391–400 of 640 posts
I went to glass containers for food storage and transfer food out of plastic packaging as soon as possible. Precocious puberty: I had a mental health hit (near collapse) from something that happened in my mid 20's. I started dating the stepdaughter of a neighbor (upper-middle class area) who said she was 19, and she definitely seemed it by being smart, chill, age-mature, sensible, and fully-developed (Tanner V). Lo a…
This is the most important part of the essay: Uncertainty remains, research sometimes conflicts and biological pathways aren’t always clear. There are competing theories about whether the sperm count decline is real and what might cause it and about why girls appear to be reaching puberty earlier, and it’s sometimes unclear whether an increase in male genital abnormalities reflects actual rising numbers or just bette…
Plus, the people who avoid them are almost invariably healthier, so taking steps to avoid them seems to have positive effects anyways.
As someone who has had to do IVF for our child and go through the challenge of figuring our what to do to try and improve sperm quality, I can tell you once you start looking into it, basically everything about modern life is bad for sperm. Heat, radiation, plastic, micro plastics, soya, tap water, Teflon, antibacterial soap, underpants, western diet. It’s a perfect storm. If you’re going though it though I offer a r…
Similar anecdote from a UK-based late-30s guy with a BMI in the 30ish range:
- no background health/illness issues. Non-smoker, occasional drinker (2-3 glasses a week).
- trouble with getting pregnant - checks on female were all A-ok.
- sperm analysis on me done.
- count & motability fine.
- morphology was low at 1% good-forms (minimum is IIRC 3% or above).
Several months later and re-tested: morphology was then at 4% - count & motability largely unchanged. DNA fragmentation was "normal" but not amazing (not tested initially)
What I did:
- significantly upped my standing desk usage - from sporadic use a few times a week, to perhaps 25-50% of every working day at a standing desk.
- changed underwear from tight-fitting "trunks" to looser "jersey" (not boxers - personally I hate boxers)
- slept naked instead of wearing trunks.
- almost entirely eliminated alcohol and caffeine, apart from the odd glass/cup maybe once or twice a month.
- anti-oxidant tablets ("condensyl") taken daily
Notable:
- exercise & weight largely unchanged (I ran a few KMs maybe once or twice a week - this remained unchanged)
- diet (apart from caffeine and alcohol) largely unchanged - perhaps some small mild "improvements" in cutting back on sugar & fat and having more veg but nothing drastic or wildly different really.
I now have a naturally conceived 1 year old boy. Pregnancy + birth + delivery totally normal, baby all A-ok. It can happen - don't loose faith if the results are "bad". Good luck.
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If she didn't look very fit and healthy, you would not be following her on youtube, and would not know she existed, even with the same lifestyle.
Thats true to a degree. But I'm betting many unfit people would get fit if adapting the same diet/lifestyle habits.
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I've read this all over the internet but my parents had a bird live very well past the expected bird lifespan and modified nothing about their normal habits (using teflon pans, cleaning the oven, etc) the entire time. The bird's cage was like 15 feet from the oven. Just a single anecdotal data point but I think the risk is extremely overblown.
Interesting. I see the risk as being in the level where I choose not to use teflon pans, but not extreme enough to ban it or force others to follow my choices. I think the environmental impact from the manufacturers is a bigger concern that should be monitored more closely. I think they have a Netflix documentary about one place in WV. Of course the company switched to a new (largely untested) chemical for new coatin…
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Weight loss and proper exercise will probably deliver 99% of the improvements for 99% of the people. Stressing about heat, radiation, micro plastics, or other random stuff seems like extra stress for not that much benefit. Most people in Western world are either out of shape, or straight up obese. It makes sense that, that will have huge negative effects on fertility.
While I tend to agree with you WRT to diet and exercise, I think this is a secondary issue to what's being described here, similar to how I think modern science and technology has skewed the natural selection process with a bias that may select for undesirable attributes. Some of this bias may be for good intentions (allowing less fertile couples to conceive) while some may have questionable outcomes (selection based…
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> Sugar makes you fat. Nonsense. Overeating makes you fat, not a specific carb. Having a biscuit with a few grams of sugar is not going to impact your health in a meaningful way if you're not overeating.
> Overeating makes you fat, not a specific carb. Eating sugar creates a cascade of hormonal knock-on effects that can make you fat. I beg of you (especially if you're struggling with your weight!) to consider the alternatives to Calories-In/Calories-Out eating. My dad is a doctor, he's _convinced_ it's all CICO (which is what was taught to physicians in the 70s, and today), he struggles with his weight, constantly, a…
If you find avoiding sugar helps you maintain a healthy diet than great, go for it. Do whatever works for you. But if your overall diet is a healthy balance then having a biscuit with tea is not going to negatively impact your health.
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Weight loss and proper exercise will probably deliver 99% of the improvements for 99% of the people. Stressing about heat, radiation, micro plastics, or other random stuff seems like extra stress for not that much benefit. Most people in Western world are either out of shape, or straight up obese. It makes sense that, that will have huge negative effects on fertility.
In some communities, weight gain is a down-stream effect of "metabolic syndrome", and the "solution" isn't to count calories or exercise more - it's to simply eat _differently_. Sugar is a particularly odious contributor to problems. Like OP, my wife and I also struggled with infertility for a few years (two miscarriages, years of doing everything "right", and not getting pregnant.) We're finally pregnant, and out of…
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The blanket statement of 'endocrine disruptors' takes away clarity. They mainly refer to Bisphenol and Pthalates which are present in the majority of Plastics and cleaning products/cosmetics. These compounds are chemically too similar to estrogen and are processed by your body in pretty much the same way as the female hormone. Evidence on the health effects of Bisphenol and Pthalates: - Influence in hormone dependent…
Not going to lie but that 2nd reference is terrible. It’s a meta-analysis and a bunch of the odds ratios overlap with 1 (no effect). I’m not saying endocrine disruptors are harmless, but multiple things need to be proven before you can make any conclusions: 1. A specific endocrine disruptor has a negative biological effect. 2. That specific disruptor is found in common items. 3. That specific disruptor can be leeched…
This is also a sensitive topic to research because it impacts an enormous part of the economy if these things are shown to be harmful, and in many cases there are not good substitutes that are safe and economical.
Edit: And if you disagree with my first point, are you consistent in your own life, e.g. did you treat coronavirus with the same skepticism? How about mask wearing? There's not much high quality of evidence on masks, or at least there wasn't early on.
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why do you want to reproduce? whats the point of forcing people to be born without their consent? whats wrong with nonexistence? is it not cruel to force people to become born and have to face the horrors of this place and then die and have all their loved ones die? i still dont get it to be honest. i mean i do, but i dont. but yeah to add to your list, dont partake in eating polarbears everytime a male in your villa…
> forcing people to be born without their consent How could someone consent to be born?