Why do young people think it's OK not to use a condom?

Sexually transmitted infections are on the increase in young people and anything is to blame, including Facebook. By the looks of it, nobody knows where to start dealing with the problem; however, it seems to be a socio-economic as well as social issue, more then anything else. This post will explore the why we need more campaigns that promote safe sex and condom use.

Is this stigmatisation of genital herpes?

The Sun recently published an article telling the story of, Marquita Church, a young woman with genital herpes who chose to have unprotected sex with eight partners even though she was aware of her status. Although I don’t quite know why this is newsworthy, I can see why it was published - it’s scandalous. It’s also completely ridiculous and once again, portrays a skewed view of genital herpes in the media.

Dispelling myths about menopause

Menopause is the time during a women’s life when sex hormone levels start to fall, affecting fertility and eventually causing menstruation to stop for good. For some women menopause can be uncomfortable and a distressing, this is sometimes amplified by the fact that women expect menopause to be a disruptive experience. Although it is, there are also many myths about the conditions that could cause unnecessary anxiety.

Are robots really the future of sex tourism?

People have all kinds of different sexual preferences and the sex industry tends to cater to them all, including sex with robots. Although it might sound like something from a sci-fi novel, but men actually do pay, up to 10000 Euros to have sex with a life like sex bot in Amsterdam. This may seem like a novelty, but some experts believe that this may be the future of sex tourism, based on the fact that it would make STIs less likely to spread.

How you can help prevent osteoporosis when you are younger

Osteoporosis is something that most people associate with older people, when, in fact, it’s something that we should actually be aware of when we are younger, because although the height and resilience of our skeleton is largely determined by genetic factors, our lifestyle can also play a large part in our bone health. So therefore the best way to prevent osteoporosis later in life is to keep bones strong and healthy.

DNA testing - Do we really need to know everything?

These days DNA testing can reveal a huge amount about our future health; this type of testing is known as genetic predisposition testing and is able to tell you if you are at an increased risk of most diseases. However, apart from the really serious genetic diseases that can affect people, do we really need to know all the diseases we are likely to get and if we did know, would it change anything?

Is it a common cold or allergies?

f you have allergies such as hay fever you probably know that it’s quite easy to mix up the one with the other, especially if your allergy symptoms tend to stick around for a couple of days. It may be even more complicated to tell the two apart if you suffer from winter allergies, thereby thinking that you have a cold, when you may actually just have to take an antihistamine to help you feel better. Luckily there are ways to tell the two apart, so that you...

Factors that could be worsening your spring allergies

Tomorrow is set to be the first day of spring, which is fantastic news for most, but for those suffering from spring and summer allergies, it’s a time to mentally prepare for endless bouts of sneezing fits, runny noses and puffy eyes. However, according to experts from the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, many people are actually doing things that could be making their allergies worse! Simply changing a few habits and getting the right...

LabsDirect - New Look, New Tests

This week sees the launch of the new-look LabsDirect site, but it’s not just the site that got a make-over, we also have a massive range of new tests available. Apart from our STI tests, we now include DNA, STI, health, allergy and rapid diagnostic tests, all still offering the same trusted results and confidentiality that you’ve come to expect from us. Most of our tests are still analysed by a laboratory, but our rapid diagnostic tests, which are all MHRA...

Should I get tested?

It’s common knowledge that STIs don’t cause symptoms in everybody right? But why are there still so many people who are putting off going to get themselves tested if they’ve had unprotected sexual intercourse on the basis that they don’t have any symptoms? Generally, yes, if you are experiencing symptoms you most likely have some kind of infection, but there is also a very high possibility that you may not experience any symptoms, you haven’t experienced...