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Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

nationalgeographic.com

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Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#181
post #8

I had a test recently and I have 0% "normal" sperms, when 4%-14% is the normal range. Pretty radical. The doctor said to take vitamins, to get testosterone to normal level, and to excercise. In other words not much to do

That seems like quite a lot to do. What I get from that advice is a recommendation to effectively change all of your lifestyle.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#183
post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the potential impact of the increased difficulty in having children is. Less people in the world. Look at Japan and South Korean population projections out 50 to 75 years -- they may cut their populations in half, and it could keep going? Hard to extrapolate trends out that far though...

Sorry, but isn't that a good thing? Putting aside the fact that we're (at least in Europe) paying for a pension fund we'll never have, isn't reducing the amount of people on earth the right solution for basically all problems long term?

It's reductionist at best to say that it solves all problems. It definitely creates some others and doesn't solve everything.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"they want the population to decline" Who is "they"?

Some portion of commenters on HN, for one. There are plenty of people who are so desperate about anthropogenic global warming that they're willing to forgo having children and proclaim that the disastrous decline in fertility rates in places like Korea (see recent HN thread) are actually good and necessary because we need fewer humans on this earth.

Yo. Number 1 reason I'm not having kids is I don't like kids. Number 2 reason is I don't think it's ethical to intentionally bring a child into a world that's going to be torn to pieces by climate disasters & wars.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pornhub causing the fall of civilization and not nuclear proliferation or global warming? That's a new one.

You clearly don't hang out with enough catholics & evangelicals. In all seriousness this is a mainstream-ish opinion in some religious circles.

It definitely messes with your dopamine levels.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I genuinely hate this (meaning Swan's) take. The modern world is waaaay to complex to offload all responsibility to "consumers". They did it with sustainability, with sweat shops, with food, with cleaning products. It's ridiculous.

With sustainability and sweat shops, the trade off is making things a lot more expensive, so the offloading is more that most people don't care.

I think a majority of people do care, but there's not really a way for them to express that in the market. You can't just buy the more expensive product and trust that it's going to be more ethically produced.

It's a societal problem that can't be solved by individual consumers.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#187

It is interesting, I have a friend group that consists of about 5 married couples all of whom have been having issues conceiving and have been trying for a while now, but are still having issues. Curiously enough my wife and I just had our 4th and every time we've conceived within two months (even when I was hoping it would take a little longer). From what I hear our friends story is not unusual and many in our age b…

In my experience it was a stress issue for the couples that were having trouble that I know.

One friend and his wife gave up alcohol, caffeine and meat, it seemed like there was just a ton of stress they had put on getting pregnant for 6 months. It wasn't until after they took a break from trying that they got pregnant one night after drinking.

I think modern medicine somewhat ignores how powerful the human mind is. It is possible that my friend wasn't actually performing as well as he thought he was, also possible that the wife had 'calculated' the exact day that conception should happen. Instead of listening to her body, evolutionarily it would be advantageous for women to be horny while most fertile in the cycle.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#188
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It must be environmental.

it can't really be genetic

Maybe with longer lifespans, people making conscious choices which partner to have children with, and IVF being an option, there just isn't that much evolutionary pressure on sperm counts. Something that reduces your sperm count by 50% but makes you 10% more attractive could absolutely be an evolutionary advantage in the developed world.

Not that I think this is what's going on, but I think rejecting it outright is too hasty.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"they want the population to decline" Who is "they"?

Some portion of commenters on HN, for one. There are plenty of people who are so desperate about anthropogenic global warming that they're willing to forgo having children and proclaim that the disastrous decline in fertility rates in places like Korea (see recent HN thread) are actually good and necessary because we need fewer humans on this earth.

World population is still growing. It seems ironic you are casting aspersions towards people desperately trying to fight climate change, when you are desperately worried about population decline, when it isn't declining.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#190
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I mean, given the public discourse of the past decade...it seems to me that they want the population to decline. So it makes sense that no one has in interest in investigating this.

"they want the population to decline" Who is "they"?

Climate activists, at least generally speaking.
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