Plastic Surgery for Men QT: Why do men have nipples? Blood in semen serious? Why do I talk in my sleep? How do you make your pec veins pop?

MensHealth:

Why do men have nipples?
- Samarth Chinoy, Mumbai


On the first day, God created woman, on the second day came Man and some time during the afternoon of the sixth, allowing His mind to wander, He created male nipples. Well, not quite, but as Brian Charlesworth, professor of evolutionary biology at Edinburgh University explains, male nips are a bit of a Darwanian afterthought.

Breasts and nipples have evolved in mammals to allow mothers to provide milk to their young. Male mammals rarely care for their offspring and so have no need for them. The evolution of these structures involved developmental changes that are hard to restrict to just females, because the genes responsible are present in both sexes.

Originally, breasts and nipples may well have been present in both male and female mammals—100 or so million years ago. There may have been natural selection to reduce their size in males since there would be possible harmful side effects of their presence (increased susceptibility to cancer).

They simply have not been completely eliminated. Think of your nipples like your appendix. That’s still no reason to remove them, mind you!

I found blood in my semen. Is it serious?
- Gagan Sethi, New Delhi

Calm down, it’s a routine plumbing problem. “One in 100 men experience this condition, known as haematospermia and it’s usually nothing to worry about,” says Dr Kapil Juneja, a consultant urologist, Moolchand Medcity, New Delhi. “The cause is likely to be harmless infl ammation of your prostate or seminal vesicles, however, you should get it examined to rule out infection and bleeding disorders.” Haematospermia usually goes away on its own after about a month, although 25 per cent of men will probably experience it again. (Urologists aren’t sure why.)

If it persists for three months, or if you’re 40 or older, see your doctor for a PSA test. It could be something more serious; prostate cancer accounts for about 2 per cent of haematospermia cases. Follow doctor’s orders—they can be fun. “Ejaculating at least once a week improves your urologic health, decreasing the chances of haematospermia,” says Dr Juneja.

Why do I talk in my sleep?
- Shantanu Behel, Bangalore

Think of it as a kind of a brain fart. “Your sleeping brain is actually very active, but it doesn’t have a censor, so random words can come out of your mouth,” explains sleep disorder specialist Dr Manvir Bhatia, Sir Gangaram Hospital, New Delhi. “Often the content is just refl ective of your brain’s sleep activity and it can be words, sentences or gibberish.”

If your unconscious utterings are bothering your bedmate, cut back on your evening alcohol and try to find ways to lower your stress level. Both booze and chronic tension can disturb your sleep patterns and that in turn may amplify your verbal outbursts.

Just one word of caution: “If your pillow talk becomes frequent, prolonged or increases in volume or profanity, see your doctor ASAP,” says Dr Bhatia. Any one of these changes could signal that you’re suffering from a sleep condition, such as sleep apnoea, nocturnal seizures or REM sleep behaviour disorder (the acting out of dreams with yelling, punching and jumping out of bed).

How can I get more defi nition in my biceps? I want those veins to pop.
- Gaurav Gill, Hyderabad

Don’t think about building the biceps. Weight lifting won’t make your veins any bigger. To get a bulge in that cephalic vein (that’s the one that runs over your biceps), you’re battling a tag team of genetics and flab. Since you can’t do anything about your genes, aim for less than 10 per cent body fat, suggests Micheal Mejia, CSCS, a Men’s Health exercise advisor. Focus on exercises that work large muscle groups and do high-repetition sets with little rest in between. Try this variation on the clean and press.

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and hold a pair of dumbbells with your palms facing your hips
1. Bend your knees and drop into a squat position
2. Letting the dumbbells come to rest on the floor. Make sure your back is straight and your knees don’t extend beyond your toes. In one move, kick your legs back, letting your weight rest on the dumbbells and your toes, as if in a pushup position
3. Reverse the move and stand, pressing the dumbbells overhead
4. Do two or three sets of six to 10 repetitions, resting for 60 to 90 seconds in between.