Middle-aged patients: Recurrent prostatitis, post-coital fatigue, and factors that harm the prostate.

**110. What to do about recurrent prostatitis?**

Prostatitis is not only difficult to treat, but also prone to recurrence, causing significant mental and psychological burden on patients. Even after recovery from prostatitis, the damage to prostate tissue caused by the infection is not completely repaired. During the recovery period, the prostate is often in a sub-healthy state, making it more susceptible to reinfection by pathogens and the recurrence of prostatitis symptoms. This may be related to factors such as weakened immune systems, poor hygiene, unhealthy lifestyle habits, and unsafe sexual practices. Therefore, if certain predisposing factors for prostatitis persist, the probability of bacterial infection or reinfection with the normal urethral flora is higher.

Avoid using empirical, long-term antibiotics for prevention whenever possible. Effective measures include improving diet and lifestyle habits, drinking plenty of water and urinating frequently, keeping the perineum clean and dry, avoiding overexertion and excessive cold, engaging in regular sexual activity with a sterile condom or ejaculating periodically during sexual arousal, strengthening nutrition, improving overall health, and engaging in appropriate physical exercise to enhance the body's resistance. These measures can not only help patients effectively alleviate physical and psychological symptoms but also help prevent reinfection by bacteria and pathogens.

Having a correct understanding of chronic prostatitis and maintaining a positive attitude are also important; don't let its occurrence and recurrence become a heavy mental burden. In daily life, the following points should be noted:

(1) Cultivate a good mindset and never seek treatment indiscriminately once you fall ill.

(2) Pay attention to dietary structure, nutritional balance, and work-rest balance.

(3) Avoid eating foods that are irritating.

(4) Avoid prolonged sitting, staying up late, excessive drinking, exposure to cold, and exposure to chills to prevent catching a cold.

(5) Sexual activity should be regular, and interrupted intercourse or frequent masturbation should be avoided in particular. Pay attention to the hygiene and cleanliness of sexual activity for both partners.

**111. How to recover from fatigue after sexual activity?**

Men often feel tired after sex, and how to recover from this fatigue is a subject of some debate. Many men like to fall asleep immediately, believing that this will eliminate the fatigue. In fact, the opposite is true. Sleeping immediately after sex can not only cause dissatisfaction for the woman, but also cause the fatigue after ejaculation to linger until the next day.

Normally, during sexual intercourse, from the onset of mutual sexual arousal to orgasm, the duration is typically 5 to 20 minutes, though it can sometimes be longer. During sexual activity, the body's sympathetic nervous system is in a state of high tension, and the secretion of various hormones, especially sex hormones, is vigorous.

At this time, not only are both partners' sexual organs highly congested, but from the stage of sexual arousal to orgasm, many tissues in the body also participate in this special physiological process, such as increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, deeper and faster breathing, dilation of blood vessels throughout the skin, and increased sweating. Therefore, during this process, the body's energy consumption increases significantly, and metabolism is enhanced.

The fatigue experienced after sexual intercourse is mostly due to the temporary relaxation of the brain and spinal cord reflexes that control ejaculation. During ejaculation, the nerves are excited and tense; after ejaculation, the nerves and spinal cord reflexes relax.

Young people have sensitive and active nerves, so they recover quickly, some even immediately. Older people, on the other hand, have slower nerve responses and take a relatively longer time to recover. If they fall asleep immediately after ejaculation, the reflexes that cause fatigue continue to relax, making it difficult for the fatigue to disappear.

After intercourse, don't go to sleep immediately. Get up and continue doing some daily activities to allow the reflexes that have become dulled by sexual stimulation to recover smoothly. If you fall asleep immediately afterward, the dulling effect of sleep combined with the dulling effect of sexual stimulation will cause fatigue to last until the next day, leaving you with back pain.

Therefore, after intercourse, remember not to turn over and go to sleep immediately; you can watch TV for a while, get up and drink a glass of water, or chat with your partner for a while before going to sleep, so that the feeling of fatigue will not last until the next day.

**112. What are the seven factors that harm the prostate?**

The prostate has always been a troublesome area for men, especially middle-aged and elderly men, who are often troubled by prostatitis. Being the "counter-government" of the prostate is not an easy job! However, to be a good "counter-government" of the prostate, you must remember to avoid seven things: holding back, cold, pressure, sex, spicy food, smoking, and drunkenness.

(1) Holding in urine: Under normal circumstances, bacteria reside in the lower part of the male urethra. These bacteria are flushed away during urination, but frequently holding in urine can cause bacteria to travel back into the urethra, leading to prostatitis.

(2) A man's testicles are afraid of heat, but his prostate is the opposite; it is afraid of cold. When the weather turns cold, the excitability of the human sympathetic nervous system increases, causing the prostate gland to contract, the ducts and blood vessels to dilate, resulting in chronic congestion and aggravating the accumulation of prostatic fluid.

(3) When a man sits, a large part of his body weight will "press" on the prostate, and the gland becomes congested, making it difficult for prostatic fluid to be excreted. In particular, sitting for a long time in a soft chair or sofa will obstruct blood circulation in the entire urinary system, leading to the occurrence of aseptic prostatitis or aggravation of bacterial prostatitis.

(4) Excessive sexual activity is a major enemy of the prostate. Too frequent sexual activity can lead to excessive congestion of the prostate and induce prostatitis. Excessive suppression of sexual desire can cause a large accumulation of prostatic fluid and induce inflammation. In addition, interrupting intercourse before ejaculation, withdrawing from the vagina, or frequent masturbation can all cause congestion and swelling of the prostate and lead to inflammation.

(5) For patients with prostatitis, excessive consumption of spicy food can irritate the prostate and urethra, which may induce acute prostatitis or aggravate the symptoms of chronic prostatitis.

(6) Surveys show that the incidence of prostate disease in smokers is 1 to 2 times higher than in non-smokers. This is because tobacco contains more than 1,200 compounds, most of which are harmful to the human body, mainly including nicotine, cyanide, and carbon monoxide. The more one smokes, the greater the damage to the prostate.

(7) Due to the stimulation of alcohol, the prostate gland experiences rapid dilation and congestion of local capillaries. At this time, the "swollen" prostate gland will occupy the space of the urethra, and the nerves around the prostate gland will also be compressed and restrained. The prostate gland needs 3 to 5 days to recover after "drunkenness".