NEW YORK - Women have high expectations for nearly every area of their lives, but when it comes to sex, they settle for less.
And most women keep their dissatisfaction with sex a secret, leaving their partners (let alone their doctors) in the dark, said Anita Clayton, a psychiatrist who focuses on women's sexuality at the University of Virginia Health System.
"Whereas men, if they have trouble with sex, it's a crisis. They run to the doctor and say 'I need something for this.' Women don't do that. They just sort of stuff it down and push it further down on the list," Clayton said.
With surveys and years of clinical experience, Clayton has compiled a vast collection of data on women's sex lives. Often, she said, a female patient would visit her with issues like marital problems or depression, and only when directly asked about sex, the patient would divulge dissatisfaction.
Clayton attributes several factors to a woman's lack of sexual satisfaction, including:
Sex gets shoved to the bottom of the "to do" list for women. And when they do have sex it becomes just another task. Women are not getting their emotional needs met during sex. An orgasm might not be the point.
Many women strive for unrealistic physical perfection seen in the media and are unhappy with some aspect of their physical bodies.
Women don't ask for what they want in bed, fearing their partner will be hurt or leave them. Medications such as antidepressants can reduce a woman's libido and ability to reach orgasm.??What is mediocre sex?
Some women did complain about difficulty reaching orgasm or lack of sexual desire, but frequently they just felt an overall letdown regarding sex, Clayton said।
"It tends to be this feeling that they're not satisfied and a lot of times that's on an emotional level. They might have had an orgasm. But many women don't feel like [an orgasm is] the end-all, be-all every time they have sex," Clayton explained.
Not knowing why they feel so deflated after sex, women assume it's their fault or they just don't bring up the topic to their partner. Plus, Clayton said women don't have a clear awareness of their sexual desires because of social, cultural or religious beliefs that label such female wants as shameful.
Outside pressures impact a woman's view of her body, which can make having sex even less appealing.
"Women are so obsessed with our physical appearance, and we really are trying to achieve some idealized woman's body that we see in the media। We always feel like we're lacking," Clayton told LiveScience.
Instead, they focus on the ever-growing to-do list and sex becomes another task at the very bottom of the list.
"Work and family come first. We end up putting sex low on the priority list," Clayton said. "Then when our partner initiates sex, it's just another task. I really believe that we as women accept a level of dissatisfaction that we don't need to accept."
Make it a priorityTo ramp up sexual satisfaction, Clayton suggests both partners can play a role.
For one, women should know that the perfect body doesn't equal good sex. "You don't have to be a sexy bombshell-looking person to have great sex. It's really not about that. We might think that Victoria's Secret models have a great sex life, but their sex life is no better than anybody else's," Clayton said.
A confident, sexy attitude and an openness to explore sensuality can breathe life into lackluster sex. Also, women can give a higher priority to sex, holding the laundry for another day.
Guys can be more open to talking about what a woman wants in bed, to the point of initiating the conversation, Clayton said. And to make more time for sex, she said, men can help a girlfriend or wife with tasks around the house.
?2007 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.
2007/09/30
Opposites attract: Compatibility's in the genes
Relationship quizzes in magazines are fun, but a test for genetic compatibility might be the better way to go to see if your wife or girlfriend will cheat on you.
A new study reveals that a cluster of genes, involved in immune function among other things, could predict how sexually attracted a person is to a partner and how likely a woman is be faithful to her mate. Couples in which the individuals had dissimilar versions of so-called major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes had the greatest sexual compatibility.?
"There's this idea of romantic chemistry, but until now we haven't been able to pinpoint anything that predicts it," said lead researcher Christine Garver-Apgar, a psychologist at the University of New Mexico.
"These are some of the first findings that I know of that get at this idea of romantic chemistry and what it is exactly that makes two people just so compatible and attracted to each other," said Garver-Apgar, whose husband is related to Virginia Apgar, who developed in 1952 the Apgar score used today in hospitals to rate a newborn's health.
The MHC genes direct the production of certain protein receptors that coat the outer surfaces of cells. The protein receptors signal to the body's immune system whether a cell is a native resident or a foreign invader. With more MHC variations, the immune system can recognize a broader range of foreign cells, making associated offspring more fit.
All you need is DNA ...Garver-Apgar and her colleagues studied 48 romantically involved couples, ranging from 18 to 35 years old. For genetic material, they scraped cells from the inner cheeks of subjects.
The couples completed surveys at the start of the study, when the female partner was at the fertile part of her menstrual cycle and during her infertile period. Questions gauged a person's overall satisfaction with the current romantic relationship, contentment with in-couple sex, number of sex partners and attitude toward sex in general.
A measure of female subjects' luteinizing hormone, which regulates egg production, indicated the stage of menstrual cycle and level of fertility.
It turned out that opposites did attract, particularly when women were most fertile. "As the [MHC] similarity increases, women are more turned off toward the guy sexually and more likely to be fantasizing about other men, specifically when she's at the fertile point in her cycle," said study team member Randy Thornhill, a biologist at the University of New Mexico.
Not only did they fantasize, but women in similar-MHC relationships reported more sexual encounters outside with other men.
"This speaks to the possibility that women do seek sex outside of the relationship for a particular reason and it's to possibly obtain genetic benefits, whether those are good genes or compatible genes," Garver-Apgar told LiveScience.
Men showed no discrimination when it came to sexual desire toward their partners. That supports the idea that men don't put as much energy into reproduction. They just copulate when the opportunity arises.
A new study reveals that a cluster of genes, involved in immune function among other things, could predict how sexually attracted a person is to a partner and how likely a woman is be faithful to her mate. Couples in which the individuals had dissimilar versions of so-called major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes had the greatest sexual compatibility.?
"There's this idea of romantic chemistry, but until now we haven't been able to pinpoint anything that predicts it," said lead researcher Christine Garver-Apgar, a psychologist at the University of New Mexico.
"These are some of the first findings that I know of that get at this idea of romantic chemistry and what it is exactly that makes two people just so compatible and attracted to each other," said Garver-Apgar, whose husband is related to Virginia Apgar, who developed in 1952 the Apgar score used today in hospitals to rate a newborn's health.
The MHC genes direct the production of certain protein receptors that coat the outer surfaces of cells. The protein receptors signal to the body's immune system whether a cell is a native resident or a foreign invader. With more MHC variations, the immune system can recognize a broader range of foreign cells, making associated offspring more fit.
All you need is DNA ...Garver-Apgar and her colleagues studied 48 romantically involved couples, ranging from 18 to 35 years old. For genetic material, they scraped cells from the inner cheeks of subjects.
The couples completed surveys at the start of the study, when the female partner was at the fertile part of her menstrual cycle and during her infertile period. Questions gauged a person's overall satisfaction with the current romantic relationship, contentment with in-couple sex, number of sex partners and attitude toward sex in general.
A measure of female subjects' luteinizing hormone, which regulates egg production, indicated the stage of menstrual cycle and level of fertility.
It turned out that opposites did attract, particularly when women were most fertile. "As the [MHC] similarity increases, women are more turned off toward the guy sexually and more likely to be fantasizing about other men, specifically when she's at the fertile point in her cycle," said study team member Randy Thornhill, a biologist at the University of New Mexico.
Not only did they fantasize, but women in similar-MHC relationships reported more sexual encounters outside with other men.
"This speaks to the possibility that women do seek sex outside of the relationship for a particular reason and it's to possibly obtain genetic benefits, whether those are good genes or compatible genes," Garver-Apgar told LiveScience.
Men showed no discrimination when it came to sexual desire toward their partners. That supports the idea that men don't put as much energy into reproduction. They just copulate when the opportunity arises.
Am I still a virgin if I use a tampon?
Some girls worry that if they use tampons, they will no longer be virgins. The truth is, a virgin is someone who has never had sexual intercourse. Inserting a tampon is definitely not the same as having sex!
So why do girls ask this question so often? Girls who are virgins usually have a hymen, a very thin piece of skin-like tissue that stretches partly across the opening of the vagina. A lot of people mistakenly think that a girl is still a virgin if her hymen has not been broken. Most of the time a girl's hymen breaks after having sex for the first time.
But a girl's hymen can tear in ways that have nothing to do with having sex. For example, it is possible that inserting a tampon might tear the hymen (although that usually doesn't happen). So even if a tampon does break a girl's hymen, she is still a virgin until she has had sexual intercourse.
So why do girls ask this question so often? Girls who are virgins usually have a hymen, a very thin piece of skin-like tissue that stretches partly across the opening of the vagina. A lot of people mistakenly think that a girl is still a virgin if her hymen has not been broken. Most of the time a girl's hymen breaks after having sex for the first time.
But a girl's hymen can tear in ways that have nothing to do with having sex. For example, it is possible that inserting a tampon might tear the hymen (although that usually doesn't happen). So even if a tampon does break a girl's hymen, she is still a virgin until she has had sexual intercourse.
Orlistat Approved for Over-the-Counter Sale
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 7 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved an over-the-counter version of orlistat, a prescription weight-loss drug available in the United States since 1999.
The OTC version, to be known as Alli, is recommended for overweight people ages 18 and older, along with a lower-calorie, low-fat diet and exercise program, the agency said. The higher-dose prescription version of the drug will remain available.
Orlistat, which works by decreasing the intestines' ability to absorb fat, is not recommended for people who cannot properly absorb food, or for those who are not overweight. The drug may also prevent the body from absorbing certain nutrients, so users should take a multivitamin at bedtime, the agency said.
A 60 mg. Alli capsule can be taken as often as three times daily at mealtimes.
Side effects may include loose stools and other changes in bowel habits, the FDA said. People who have had an organ transplant should not take OTC orlistat, since it may interact with other drugs they are taking. Also, anyone taking blood thinners, or being treated for diabetes or a thyroid condition should speak with a doctor before taking Alli, the agency said.
Alli is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, which in a statement said the drug "is the only FDA-approved weight-loss product available to consumers without a prescription."
More information
Visit the FDA to learn more
The OTC version, to be known as Alli, is recommended for overweight people ages 18 and older, along with a lower-calorie, low-fat diet and exercise program, the agency said. The higher-dose prescription version of the drug will remain available.
Orlistat, which works by decreasing the intestines' ability to absorb fat, is not recommended for people who cannot properly absorb food, or for those who are not overweight. The drug may also prevent the body from absorbing certain nutrients, so users should take a multivitamin at bedtime, the agency said.
A 60 mg. Alli capsule can be taken as often as three times daily at mealtimes.
Side effects may include loose stools and other changes in bowel habits, the FDA said. People who have had an organ transplant should not take OTC orlistat, since it may interact with other drugs they are taking. Also, anyone taking blood thinners, or being treated for diabetes or a thyroid condition should speak with a doctor before taking Alli, the agency said.
Alli is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, which in a statement said the drug "is the only FDA-approved weight-loss product available to consumers without a prescription."
More information
Visit the FDA to learn more
Sleep May Help Kids Keep Slim
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Eating right and being active are well-known ways to try to keep a child's weight in check, but a new study points to another potential weapon in the fight against childhood obesity -- sleep.
Researchers at Northwestern University found that children who get more sleep tend to have a lower body mass index (BMI, a ratio of weight to height) and are less likely to be overweight five years later, than kids who get less sleep.
Sleeping an extra hour a night reduced the chance of being overweight from 36 percent to 30 percent in young children, and from 34 percent to 30 percent in older children.
The study is published in the January/February issue of the journal Child Development.
"Our study adds to the growing literature about the connection between sleep and weight," said Emily Snell, the study's lead author and a doctoral student in Northwestern's department of human development and social policy. "Other studies have found that sleep and weight are related in adults and kids, but it's not clear if sleep affects weight, or vice versa. We accounted for that by factoring in how much the kids already weighed," Snell said.
The researchers did this by collecting data in two waves. They started by looking at 2,281 children from a national survey called the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics. The kids were ages of 3 to 12 at the start of the study, and follow-up information was collected five years later. Parents and/or the children were given "time diaries" to record sleep information, such as the total number of hours the child slept, bedtimes, and wake times.
Analysis of the diaries showed that children who slept less, went to bed later, or got up earlier during the first assessment had higher BMIs five years later and were more likely to be overweight. The research also showed that a later bedtime had a greater effect on whether children aged 3 to 8 became overweight, while earlier wake times played a greater role for children aged 8 to 13.
"The effect of sleep on the weight of younger kids came through their bedtime. An earlier bedtime seemed to matter more, and bedtime is a place where parents have control," Snell said. "For older kids, wake time mattered more. I'm not sure how comfortable I am telling school districts that if they start school early their kids will end up fat. But it does add to the evidence that a very early start time (7 a.m. or earlier), especially for pre-adolescents and teens, is not in line with adolescents biological clocks."
Snell added that the study also found a discouraging trend in how much -- or little -- sleep kids are getting, particularly on weeknights. By age 7, children were sleeping, on average, less than 10 hours on weekdays, and this dropped to 8.5 hours by age 14. Sixteen percent of adolescents aged 13 to 18 slept less than seven hours on weeknights.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends that 5- to 12-year-olds get 10 to 11 hours of sleep nightly and that teens get eight to nine hours.
Lack of sleep not only affects a child's weight, but it can have other ramifications, said Dr. Shahrad Taheri, a lecturer in medicine and endocrinology at the University of Bristol, in Great Britain.
"We are increasingly understanding that sleep has multiple functions," he said. "Short sleep has been associated with poor educational performance, alcohol use and addiction, poor immune responses, hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease."
Researchers don't know why sleep and childhood obesity may be related, but Snell said there are many potential pathways that link the two. For instance, not getting enough sleep can leave a child tired, and therefore less likely to be active. Also, being awake longer provides more time for eating.
Lack of sleep may also disrupt hormones that influence metabolism and hunger.
"Literature suggests that with restricted sleep comes changes in certain hormones that could alter intake of food," said Dr. Robert Vorona, a sleep specialist and an associate professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Va. "Leptin (which decreases food intake) and ghrelin (which increases food intake) are respectively reduced and increased by lack of sleep."
But, researchers don't recommend that parents wait to fully understand what links sleep and obesity before taking action. "If our kids got better sleep, then maybe we can make a dent in the obesity statistics," Taheri said. "You only need a 100 calorie surplus a day to put on significant weight over time, so every little effort helps."
More information
For more on children and sleep, visit the National Sleep Foundation.
A Key to Good Health
ROLL out of bed and swallow your customized vitamins, then decide: the gym, the Olympic-size pool or the track?
Workout left you sore? The personal trainer can stop by later with the massage therapist, and the nutritionist can help fine-tune your diet.
What’s that suspicious mole on your arm? Walk to the clinic and have the dermatologist take a look. Don’t worry about cooking dinner; the healthy food service will drop off broiled salmon.
That, anyway, is the vision of Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper, the cardiovascular fitness expert whose 1968 best seller, “Aerobics,” put the word into the wellness lexicon.
Over the course of almost 40 years, Dr. Cooper, 76, one of President Bush’s personal physicians, has become something of a chief spokesman for preventive medicine, inspiring legislation for mandatory physical education for Texas schoolchildren, crusading to ban trans fats from prepared foods, and running his flagship clinic in Dallas, the Cooper Aerobics Center, which has published 600 papers.
So you could say he made his bed. Now he wants you to sleep in it.
To that end, Dr. Cooper is developing a $2 billion residential wellness community here called Cooper Life at Craig Ranch that is going up on the first 51 of an eventual 151 acres on the Texas plains, north of Dallas.
Taking the concept of spa real estate into the medical realm, Dr. Cooper’s community promises home buyers a life that sounds equal parts Norman Rockwell and Olympic village: a small town where doctors will make house calls and where every resident has a bevy of experts close at hand for keeping in tiptop shape.
It appears to be the first of its kind. “There’s nothing out there like Cooper Life,” said Susie Ellis, president of Spa Finder Inc., a media marketing company that tracks the spa industry.
Included in the monthly residential fee ($1,041 for an individual to $2,181 for a family of six) will be an annual physical and a six-month follow-up, which Dr. Cooper calls key to his utopian vision of a place where everyone can live in peak health. The fee also includes home doctor visits, a fitness center membership, concierge services and exterior home maintenance, lectures and social activities.
While a diverse mix of ages and fitness levels are welcome, Dr. Cooper admits that many prospective residents may well be baby boomers with cushy bank accounts. “They’ve got the money,” Dr. Cooper said, “now they want to live long enough to enjoy it.”
The first 800 private homes, town houses, brownstones and midrise condominiums are priced from $400,000 to $2 million; another 1,250 homes are planned for an adjacent parcel, alongside a completed athletic training center named for the Olympic sprinter Michael Johnson. The community will also include a hospital and research institute, parks, gardens, three schools, shops, offices, restaurants and a hotel.
None of the homes, which officially go on sale next month, are completed, though there are more than 200 interested buyers. Dr. Cooper expects the first residents to arrive in January.
Joe Mendelson, 69, an investment professional from Santa Barbara, Calif., and a patient of Dr. Cooper’s for nearly 40 years, heads the list of interested buyers.
“He told me about this concept several years ago and I said, ‘Man, that’s for me,’ ” Mr. Mendelson said. “I eat right, I exercise, I coach and I’ve been an athlete all my life, so it kind of fits my lifestyle.”
At Cooper Life, Mr. Mendelson plans to coach seniors and race walkers. “I’ll keep busy,” he said. “I won’t just sit all day and eat salads.”
Dr. Cooper, who routinely buttresses his statements about fitness by rattling off statistics, said a yearly physical is “the best life insurance you can buy.” (Some may argue that not having to wait days or waste lunch hours for doctor’s appointments at Cooper Life is what will really add years to lives.)
Residents will still need health insurance because medicines, specialists and surgical procedures are extra, as are nutrition consultants, personal trainers and food service. The fitness center, which includes the pool, a 10,000-square-foot workout area, an indoor running track, a rock-climbing wall and a spa, is already open to the public. So is the clinic.
Cooper Life residents and outsiders will also have access to specialists in disciplines including cardiology, dermatology and sports medicine. Dr. Gail Lebovic, a breast surgeon, will direct the women’s health clinic, which will offer special care for women at high risk of breast cancer.
For Dr. Cooper, the project is more than an elite community for the health-minded. It will also be a testing ground.
“It’s my Framingham study,” said Dr. Cooper, referring to the federal study of cardiovascular disease that has followed the population of Framingham, Mass., for decades. “Over the next 25 years, can we prove that people who live at Cooper Life will live longer and healthier, that children will make better grades at school, and that costs of health care will be less?”
Some medical experts were unsure just what such an undertaking could prove.
Dr. Nicholas A. Christakis, a medical sociology professor at Harvard who recently published a study of how people’s weight can be influenced by their friends, said that if a wellness community succeeded it might be hard to say why. Was it because the self-selecting population who lived there were already of a like mind? Or, he wondered, would it show that “the association caused some like-mindedness?”
Skip to next paragraph
Others were concerned about the broader message that such a luxury wellness community might convey. Dr. David Satcher, a former surgeon general and the director of the Center of Excellence on Health Disparities at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, said that while he supported anything that furthers wellness, he also cautioned, “I don’t want people to think you need that kind of money to invest to adopt a healthy lifestyle.”
Dr. James O. Hill, the director of the Center for Human Nutrition, funded by the National Institutes of Health, said he loved the idea. “The community we live in probably influences our behavior more than anything else,” he said. “It may be one of the only ways that will make a difference in the health of Americans.”
The utopian venture — built and financed by Wellstone Communities, a Georgia real estate developer that put up $2 billion — is part of a wider movement to integrate spas and wellness centers with residential communities to attract affluent, convenience-loving home buyers. Miraval Life in Balance, based in Tucson, is opening a 41-story condo tower on the East Side of Manhattan this fall, and Canyon Ranch has put up a condominium and hotel complex in Miami Beach.
Dr. Cooper recently wrote his 19th book, called “Start Strong, Finish Strong” (Avery, 2007) with his son, Dr. Tyler C. Cooper, 37, the president of Cooper Life, and they plan to continue their collaboration. The McKinney project is a prototype for what could eventually be 5 to 10 other communities worldwide, said Tyler Cooper — places to attract people like Nancy Cummings, 58, a manager for American Airlines from suburban Dallas. Like many of her generation, she is focused on “staying young forever.” Besides the chance to meet like-minded neighbors, what Ms. Cummings likes most about Cooper Life — where she hopes to buy a town house — is the idea that she can leave her car parked.
“It’s an exciting concept, to walk out your door and have restaurants, parks, physical amenities and medical facilities,” she said. “It’s sort of like Europe: everybody walks everywhere.”
Workout left you sore? The personal trainer can stop by later with the massage therapist, and the nutritionist can help fine-tune your diet.
What’s that suspicious mole on your arm? Walk to the clinic and have the dermatologist take a look. Don’t worry about cooking dinner; the healthy food service will drop off broiled salmon.
That, anyway, is the vision of Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper, the cardiovascular fitness expert whose 1968 best seller, “Aerobics,” put the word into the wellness lexicon.
Over the course of almost 40 years, Dr. Cooper, 76, one of President Bush’s personal physicians, has become something of a chief spokesman for preventive medicine, inspiring legislation for mandatory physical education for Texas schoolchildren, crusading to ban trans fats from prepared foods, and running his flagship clinic in Dallas, the Cooper Aerobics Center, which has published 600 papers.
So you could say he made his bed. Now he wants you to sleep in it.
To that end, Dr. Cooper is developing a $2 billion residential wellness community here called Cooper Life at Craig Ranch that is going up on the first 51 of an eventual 151 acres on the Texas plains, north of Dallas.
Taking the concept of spa real estate into the medical realm, Dr. Cooper’s community promises home buyers a life that sounds equal parts Norman Rockwell and Olympic village: a small town where doctors will make house calls and where every resident has a bevy of experts close at hand for keeping in tiptop shape.
It appears to be the first of its kind. “There’s nothing out there like Cooper Life,” said Susie Ellis, president of Spa Finder Inc., a media marketing company that tracks the spa industry.
Included in the monthly residential fee ($1,041 for an individual to $2,181 for a family of six) will be an annual physical and a six-month follow-up, which Dr. Cooper calls key to his utopian vision of a place where everyone can live in peak health. The fee also includes home doctor visits, a fitness center membership, concierge services and exterior home maintenance, lectures and social activities.
While a diverse mix of ages and fitness levels are welcome, Dr. Cooper admits that many prospective residents may well be baby boomers with cushy bank accounts. “They’ve got the money,” Dr. Cooper said, “now they want to live long enough to enjoy it.”
The first 800 private homes, town houses, brownstones and midrise condominiums are priced from $400,000 to $2 million; another 1,250 homes are planned for an adjacent parcel, alongside a completed athletic training center named for the Olympic sprinter Michael Johnson. The community will also include a hospital and research institute, parks, gardens, three schools, shops, offices, restaurants and a hotel.
None of the homes, which officially go on sale next month, are completed, though there are more than 200 interested buyers. Dr. Cooper expects the first residents to arrive in January.
Joe Mendelson, 69, an investment professional from Santa Barbara, Calif., and a patient of Dr. Cooper’s for nearly 40 years, heads the list of interested buyers.
“He told me about this concept several years ago and I said, ‘Man, that’s for me,’ ” Mr. Mendelson said. “I eat right, I exercise, I coach and I’ve been an athlete all my life, so it kind of fits my lifestyle.”
At Cooper Life, Mr. Mendelson plans to coach seniors and race walkers. “I’ll keep busy,” he said. “I won’t just sit all day and eat salads.”
Dr. Cooper, who routinely buttresses his statements about fitness by rattling off statistics, said a yearly physical is “the best life insurance you can buy.” (Some may argue that not having to wait days or waste lunch hours for doctor’s appointments at Cooper Life is what will really add years to lives.)
Residents will still need health insurance because medicines, specialists and surgical procedures are extra, as are nutrition consultants, personal trainers and food service. The fitness center, which includes the pool, a 10,000-square-foot workout area, an indoor running track, a rock-climbing wall and a spa, is already open to the public. So is the clinic.
Cooper Life residents and outsiders will also have access to specialists in disciplines including cardiology, dermatology and sports medicine. Dr. Gail Lebovic, a breast surgeon, will direct the women’s health clinic, which will offer special care for women at high risk of breast cancer.
For Dr. Cooper, the project is more than an elite community for the health-minded. It will also be a testing ground.
“It’s my Framingham study,” said Dr. Cooper, referring to the federal study of cardiovascular disease that has followed the population of Framingham, Mass., for decades. “Over the next 25 years, can we prove that people who live at Cooper Life will live longer and healthier, that children will make better grades at school, and that costs of health care will be less?”
Some medical experts were unsure just what such an undertaking could prove.
Dr. Nicholas A. Christakis, a medical sociology professor at Harvard who recently published a study of how people’s weight can be influenced by their friends, said that if a wellness community succeeded it might be hard to say why. Was it because the self-selecting population who lived there were already of a like mind? Or, he wondered, would it show that “the association caused some like-mindedness?”
Skip to next paragraph
Others were concerned about the broader message that such a luxury wellness community might convey. Dr. David Satcher, a former surgeon general and the director of the Center of Excellence on Health Disparities at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, said that while he supported anything that furthers wellness, he also cautioned, “I don’t want people to think you need that kind of money to invest to adopt a healthy lifestyle.”
Dr. James O. Hill, the director of the Center for Human Nutrition, funded by the National Institutes of Health, said he loved the idea. “The community we live in probably influences our behavior more than anything else,” he said. “It may be one of the only ways that will make a difference in the health of Americans.”
The utopian venture — built and financed by Wellstone Communities, a Georgia real estate developer that put up $2 billion — is part of a wider movement to integrate spas and wellness centers with residential communities to attract affluent, convenience-loving home buyers. Miraval Life in Balance, based in Tucson, is opening a 41-story condo tower on the East Side of Manhattan this fall, and Canyon Ranch has put up a condominium and hotel complex in Miami Beach.
Dr. Cooper recently wrote his 19th book, called “Start Strong, Finish Strong” (Avery, 2007) with his son, Dr. Tyler C. Cooper, 37, the president of Cooper Life, and they plan to continue their collaboration. The McKinney project is a prototype for what could eventually be 5 to 10 other communities worldwide, said Tyler Cooper — places to attract people like Nancy Cummings, 58, a manager for American Airlines from suburban Dallas. Like many of her generation, she is focused on “staying young forever.” Besides the chance to meet like-minded neighbors, what Ms. Cummings likes most about Cooper Life — where she hopes to buy a town house — is the idea that she can leave her car parked.
“It’s an exciting concept, to walk out your door and have restaurants, parks, physical amenities and medical facilities,” she said. “It’s sort of like Europe: everybody walks everywhere.”
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