Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) / Enlarged prostate Archive

People who have elevated blood pressure readings in a doctor’s office but normal readings elsewhere are said to have white-coat hypertension. A new study suggests that people with this condition face a greater risk of heart disease than those whose blood pressure is always normal.

Your core muscles are your body’s foundation, and the plank pose is a great exercise to do to help build core strength—it’s challenging but not complicated. Here’s everything you need to know to plank correctly.

Active surveillance and watchful waiting are the most conservative — and increasingly popular — approaches to prostate cancer management. Is one of these right for you?

Over the years, the outcome for prostate cancer has turned out to be better than expected for many men.

While prostate cancer is quite common, the risk of dying from the disease is low, even without treatment. In fact, most diagnosed men will die from something else, like heart disease. Even so, prostate cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer deaths (after lung cancer) in men, according to the American Cancer Society.

In the journals

Need a sexual boost? Eat more nuts. A recent study found that men who added 60 grams — about 1/2 cup — of nuts to their daily diet improved several aspects of their sexual life. The results were published online June 19, 2019, by the journal Nutrients.

Researchers asked 83 healthy men to follow either a traditional Western-style diet without nuts, or a Western-style diet that also included 60 grams (about 360 calories) of a nut mixture made from almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts every day. A questionnaire assessed their current sexual function.

"The brain is the body's most important sex organ." This well-known phrase bears more than a little truth. Functional sex organs, appropriate hormone levels, and the ability to become sexually aroused alone don't guarantee good sex. Other factors — brain factors — can get in the way.

Relationship issues

Tension and emotional distance can undermine a couple's sex life. Conflicts having nothing to do with sex, like finances or child-raising issues, can be at the root of a sexual problem. It works the other way, too: a sexual issue can strain a couple's ability to get along.

PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) is a daily medication taken to prevent HIV infection. While multiple studies show PrEP is effective, relatively few of those who might benefit are taking it. Will a 10-year initiative to reduce rates of HIV and a new formulation of PrEP help?

Communication between you and your partner can help create a happier and healthier love life.

You had your first sex talk when you were young, but now that you're older, it's time for another one.

"Men and women go through all kinds of physical and emotional changes as they age that can affect their sex life as well as their relationship," says Dr. Sharon Bober, director of the Sexual Health Program at Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. "These changes sometimes feel embarrassing or are difficult to talk about. But communicating about your changes — and your partner's — can help couples find solutions and common ground, as they enter this new and potentially exciting phase of their sex lives."

Treatments for advanced prostate cancer that suppress testosterone, a hormone (also called an androgen) that drives the malignant cells to grow and spread, are collectively referred to as androgen deprivation therapies, or ADT. These therapies can significantly extend lifespans in men who have the disease, but they also have a range of challenging side effects. […]

Some men with an enlarged prostate gland (benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH for short) eventually start to experience urinary incontinence, the involuntary discharge of urine. The incontinence can be related to overactive bladder, one of the changes in bladder function caused by BPH.

Normally, the brain says "time to go" when your bladder is only partially full. That gives you a fair warning to find a place to relieve yourself. When you decide to let go, a valve called the urinary sphincter opens to allow the bladder to drain. Muscles in the bladder wall squeeze inward to empty the storage tank.

On call

Q. I've heard that calcium deposits can form in the prostate gland. What are they, and can they indicate cancer?

A. Calcium deposits can occur anywhere in the body; however, they often appear where there has been an injury, infection, or inflammation. Calcium deposits also can be seen with some types of cancer. When calcium deposits appear within the breast on a mammogram or in the lungs on a chest x-ray, their pattern helps the radiologist interpret the results. Certain patterns suggest possible cancer.