Everyone has a right to a healthy and happy sex life. It's important to remember, however, that how you live your life affects your sex life. So love safe, live well, and have fun.

Physical health and sexual health are tightly linked. Stress, nutrition, and exercise all affect sexual performance and function. Because a healthy cardiovascular system is essential to sexual function in men and women, anything that can be done to maintain it will also improve sexual health. Eating healthfully, reducing your stress levels, and exercising regularly can restore sexual function in people whose sexual function has been impaired by excess weight or poor overall health.

Stamina isn't just for runners. Sex is a good form of exercise: doing it steadily for an hour would burn about 180 calories in an average-sized individual. Still, it's not nearly as efficient as walking (240 calories/hr), running (600-1200 calories/hr), or even taking your partner swing dancing (400 calories/hr). So if you want to get in shape for great sex, it's probably worth participating in some activity outside the bedroom.

The foreskin may be a tiny piece of skin, but it engenders an amount of controversy enormously disproportionate to its size. Circumcision—removal of the foreskin—is a practice common to many religions. The reasons for its recommendation range from hygienic to ritualistic, and to some degree it is a practice common to many if not most of the religions of the world.

Circumcision is also a consequence of the medicalization of pregnancy and birth. In the United States, where hospital births are almost universal, more than 50 percent of male infants are circumcised. However, in recent years, there has been a movement that decries infant circumcision as a cruel mutilation that diminishes sexual capacity and has no real benefit. Some insurance companies have stopped paying for the procedure, and the medical societies of many countries have criticized the practice as unnecessary surgery for routine cases. Today, some men are even undergoing procedures to stretch the skin of the penis to create a new foreskin.

Uncircumcised men are at increased risk of certain sexually transmitted diseases compared to circumcised men. This is mostly because the foreskin provides additional surface area for infection, and it also creates a warm, moist environment in which bacteria can grow. For this reason, some doctors recommend that parents gently retract their baby boy's foreskin and cleanse the head of the penis once a week with water, in order to reduce the risk of urinary tract infections, and that they teach their son to do this for himself when he grows older. Although circumcision is normally an elective procedure chosen by the parents of an infant, it can be necessary for some men who experience foreskin pain, inflammation, or other problems.

"Jock itch" is a fungal infection of the genitalia, and is also called tinea cruris or ringworm of the groin. It almost always occurs in adult men, thrives in warm wet places, and can be worsened by friction from clothes. It's also contagious-skin-to-skin contact can transmit it, as can contact with unwashed clothing-or even towels being snapped around in the locker room. Mostly it causes intense itching of the upper thighs, but it can also spread to the anus and cause itching there as well. Treatment is both topical —applied to the skin—and behavioral, since the skin needs to be kept warm and dry. Unfortunately, because it requires a change in lifestyle, jock itch frequently takes much longer than other ringworm infections to heal.

Urinary tract infections (UTI) are a common irritation for both men and women. When people are healthy, urine is a sterile, bacteria-free fluid. However, growth of bacteria in the bladder, urethra, colon, or other parts of the gastrointestinal tract can cause this to change. UTIs occur more frequently in women because the shorter length of their urethra makes it easier for the bacteria to traverse, but the symptoms are largely the same for both sexes.

When you have a UTI, you constantly feel you need to urinate. When you do, not much urine will come out, and yet you'll still feel like you have to urinate. You may also feel a burning sensation when urinating. More serious infections can lead to fever, nausea, and even back pain if the bacteria ascend to the kidneys.

Treatment usually requires going to the doctor for antibiotics, but prevention is, as always, the simpler route. Drinking plenty of water, urinating before and after sex, and using a condom can prevent transmission of bacteria back and forth between you and your partner. This will help to prevent UTIs from developing in the first place—as will drinking cranberry juice, at least for women. It may be because of natural antibiotic properties of the juice, or it may simply be its acidity, but studies have demonstrated that drinking cranberry juice actually reduces the number of urinary tract infections experienced by women. And a tasty, healthy drink beats a doctor's visit any day.

For some women, there is no health condition that causes as much cursing and grumbling as a yeast infection. Although largely harmless in the grand scheme of things, yeast infections are incredibly annoying, causing not just discharge, but intense itching and also pain during sex. Yeast infections are easily curable, but just like some relatives, they tend to visit too often: women who are prone to yeast infections tend to get them regularly—sometimes as frequently as once a month, when their hormones make their vagina ripe for a takeover. As hormone production changes, the vaginal walls thicken and there are more nutrients in their cells to nourish the yeasts. During the first seven days of the menstrual cycle, the vaginal pH is at its highest and antibodies are at their lowest, leaving women particularly susceptible to infection. There is a reason why drug stores offer multi-packs of the various over-the-counter creams and pills formulated to combat these infections.

No one really knows why some women never get a yeast infection, while it seems that others have helped to put the children of anti-fungal manufacturers through college, but it's important that women who have repeat episodes make certain that they are correctly diagnosed. Other conditions, such as lichen sclerosis, can masquerade as yeast infections, and frequent yeast infections could be a sign of a more serious infection, such as HIV. Although prevention of recurrent infection is in many ways a matter of luck, it's always safe to go back to the basics. Make certain that your vulva is rinsed clean of any soap and patted dry after you take a shower, stick to the cotton instead of the fancy underpants, and wipe from front to back. Many women with frequent yeast infections eat live culture yogurt to try and replenish the healthy vaginal bacteria that could guard against the disease, and this folk cure is soundly based in theory. Some women have also had success with reducing the amount of refined sugars, carbohydrates, and fermented products in their diet. Reducing refined sugar consumption takes away the yeasts' food; reducing carbohydrates and fermented products cuts down on their food source.

A woman's best source for information about her health is to listen to her own body. Paying attention to physical changes that are occurring within you can alert you to the early signs of serious illness. If you're bleeding between periods, your doctor might schedule an ultrasound to try to view the problem. If you have intense abdominal pain, she might need to schedule surgery to find out what's wrong.

Knowing what's normal for you can be useful in alerting you to what you need to bring to your doctor's attention, but there are some basic tests that every woman should have done-either by her doctor or herself.

Breast self-exams are an important tool for detecting changes in the breast that may signal the presence of cancer. You know your body best, and so you may be the first to notice if something changes or goes wrong. Doctors may be better at finding lumps in your breast tissue during your regular appointment, but you live with your breasts every day, and can check them accordingly. Some women perform a breast exam once a month when they're in the shower—it's as normal for them as washing their hair. Although not all breast lumps are malignant, they all should be evaluated by a doctor. Once a woman reaches the age of 40, her physician will probably recommend that she get an annual mammogram, in case normal age-related changes in her breast tissue are concealing something that she can't afford to miss. If a woman has a high-risk of breast cancer because she carries the breast cancer genes or has a family history of breast cancer, her physician may recommend annual mammograms at an earlier age.

Although HPV infection is the cause of most, if not all, cases of cervical cancer, screening for HPV is not a good way to detect the disease. Only a small percentage of women infected with the virus will ever develop cancer, and that could happen days or decades after initial exposure. That is why Pap smears are one of the most important preventative exams in women's health. During a Pap smear, the doctor takes a sample of the cells from a woman's cervix to check for changes that could signal the onset of cervical cancer.

Every woman who has ever been sexually active, even if it was 30 years ago, should get a Pap smear at least once every three years, because the virus that causes cervical cancer can lie dormant for decades. For women who have ever had cell changes on their cervix, or who are in other high risk groups, Pap smears are recommended as a yearly activity. They're not that expensive, not that time-consuming, and they can save your life. No woman should ever die of cervical cancer, and those who are regularly screened don't.

The problem with Pap smears is that although the sample is easy to acquire, the actual testing requires practice and expertise. In some countries, there is neither the money nor the technical expertise to provide every woman with regular Pap smears, and in these countries cervical cancer is a leading cause of death. Fortunately, new, simple, and inexpensive tests for cervical cancer are being developed that can be performed by any trained member of the community. The most interesting one is based on the fact that when you apply simple vinegar, or acetic acid, to the cervix, healthy cells stay pink and unhealthy cells turn white. This can be seen easily through the magnifying lens known as a colposcope, and thousands of women can be screened quickly and inexpensively. Only the women with potentially dangerous cervical changes are then referred to a doctor for treatment.

Smart men go to the doctor-and not just when they have problems with stress, their heart, or their head, but for regular checkups that include their penis, testicles, and prostate. The regular STD screenings, for example, that women get at their yearly gynecologist visit should also be received by men—even if they have to ask for them. Fortunately, these days, men don't need to suffer the discomfort and embarrassment of having a swab inserted in their penis to test for most STDs. Chlamydia and gonorrhea can now both be tested by using a urine test that looks for bacterial DNA, and syphilis and HIV are both diagnosed by blood tests.

Men also need to take themselves in hand...at least once a month. Testicular self-exam is the best method for early detection of testicular cancer, and it can also help men discover other benign growths that may or may not benefit from treatment. From approximately the age of 15, men need to regularly examine their testicles for any change in size, pain on manipulation, or the presence of abnormal lumps. Knowing what to feel for requires practice, because there's a lot of stuff down there. If you can recognize what structures should be there, such as the epididymis, you will also recognize what shouldn't, and early detection of testicular cancer provides the best chance of cure.

OK, you heard it here first: the digital rectal exam has nothing to do with the Internet. Instead, it's a far more personal procedure in which a doctor inserts his lubricated finger a few inches into your anus to see if there's anything wrong with your prostate, anus, or rec- tum. This is necessary for the doctor to detect early signs of prostate enlargement as well as hernias and other bowel problems.

The PSA blood test is a relatively recent innovation that allows doctors to chemically screen for changes in the size of the prostate. PSA, or prostate specific antigen, is a protein made by the cells of the prostate. PSA increases in concentration throughout the body as the organ increases in size. The blood test does not, unfortunately, make the rectal exam obsolete, since many men experience benign growth of the prostate as they age, and the doctor still needs to check manually for pathogenic changes. It is also possible for a perfectly healthy person to have abnormally high PSA levels, or for individuals with prostate cancer to see no change in PSA levels. A PSA test and digital exam, as screening tests, are recommended yearly for all men over 50, and they should be started at 45 for African American men and other individuals at increased risk for prostate cancer.

Abstinence-choosing not to engage in sexual contact with another person-can be a very powerful personal choice. Some people see it as the only moral option for unmarried men and women; others see it as a choice that can free them temporarily from physical distractions or preoccupations in order to pursue other avenues of personal growth.

People choose abstinence for many reasons, and at many different times of their lives. They may choose it because of religious or moral teachings that prohibit sexual contact outside of a strictly limited set of circumstances. They may choose it because they're more worried about STDs and pregnancy than interested in sexual expression. They may choose it to improve their semen quality in the hope of achieving pregnancy with their partner. All reasons are equally valid, and no one should be judged for choosing to be abstinent—just as they shouldn't be judged for choosing to have responsible sex.

Individuals have many different definitions of abstinence. For some people, being abstinent means no erotic contact more extreme than holding hands or kissing. For others, it means everything except vaginal intercourse, up to and including oral and anal sex. No health professional, parent, or teacher would consider the second definition to be abstinence, but knowing that some people consider it to be demonstrates the importance of clear and specific communication.

Oral sex is sex. Let's say it again: oral sex is sex. And while it can't get you pregnant, it can spread most of the same diseases that any other type of sex can. In the U.S., there has been an upswing in the number of teenagers having oral sex, particularly casual oral sex. One reason why teenagers are doing it is that they think that oral sex is safe. They're wrong. The biology of your mouth is very similar to the biology of your genitals: both are warm, wet spaces lined with mucous membranes, and almost any disease you can catch "down there” you can also catch through oral exposure. HIV, herpes, HPV, gonorrhea, syphilis, and even yeast infections can all be acquired through the mouth. Since you can't tell if a person is infected simply by looking at them, smelling them, or even tasting them, it's important to always use a latex barrier when engaging in oral sex-either a condom when performing fellatio on a man, or a flattened condom or dental dam when per forming cunnilingus on a woman.

It doesn't matter what acts you define as sex, and what acts you define as friendly, the important thing is that your sex life should be safe as well as fun. And if your partner is unwilling to practice safe sex with you, you should reconsider your choice of partners. Safe fun isn't an oxymoron...sometimes safe makes things even better, not just by eliminating worry but by increasing your sexual repertoire. Sex toys can be an exciting component of safer sex, just put a condom on them or disinfect them thoroughly before sharing. Buy flavored condoms or lubricants for oral sex, but make sure they're labeled for actual use and not just novelties (novelty varieties are not manufactured for safe sex purposes), to make protection a tasty after-dinner treat. Experiment with activities that don't involve exchange of potentially infectious fluids; they can be just as satisfying as those that do. Sex can be a wonderful experience, and it only gets better with a little advance planning.