We're going to be fine. We'll just clone ourselves like Futurama.
Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought
761–770 of 1001 posts
Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought
#762It 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…
One tip - get some ovulation sticks. My wife and I never realised but the egg is actually only around for a single day - it must be fertilised in those 24 hours. If you have sex after that there is zero chance of conceiving, sperm can hang around so you can conceive with sex a few days before. But outside that really small window you are wasting your time. The actual accurate window is massive guess work - some women…
To add to this, home sperm test kits can help rule out the man as well. Some men don't know to avoid vigorous exercise, hot showers, and jacuzzis until they realize how low their sperm counts actually are. (The below kit isn't the only kit. Shop around if this is pertinent to your interests because I don't want to feel like I'm shilling this specific one).
https://www.amazon.com/YO-Android-Description-Compatibility-...
Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought
#763Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I have some experience in plastic molding and I'm not sure what you mean. They're either part of the feedstock or not.
Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought
#764I did my Master Degree in Organic Chemistry where we tried to develop a male contraceptive pill. I spend a lot of time studying sperm so here is a short list of thing to avoid regarding sperm quality (not ranked): 1. Eating and drinking from plastics (This includes aluminum cans which are plastic lined) [a] 2. Heating food in ANY type of plastic [a] 3. Caffein intake [b] 4. Sugar intake [c] 5. NOT exercising regularl…
Thanks for sharing, these studies are extremely interesting!
> Because we can identify existing, relatively inexpensive monomers and additives that do not exhibit EA, even when stressed, we believe that plastics having comparable physical properties but that do not release chemicals having detectable EA could be produced at minimal additional cost.
The only question that I have left: Why aren't we doing this already???
Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought
#765There is an excellent book on this topic called "Countdown". I highly recommend it. The author goes into detail about the causes (mostly phthalates, chemicals added to flexible plastics), presents good science to back it up, and overall is just very thorough. I found it compelling and well written. Another interesting tidbit presented in the book: the increase in the number of trans people is very likely also correla…
> the increase in the number of trans people is very likely also correlated with the decrease in sperm counts (due to phthalate exposure)
There are no studies showing a clear link between trans identities and phthlate. Correlation is not causation. It's dangerous to push the idea that minorities are caused by chemicals. It is pure speculation to suggest that it could affect the way a person behaves and responds to societal pressures and norms.
Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought
#766Earlier 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 to me the rational individual choice (speaking of the planning of the timing of kids, before having them) would be to not have kids at all? Kids take resources away from the individuals who have them.
Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought
#767Does this just mean population growth will slow down? Isn't that a good thing if so?
It already has a long time ago. Most of the world’s population is going to contract hard in the next 15 years. Looks at China. They have far too many old people relative to young. It’s getting worse. Few people to pay for the elderly let alone care for them.
Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought
#768I did my Master Degree in Organic Chemistry where we tried to develop a male contraceptive pill. I spend a lot of time studying sperm so here is a short list of thing to avoid regarding sperm quality (not ranked): 1. Eating and drinking from plastics (This includes aluminum cans which are plastic lined) [a] 2. Heating food in ANY type of plastic [a] 3. Caffein intake [b] 4. Sugar intake [c] 5. NOT exercising regularl…
With all of these it's a matter of quantity. For instance, bullet point 9 about soy makes me question this list. It turns out that phytoestrogens are much less potent than real estrogen, and the only people that were found to have measurable effects from soy was through a study of older men that ate massive amounts of soy every day in Japan. There is real estrogen in cow's milk, which would have a much stronger effec…
Yes, the data around soy is incredibly underwhelming. A plant like hops does contain more, and more potent, phytoestrogens which many people consume more often than they consume soy. As you mention, milk contains mammalian estrogen which research indicates has notable impact on women’s health in particular (earlier onset of puberty, higher breast and ovarian cancer risk, etc).
Soy seems to fall well within the parameters of “this is fine”, but people readily take any example of it effecting our physiology as evidence of it being harmful. In reality, the evidence of it promoting health overall is extensive and strong.
It could be a component of a plant-based diet for example, which is shown to lead to lower BMI (great for sperm and overall health outcomes). It may reduce sperm concentration to a small degree in large volumes, but the chances are good (statistically speaking) that swapping out something worse in your diet for soy would be a net positive.
Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought
#769The 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…
Just use glass. I never understood plastic containers. Basically just use shit that existed 50 years ago for food.
Iron pans, store in glass, butter, lard. If you spill stuff on a couch just live with it. Buy leather. Too many things are made because people are lazy. If you have kids don't have nice stuff, it's very easy.
Re: Sperm counts worldwide are plummeting faster than we thought
#770I did my Master Degree in Organic Chemistry where we tried to develop a male contraceptive pill. I spend a lot of time studying sperm so here is a short list of thing to avoid regarding sperm quality (not ranked): 1. Eating and drinking from plastics (This includes aluminum cans which are plastic lined) [a] 2. Heating food in ANY type of plastic [a] 3. Caffein intake [b] 4. Sugar intake [c] 5. NOT exercising regularl…
With all of these it's a matter of quantity. For instance, bullet point 9 about soy makes me question this list. It turns out that phytoestrogens are much less potent than real estrogen, and the only people that were found to have measurable effects from soy was through a study of older men that ate massive amounts of soy every day in Japan. There is real estrogen in cow's milk, which would have a much stronger effec…
Anecdotally I know someone that had their ovaries removed as a child and did not know because their high soy diet provided enough estrogen that they had regular menstruation