Please note: Whilst this is a Health Gadget, it references matters of a Sexual Nature

Sex seems to be a timeless human obsession. On the cover of every magazine and newspaper is someone’s sex life making the news. For us mere mortals, its hot women in lads mags and how to find your g-spot in girly mags. Put sex into Google and you’ll get over 500,000,000 results. Whether you are on your own or with your beau, sex is important. We hear so much about sex, but very little about how to maintain your own sexual health, which is why I was delighted to have the chance to trial the Kegel8 tight and tone. The Kegel8 is one of those tools which can guarantee you fabulous sex right into your old age.

Women have been exercising their pelvic floor muscles for centuries. Back in Ancient China, Jade eggs were all the rage. Oval, weighted eggs you inserted into your vagina for a form of resistance exercise. Today a lot of the pelvic floor toners we see around in Adult stores and pharmacies also rely on resistance exercise ie: Ben Wah balls, metal bar bells and plastic pelvic toners with springs.

Why have women been working on their PC muscles all this time? Surely our muscles should manage ok on their own? I mean, we don't always go to the gym but our legs still work! The reason is called quality of life. Strong PC muscles mean more control during sex. It also means a greater blood flow to the area, which leads to increased sensitivity. On a purely medical front, it can stop that embarrassing leakage when you sneeze or more dramatically - your PC muscles collapsing and putting pressure on your back.

The Kegel8 is a bit different from other pelvic toning devices as it takes all the guess work out of working your PC muscles. Rather than manually contracting your muscles the Kegel8 uses electronic pulses which force your muscles to contract and relax. It also exercises your muscles at different speeds, which is important as your PC muscles need to contract fast or slow depending on what is needed. A fast contraction when you sneeze to stop any urine sneaking out, and slower for your orgasm.

The Kegel8 is a pretty, non-offensive thing. Being baby pink and with a much smaller probe than I expected it appears a lot of thought went into putting nervous minds at ease. It has a clip on the back so it can be attached to your clothes and very simple controls. You plug in your probe, turn it on and choose your program. From there it is up to you how strong you want the pulsations to go. The advantage of using the Kegel8 rather than, say a Jade Egg, is that the Kegel8 will allow you to keep a record of your progress. Week one you may only be reaching a resistance strength of 28mA, then seven weeks later you could be up to 50mA. This kind of knowledge is so important for your motivation, like keeping a fitness chart at the gym.

The first time I used it felt very strange. In the beginning it felt like it was going to fall out, but after a few minutes it seemed to ‘settle’ and I felt safe enough to get up to make a coffee. While I was by the coffee machine I coughed, oops... it was out! Surprising enough the Kegel probe seemed to know it had fallen out and stopped pulsing. Once it went back in, I pressed the + button and it was happily pulsing again.

Initially I couldn’t feel a thing, I wasn’t even sure if it was working. I sat there and gingerly put the strength up until I could feel my muscles reacting. It didn’t hurt, in fact it was kinda nice! After a while I checked the screen and the Kegel was automatically dropping the resistance strength. Over the 12 weeks I was testing it I discovered that the Kegel has a lot of ‘safe guards’ in place to prevent you from zapping yourself. It still didn’t stop me absentmindedly putting the strength up to 90mA one day – that was a bit of a shock!

Sitting, walking and lying down are all quite comfortable while wearing the Kegel8 as the base is designed to sit between your lips. The base is also very easy to grip with your fingers when you wish to put it in or take it out again. After your program is finished the probe need only to be unplugged from the Kegel box and washed with soap and water.

It took me a 3 days to feel confident with the Kegel8 and then I was happily wearing it every day. Afterwards I was always very ‘aware’ of my muscles, they had that ‘just been worked out at the gym’ feeling. The improvement from all that exercise started happening within weeks. Not getting too graphic but I noticed the change in one arena of my life straight away. It was a sense of control that I hadn’t even realised I may have lost.

The second result happened 2½ weeks after I started the trial and was a complete surprise. I woke up one morning with my period, and I hadn’t even known I was premenstrual. I had read that the Kegel could help prevent cramps, but PMT as well? I withheld my judgement until the next month and then it was confirmed. My PMT as well as my cramping are both better since I’ve been using the Kegel8. I don’t know how that works but I’m not complaining.

Things I like about the Kegel:
It’s completely silent. There are no issues with strange buzzy noises coming from your pants.
If you catch the cord on something, it easily pulls out of the Kegel box.
It comes with its own conductive lubricant to make the exercises easier.

Things I don’t like:
The Kegel box is quite large so difficult to hide under clothes.
It has a cord which gets in the way. You can however buy wireless versions.
The instruction regarding the programs could be clearer. It felt a bit like guess-work choosing the right program for me.
All in all this was a very successful trial.

Available from www.stressnomore.co.uk or www.kegel8.co.uk and priced around £99.99