Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving • Hacker News Board

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#71

Post by burkaman » Thu, Dec 14, 2023, 4:57 PM UTC

cbsks wrote: post #54

bwhaley wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3-4 beers after work several days per week seems like a drinking problem imho.

Before kids I had an active social life that could definitely be construed as a “drinking problem”. I’d argue that the benefits to my social life outweighed the harm to my health. IMHO, “problem” drinking is defined as the inability to stop drinking, i.e. a true addiction.

If you are regularly in social situations where you feel you can't participate without having several drinks, you have a drinking problem. It's still a problem even if it's driven by external pressure rather than an addiction.

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#72

Post by UberFly » Thu, Dec 14, 2023, 4:57 PM UTC

jollyllama wrote: post #39

calvinmorrison wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

90% of alcoholic drinks are consumed by the top 10%. Something like 40% of people don't drink ANY alcohol, another 10% a few times a year, 10% maybe once a month, the last once a week, and the final group, drinks 10-20 drink per day...

Aren't you missing the group in between the last two that has two a day?

Nope. It goes from 1 a week to 20 a day. Slippery slope I guess.

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#73

Post by _3u10 » Thu, Dec 14, 2023, 4:57 PM UTC

hiAndrewQuinn wrote: post #20

whoomp12341 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in northern culture, the CDC's recommendation is laughable. Excessive drinking is a regular thing where its cold

Maybe for you. Moving to Finland and seeing that a six pack cost as much as a month's worth of breakfast was all the motivation I needed to kick the stuff.

Some of us live in free and warm countries with no matriarchical nanny state. Gov't doesn't take half my income, and doesn't charge me an arm and a leg to have a beer.

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#74

Post by gowld » Thu, Dec 14, 2023, 4:57 PM UTC

hef19898 wrote: post #56

aswanson wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is.

Depends on the beer. Measuring one beer as we donin Bavaria, in at least half litres, and meaning by multiple times a week more than three days, maybe. By measuring beer in 0.3 and 0.2 litres, ans assuming the average US beer, even doing so 5 days a week propably doesn't get into abuse territory by the alcohol amount alone.

In US culture/science, one "drink" or "beer" is 0.5oz of alcohol. Beer is often 12oz of 4% alcohol. Wine is 6oz of 9%. Liquor is 1oz or 50%, etc.

There are stronger drinks, but in this scientific context should be considered multi-drinks.

People not understanding this unit scale causes a lot of problems, like teens having 20-30oz pours of alcohol like it's (also ugh) soda or juice.

I wonder if European science and US science get muddied due to different "drij" sizes.

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#75

Post by lgessler » Thu, Dec 14, 2023, 4:58 PM UTC

asylteltine wrote: post #33

People should abstain from drinking forever. It’s an awful habit. Extra calories, extra money, extra body damage. For what?

In a sense you're not wrong, but would you say the same thing about refined sugar? Both of these substances, in terms of immediate physiological effects, are known to be unambiguously bad for you past a certain low threshold. But immediate physiological effects are probably not the terms with which we ought to evaluate our lifestyles.

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#76

Post by cnity » Thu, Dec 14, 2023, 4:58 PM UTC

cbsks wrote: post #54

bwhaley wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3-4 beers after work several days per week seems like a drinking problem imho.

Before kids I had an active social life that could definitely be construed as a “drinking problem”. I’d argue that the benefits to my social life outweighed the harm to my health. IMHO, “problem” drinking is defined as the inability to stop drinking, i.e. a true addiction.

By this definition, people who embrace high levels of alcohol consumption despite their obvious effects don't have a drinking problem, which seems a bit tentative to me. I would say someone like George Best very much had a drinking problem.

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#77

Post by post-it » Thu, Dec 14, 2023, 4:59 PM UTC

giardini wrote: post #43

whoomp12341 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in northern culture, the CDC's recommendation is laughable. Excessive drinking is a regular thing where its cold

Knew a fellow from Texas sent to manage a business in Russia for 6 months. He was in excellent cardiovascular health when he left. 6 months later he returned with 15 extra pounds of weight. His story: arriving in Moscow he found it brutally cold and began to drink under friends' advice. He later reported back that "you need to drink vodka and eat like crazy to keep warm and keep you body weight up" in that cold clima…

No, but it makes you feel warm and has a ton of Calories, both of which jive with your fellow's observations.

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#78

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Dec 14, 2023, 4:59 PM UTC

hiAndrewQuinn wrote: post #20

whoomp12341 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in northern culture, the CDC's recommendation is laughable. Excessive drinking is a regular thing where its cold

Maybe for you. Moving to Finland and seeing that a six pack cost as much as a month's worth of breakfast was all the motivation I needed to kick the stuff.

[deleted]

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#79

Post by 0____0 » Thu, Dec 14, 2023, 4:59 PM UTC

How does this pertain to if a male only drinks alcohol a few times a year, but consumed alcohol once within a month of conceiving?

Reading the article and looking at some of the linked papers, it seems that the research more looked at males who drank regularly. I am sure zero alcohol is best, but interested to know if there is any info or research on the effect of sperm with rare alcohol consumption, but close to conception.

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#80

Post by BiteCode_dev » Thu, Dec 14, 2023, 5:00 PM UTC

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #31

Well ... not sure how well that would work, since I suspect that drinking often has a big part in the decision to ... er ... conceive .

Or rather the absence or decision to not conceive.

I really hope vasalgel is going to lead somewhere, but something tells me if such a tech is available, the birth rate will be going down a lot faster.