Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought • Hacker News Board

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#441

Post by throwaway6734 » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 4:55 PM UTC

Took us 6 months to conceive our first. We the first few months were "natural" attempts but then we moved to using overnight body temp tracking, ovulation tests, and tracking everything in the fertility friend app. Didn't take much effort and really helped to ensure that we were hitting fertility windows.

Testing each month was brutal. Youre so excited to do a pregnancy test, but if you test too soon, you end up in this awful limbo where you still have hope, but realistically it's not likely. Towards the end we would only test once 14 days post ovulation.

Also, I didn't realize how high miscarriage rates are (~30%)!

We're in our early 30s and wish we started sooner because it will be pretty tight to have more than 3 kids

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#442

Post by bergenty » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 4:56 PM UTC

PakG1 wrote: 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…

You may not like to hear this but women having a kid past 30 introduces a lot of potential problems and deficiencies in the child.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#443

Post by svieira » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 4:56 PM UTC

dibt wrote: post #398

confuseddesi wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If abstinence is a reasonable alternative for anything other than sex (don't eat meat, don't use gasoline, etc.) it's also a reasonable alternative for sex. Some won't agree that limiting your "core" desires in any way is reasonable - and I agree. I just disagree that eating, sleeping, or sex are "core" desires. They are secondary to the real core need - happiness.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#444

Post by _cenw » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 4:56 PM UTC

edgyquant wrote: post #335

beowulfey wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think many people would be surprised at how many couples have done IVF recently… I wish I had reliable numbers for it.

This seems scary to me. Imagine a world where children have to be conceived in this way: it would be trivial for some authoritarian governments to now control child birth. I don’t mean disincentivizing like China did but actual control.

Republican anti-abortion lobby groups are already planning this.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tennessee-republicans-abortio...

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#445

Post by javajosh » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 4:57 PM UTC

someweirdperson wrote: post #311

UweSchmidt wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding tea bags, sometimes I see plastic tea bags which are crazy, as they must have a weak structure/large surface and the hot water surely washes out a lot of plastic. I am assuming the normal paper tea bags I get in Germany with a metal clip should be plastic free though, or am I missing something? Yes we are down to discussing tea bag brands now but as you are saying, it's an emergency :-(

Tea bags are a useless convenience. In bulk tea is not only significantly cheaper (not as bad as the tea capsule mark-up, which is in a league oo its own), but also waste is reduced to nothing (only the tea itself, which is perfectly organic). Rinsing a reusible tea holder doesn't take more time than it takes to dispose off the paper tied to the end separately.

> Tea bags are a useless convenience.

Why do people wildly overstate their case, and thereby weaken it? This is obviously false: tea bags, like disposable silverware, may be harmful but they are not useless!

These days if you are against something then anything bad said about it is true, anything good said about it is false or questionable. This is a (bad) lawyer's attitude, a very easy algorithm to execute, and one that is transparent and punished by any judge worth their salt.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#446

Post by Qem » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 4:57 PM UTC

shawnz wrote: post #293

whalesalad wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BPA was banned, so they tweaked it into BPB, BPS, BPF, and BPAF, etc... it's a game of whack-a-mole. They're all terrible for us.

Sure, but most plastics aren't made with any kind of bisphenol related compounds at all.

They are added afterwards as additives, to improve mechanical properties of plastics, even those that don't use BP(X) as feedstock for synthesis.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#447

Post by unregistereddev » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 4:57 PM UTC

uwagar wrote: post #261

hope the covid vaccine isnt the reason

Considering the trend is apparent in data from the 1970's through 2011 (during which time there were zero covid vaccines administered), it is unlikely covid vaccines are relevant.

Even if covid vaccines did have an impact on fertility (and I'm not aware of any data to support this), the data we have clearly shows something else going on.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#448

Post by Aeolun » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 4:58 PM UTC

bushbaba wrote: post #196

PakG1 wrote: 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…

Accept for most in the world IVF is a years salary.

I mean that’s probably true for the average world citizen, but probably not for anyone that already has the chance to browse HN.

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#449

Post by rconti » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 4:59 PM UTC

BeFlatXIII wrote: post #402

thehappypm wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

We have a societal problem when the rational individual choice (to provide your children the best head start) is to wait until your fertility declines to have children.

It seems fairly natural that a couple in most societies (current and historical) would be better able to provide for their children the older they are.

The main exception I can think is family support; having younger grandparents and great grandparents could be an advantage, I guess?

I'm not sure I'd look at a society where people have lots of children so they can put them to work and say "yeah, this is the way society should be!"

Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought

#450

Post by afavour » Thu, Dec 01, 2022, 5:00 PM UTC

Aeolun wrote: post #425

yumaikas wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I dunno, kids may be incompatible with a lot of lifestyles, but I wouldn’t call them inherently expensive. You just have to adjust your expectations.

I dunno how you can say that. When children are young you have two options:

- both parents work, you pay for childcare

- one parent drops out of the workforce, takes care of children at home

neither of these is cheap. Decades ago it was realistic for one parent's salary to cover the whole family but these days salary stagnation and increased costs of e.g. housing makes it much more difficult.