On a Tuesday in July, the Brazilian actress Claudia Raia, 59, posted a wry video to Instagram. She was laughing, she said, but the subject was no joke: the insomnia that had arrived with menopause. Within hours, her comments section filled with women recounting their own sleepless nights, hot flushes, and the fog of exhaustion that follows. Raia’s post is one ripple in a wider, increasingly public conversation about the mechanics of desire, ageing, and pleasure—a conversation unfolding not in medical journals but on social platforms, in Reddit threads, and at intimate gatherings from Mexico City to Moscow.

In one corner of this conversation, a practice known as ‘testicular icing’ has migrated from biohacking forums to the mainstream. On Reddit, threads dedicated to the technique draw more than half a million views each week. Proponents, following the lead of the American tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, apply reusable ice packs to the scrotum for ten minutes, several times a day, in the belief that cooler temperatures boost sperm count and testosterone. Some users claim their morning erections are stronger and libido higher. Britain’s National Health Service has long noted that loose underwear can improve sperm quality by keeping the testicles below body temperature, lending the idea a certain logic. Yet Russian general practitioner Azadeh Ovaici, who has commented on the trend, warns that cold triggers vasoconstriction—the opposite of what an erection requires—and that direct ice contact risks skin damage. ‘There is no evidence that freezing the testicles improves sperm health or raises testosterone,’ she told British media. Meanwhile, a Russian gynaecologist, Dmitry Lubnin, offered a less extreme tip for male pleasure: a single drop of lubricant placed on the head of the penis before rolling on a condom, a small adjustment he says transforms sensation without compromising safety.

The menopause, too, is being reframed. At a recent event in Mexico City organised by the initiative Mujeres Que Inspiran Mujeres, sexologist Claudia Rampazzo addressed a room of women over forty. She described menopause not as an ending but as a ‘transformation’—a phase that, with the right support, can bring autonomy and deeper self-knowledge. Attendees shared stories of hot flushes, vaginal dryness, and flagging desire, but also of liberation from the fear of pregnancy and a new willingness to prioritise their own pleasure. Rampazzo pointed to nutritional supplements and stress management as tools, while a Brazilian endocrinologist, Luana Concha, separately emphasised resistance training, quality sleep, and a diet rich in protein and good fats to counteract the metabolic shifts of midlife. Across the Pacific, Indonesian outlets circulated a multi-country study finding that the average bout of penetrative sex lasts just over five minutes before ejaculation, while women typically need around thirteen minutes to reach orgasm—a gap that underscores why foreplay, which averages eleven to thirteen minutes, matters more than stamina.

Playfulness, too, has its advocates. Russian sexologist Dmitry Gukhman recently proposed a pre-coital game: partners take turns tickling each other, starting at the feet and moving upward, with a strict rule—no smiling. A grin costs the offender an item of clothing and a kiss from the other. Gukhman contends that the arousal triggered by tickling is nearly identical to sexual arousal, and that the game often leads to intercourse before anyone is fully undressed. The suggestion, like the ice packs and the lubricant drop, has circulated widely on Telegram and beyond, part of a sprawling, user-generated library of intimacy hacks. What links these disparate episodes—a celebrity’s insomnia confession, a biohacker’s ice routine, a sexologist’s tickling challenge—is a shared willingness to experiment, to speak openly, and to seek solutions outside the traditional clinic. The result is a global patchwork of advice, some evidence-based, some folk, all testament to the enduring human drive to make sex not just functional, but better.