedly entered the school and approached a year 1 boy and threatened him before grabbing him by the back of the neck.

According to the Education Department most cases were investigated by police and led to a number of bans under the Inclosed Lands Act.

Parents and Citizens Association publicity officer Rachael Sowden said she understood some parents' frustration but taking matters into their own hands was not the answer.

"Obviously parents get frustrated when they don't feel they are being listened to and when there are concerns around their children," Ms Sowden said.

"Parents have a right to be concerned about something that's happening to their children so it is understandable that they become emotive.

"What we would suggest is if you feel the need to take it into your own hands, that you contact the school to arrange a meeting, or the children's parents rather than the children - that's never appropriate and ranting and raving won't fix the problem."

NSW Secondary Principals' Council deputy president Chris Presland said some parents had unrealistic expectations.

"Our school has a really good process making it easy for parents to make contact with teachers but I don't doubt there are parents who act inappropriately," Mr Presland said.

"Other parents expect they can speak to the teacher immediately, but the teacher is in class almost all day."

Meditation may influence the way the brain processes emotions -- even when you're not actually practicing it, a new study in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience suggests.

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, the University of Arizona, Boston University, the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies and Emory University found that meditation changes the way the amygdala brain region responds to emotional stimuli -- but that this effect on emotional processing takes place even when a person is not in a state of meditation. The amygdala is a brain region involved in emotion and memory processing.

Participating in an 8-week meditation training program can have measurable effects on how the brain functions even when someone is not actively meditating, recent study found. In their report in the November issue of Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston University (BU), and several other research centers also found differences in those effects based on the specific type of meditation practiced.

"The two different types of meditation training our study participants completed yielded some differences in the response of the amygdala – a part of the brain known for decades to be important for emotion – to images with emotional content," says Gaëlle Desbordes, PhD, a research fellow at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at MGH and at the BU Center for Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology, corresponding author of the report. "This is the first time that meditation training has been shown to affect emotional processing in the brain outside of a meditative state."

Several previous studies have supported the hypothesis that meditation training improves practitioners' emotional regulation. While neuroimaging studies have found that meditation training appeared to decrease activation of the amygdala – a structure at the base of the brain that is known to have a role in processing memory and emotion – those changes were only observed while study participants were meditating. The current study was designed to test the hypothesis that meditation training could also produce a generalized reduction in amygdala response to emotional stimuli, measurable by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Participants had enrolled in a larger investigation into the effects of two forms of meditation, based at Emory University in Atlanta. Healthy adults with no experience meditating participated in 8-week courses in either mindful attention meditation – the most commonly studied form that focuses on developing attention and awareness of breathing, thoughts and emotions – and compassion meditation, a less-studied form that includes methods designed to develop loving kindness and compassion for oneself and for others. A control group participated in an 8-week health education course.

Within three weeks before beginning and three weeks after completing the training, 12 participants from each group traveled to Boston for fMRI brain imaging at the Martinos Center's state-of-the-art imaging facilities. Brain scans were performed as the volunteers viewed a series of 216 different images – 108 per session – of people in situations with either positive, negative or neutral emotional content. Meditation was not mentioned in pre-imaging instructions to participants, and investigators confirmed afterwards that the volunteers had not meditated while in the scanner. Participants also completed assessments of symptoms of depression and anxiety before and after the training programs.

In the mindful attention group, the after-training brain scans showed a decrease in activation in the right amygdala in response to all images, supporting the hypothesis that meditation can improve emotional stability and response to stress. In the compassion meditation group, right amygdala activity also decreased in response to positive or neutral images. But among those who reported practicing compassion meditation most frequently outside of the training sessions, right amygdala activity tended to increase in response to negative images – all of which depicted some form of human suffering. No significant changes were seen in the control group or in the left amygdala of any study participants.

"We think these two forms of meditation cultivate different aspects of mind," Desbordes explains. "Since compassion meditation is designed to enhance compassionate feelings, it makes sense that it could increase amygdala response to seeing people suffer. Increased amygdala activation was also correlated with decreased depression scores in the compassion meditation group, which suggests that having more compassion towards others may also be beneficial for oneself. Overall, these results are consistent with the overarching hypothesis that meditation may result in enduring, beneficial changes in brain function, especially in the area of emotional processing."

Home tips for glowing skin:

Home tips for chapped lips: 

Home tips for treating under eye circles: 

Home tips for those dry and black elbows and knees: 

Home tips to treat cracked heels: 

Not getting the messageOver the last several years, the U.S. Department of Health has recommended eating at least five portions of fruits and vegetables a day. Yet, only one in seven achieve this quota. In fact, one-third of American adults eat only two servings of fruits and vegetables a day and are four times more likely to choose a processed snack instead. On any given day, about half the population eats no fruit at all.
A bushel of reasonsThere is a rainbow of reasons to eat a variety of colors from the produce aisle. Fruits and vegetables are virtually fat free, low in salt and an excellent source of fiber. Some fruits and vegetables, such as carrots and cantaloupe, provide Vitamin A, which maintains eye health and immunity. Other fruits and vegetables, such as bananas and spinach, contain potassium, which is necessary for proper nerve and muscle functioning. Green vegetables, such as broccoli and asparagus, provide B Vitamins, which are necessary for converting food into energy. But all fruits and vegetables contain phytonutrients, the health-promoting components of plants. Scientific studies show that phytonutrients can help protect seven key organs, including the eyes, heart, liver and skin and they may also serve as antioxidants.
Antioxidant protectionCurrent research has measured the total antioxidant power of various foods, citing fruits and vegetables at the top of the list. Antioxidants protect our bodies from free radicals that can cause damage to cellular membranes. Antioxidants also boost our immunity, help make our muscles stronger and support bone and skin health. Since eating the recommended daily servings of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables is not always realistic, try supplementing your diet with appropriate products. Herbalife's Garden 7®* dietary supplement protects your health with the powerful phytonutrient and antioxidant benefits found in seven servings of colorful fruits and vegetables. It also supports your body's vital organs by providing them with key nutrients.
So try to get in the habit of eating plenty of produce each day. It's one of the biggest favors you can do for your body.
Dr. Gratton also serves as vice-president of medical affairs at Herbalife.

-By Luigi Gratton, M.D., M.P.H.