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Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

nationalgeographic.com

391–400 of 1001 posts

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> are on their fourth or fifth kid by the time they're 30. That's the difference. Couples that plan explicitly typically don't plan their firstborn before 30.

In what sense? My wife and I certainly planned our first child very young (for the US at least; internationally, we were on the late end, like most Americans)

I suspect the increasingly shrinking demographic of churchgoers is different in this regard from the rest of the population. I think they're right in saying people who plan typically don't plan children for before 30, I don't know anyone near my age (early 20s) who is doing that; many don't want children at all.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What consumers think of as normal "paper" tea bags release 11.6 billion “microplastics” and 3.1 billion “nanoplastics” into each cup. It's not paper.

which tea bags don't do this?

I wouldn't use tea bags at all. Use a metal loose leaf tea infuser and buy loose leaf tea. I use this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X50NUU4

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#393
post #156

My wife and I have a beautiful daughter about to turn 2. But she wouldn't have existed if it weren't for IVF (in vitro fertilization). Had to stab her stomach with needles for a while to make hormones to mass produce eggs and then they took my sperm to put into her eggs and see which ones took. Five viable pairings happened. Three were put into her and out came the one kid. Other two are in cryo for future use, and h…

Another lesson from your story (similar to many of my friends’) is to just have kids younger. It sounds like you started at around 35 — if people started at 30, even, fertility is higher.

LOL, didn't get married until later, wouldn't have been possible for me back then. Takes two to tango. Which is of course another societal question. Why are people finding it difficult to partner up and settle down earlier in life? I know what my reasons were, I was idiotic, picky, shy, you name it. https://xkcd.com/439/

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#395

The thesis of the book 'Countdown' is that this is largely due to widespread plastic and other endocrine disrupting chemicals. I believe this is one of the most important risks to humanity, after climate change, and global war. So far, I've taken some lifestyle changes to combat this: 1) Threw out all of my teflon cooking pans 2) Refuse to consume food in heated plastics 3) Throw out teabags (they have plastics). Use…

Better check your plumbing because I hate to say it, PEX is everywhere and it's yet to be shown if there are long term effects on having plastic plumbing everywhere. My kitchen water tastes like plastic all the time.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#396
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it can't really be genetic

Epigenetic effects are possible in formation of gonads, it’s one of the mechanisms involved in sex differentiation.

Can't be passed on if there are no children

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#397

> Swan also recommends reducing exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals by being a savvy consumer Most hygiene products get away with listing diethyl phthalate as 'Parfum'. What we need is not savvy consumers what we need is regulators to get serious.

Environmental may be one such reason but we should never omit obesity as a cause for any health problem. > A bidirectional relationship between testosterone and obesity underpins this association indicated by the hypogonadal-obesity cycle and evidence weight loss can lead to increased testosterone levels. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25982085/

Obesity can also be related to environmental exposures.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#398
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> many in our age bracket 20-30 year olds are struggling to have children Wow... I would have thought you were referring to people that were older. I wonder what the common denominator is there, or if your experience is an outlier. It's obviously noteworthy enough to share. Maybe people that conceive without issue aren't commenting on it as much?

I wonder if there is any correlation with the use of hormonal birth control prior to attempting to conceive.

Yes, I wonder the same.

After learning about the side effects of birth control, it's concerning that it's the default recommendation for young women, and that they're on it all the time. I understand why. I don't know what a reasonable alternative would be. Abstinence isn't a reasonable alternative.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#399
post #156

My wife and I have a beautiful daughter about to turn 2. But she wouldn't have existed if it weren't for IVF (in vitro fertilization). Had to stab her stomach with needles for a while to make hormones to mass produce eggs and then they took my sperm to put into her eggs and see which ones took. Five viable pairings happened. Three were put into her and out came the one kid. Other two are in cryo for future use, and h…

Another lesson from your story (similar to many of my friends’) is to just have kids younger. It sounds like you started at around 35 — if people started at 30, even, fertility is higher.

[deleted]

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#400
post #156

My wife and I have a beautiful daughter about to turn 2. But she wouldn't have existed if it weren't for IVF (in vitro fertilization). Had to stab her stomach with needles for a while to make hormones to mass produce eggs and then they took my sperm to put into her eggs and see which ones took. Five viable pairings happened. Three were put into her and out came the one kid. Other two are in cryo for future use, and h…

Another lesson from your story (similar to many of my friends’) is to just have kids younger. It sounds like you started at around 35 — if people started at 30, even, fertility is higher.

I mean, a lot of people may not have the financial option to have had kids younger. Like, the last 15 years have included two "completely upend your life" level crises, along with a lot of smaller crises that could have swept up someone.
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