Bad news for men who have feminine-looking features, like a soft jawline, big eyes and thin eyebrows (this means you Justin Bieber, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jude Law). Turns out, women with partners who have softer facial characteristics are more likely to fantasize about masculine-looking men during Week 2 of their cycle (which starts 8 days after the first day of your period) than women attached to burly-looking dudes, reveals a just-released study in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior. Why? High estrogen is pushing you to find a mate with a high testosterone level—which is a key indicator of health and virility—to fertilize your egg during ovulation, which occurs at the end of Week 2. And a strong jawline, small eyes and thick eyebrows are all indicators of a high amount of this hormone!

Need a little confidence boost while giving a speech, doing a job interview or asking someone out on a date? Strike a “power pose” beforehand! According to a just-released study out of Harvard Business School, certain poses raise your body’s level of testosterone in minutes, making you feel confident, bold and in charge. Plus, they lower your body’s level of the stress hormone cortisol, so you’re more relaxed.

So, what are these power poses? Ones that open up your body and take up lots of space, like standing up straight and putting your hands on your hips or reclining back in a chair and putting your feet up on a desk. By contrast, taking up less space, for instance, by crossing your arms or hunching, makes you feel less confident, the researcher say.

[photo: CosmoPolitician]

Have you noticed that at certain times of the month your thoughts flit from one subject to another, making it difficult to focus on one topic at a time? You were probably in the second week your cycle! That’s the news from researchers at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, whose just-released study published in the journal Brain and Cognition shows that peaking levels of estrogen—which occurs during Week 2 of your cycle—makes it harder to concentrate and absorb new information.

So, what can you do to sharpen your focus during your high-estrogen days? Try practicing mindfulness meditation! This easy technique, which involves sitting still with your back straight while gently focusing on your breath, has been shown in study after study to boost the ability to concentrate on any day of your cycle. To try a guided mindfulness meditation now, visit UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center.

[photo: Sarah G...]

Ever go shopping for a new pair of jeans and ended up getting a revealing mini-skirt, plunging tank top, lacy lingerie or other sexy outfit instead? You may have been ovulating while thinking of a romantic rival, according to University of Minnesota researchers. In their just-released study, ovulating women who viewed photos of attractive women from their local area opted to buy sexier clothes and accessories than women who viewed photos of unnattractive women or women who lived far away. The reason? According to the researchers, when you’re ovulating (which occurs at the end of Week 2 of your cycle), you subconsciously try to look sexier to outdo women who you may have to directly compete with for attention from men during the most fertile time of the month.

[photo: Creole Collection]

Feel that as the years go by, your libido is getting more intense? If so, you’re not alone. Women between the ages of 27-45 tend to have a heightened sex drive and engage in more exciting sexual activities, according to just-released research out of the University of Texas at Austin and published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

In the study, the researchers split 827 women into three groups: high fertility (ages18-26), low fertility (ages 27-45) and menopausal (ages 46 and up). The respondents answered an online questionnaire about their sexual attitudes and behavior.

Of all three groups, the women between the ages of 27 and 45 (the low fertility group) were more likely to experience:

• Frequent sexual fantasies
• Thoughts about sexual activities
• More intense sexual fantasies than their younger counterparts
• A more active sex life and willingness to have a one-night stand
• A willingness to have casual sex

Now, here’s where the research gets interesting, if not downwright controversial. The examiners link statistics about how more women are having babies later in life, and they claim that this rise in libido after the age of 27 is likely attributed to the fact that women realize they’re running out of time to conceive and they know it’s harder to conceive as the years pass, so they basically start a mad scramble to get pregnant.

As study co-author Judith Easton, M.A., says: “Our results suggest there is nothing special about the 30s, but that instead these behaviors manifest in all women with declining fertility. It may be more difficult to conceive past the age of 35, but our research suggests women’s psychology will continue to motivate them to try until menopause.”

The researchers go on to say that this rise in libido could be an evolutionary adaptation, that is, since more of us are having babies later, our bodies adapt by boosting our libido as we get older.

Since this is a blog, I’d like to give my personal opinion on this study and admit that I’m not in agreement with its findings linking a high libido to a rush to get pregnant. From personal experience, I’ve had a relatively high libido that has remained fairly constant since my teen years. However, I do think my sexual confidence—including my comfort level with my body, willingness to explore fantasies and ease in initiating sex—have all steadily increased with maturity and experience. Since I’ve had my tubes tied since I was 25 years old, I’m 39 now and do not wish to have children, I’m clearly not trying to beat any reproductive clock.

While the idea that our bodies are adapting to getting pregnant later in life makes sense, I also think a large part is that women come into their own in their 30s and gain confidence that helps them act on their sexual urges.

What are your thoughts on this study? Do you think we’re becoming biologically wired to have a higher libido in our 30s to aid in conception, or do we just simply gain confidence that enables us to enjoy sex more?

[photo: diluvi]