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

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

#171

Post by AlecSchueler »

bell-cot wrote: post #2

> He also noted that it doesn’t take excessive alcohol use ... > “In the models we’re using, even drinking three to four beers after work several days a week can induce [bad stuff for sperm],” Golding said. “You may not feel inebriated, but your body is going through chemical changes.” Vs. the CDC's current upper limit for "moderate" male drinking is 2 drinks/day, and they're very quick to specify that "a" beer is at…

> If nothing else, it sends a loud "I'm taking daddyhood d*mned seriously" signal to your wife.

Also to yourself, surely? Why is the wife here being framed as the judge of moral character for the other parent? Men also have agency and the ability to self-reflect.

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

#172

Post by kyllo »

globular-toast wrote: post #149
kyllo wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A drinking problem isn't defined by quantity, it is when you have a problematic habit/dependence that you can't quit at will. There are plenty of people who enjoy a few drinks several days a week but can just cut back or stop completely when they want/need to because they don't have alcoholism. I used to drink 3 beers almost every night. I cut down on it to lose weight and now have a single beer 2-3 nights a week and…

That's like saying "repeatedly banging your head on the wall is not a problem; it's only a problem if you can't stop at will". The latest science says no amount of alcohol is good for you. And there's plenty of evidence that any amount of alcohol is bad for you. Of course there is pleasure that comes with imbibing alcoholic drinks, unlike banging your head on the wall, but you are still damaging your body with every…

Substances affect different people differently. I can have 3-4 drinks in an evening without changing my eating or sleep habits at all and without feeling any different the next day.

Some people experience drinking-related issues other than alcoholism and I just don't want to conflate those issues with alcoholism. I know some actual alcoholics. It's different.

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

#173

Post by marssaxman »

asylteltine wrote: post #33

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

For the great joy of a good time spent with friends, of course, which is one of life's most important sources of happiness. A little bit of risk to one's health is worth such a reward.

Most pleasures carry some risk.

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

#174

Post by giardini »

dudul wrote: post #91
giardini wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I lived 2 years in Sweden, I just bought a good winter coat. Somehow that an a few good sweaters/base layers were enough to keep me warm without hammering my face every evening. But that's just me I guess.

Two questions:

1. what would be "a good winter coat" in that environment? I'm curious b/c I once found myself in upstate NY in winter with Texas clothing and it was near-fatally inadequate.

2. I've heard the phrase "get hammered[drunk]" but not "hammering my face". Searching for that sent me down a rabbit hole, i.e.,

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hammering+my+face&t=operav&ia=web

I assume you intended the former meaning, that is, "getting drunk"?

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

#175

Post by hydrok9 »

marssaxman wrote: post #157
hydrok9 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yet many people still think that having 2 to 6 beers after work every day is somehow normal

"Normal" is a function of one's social environment, so for many people, having 2 to 6 beers after work every day actually is normal.

right, I guess I was meaning normal as in people do it because there's no harm in it at all

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

#176

Post by thehappypm »

heyoni wrote: post #81
biasedestimate wrote: post #59

Perhaps important to note that this result comes from a lab experiment done on mice, with as far as I can tell N=24 mice split in a control and two treatment conditions. I would be very careful concluding anything from that study about what human males should or should not do.

Tell you what though, I drank more than I should have most of my adult life and now have a kid with a single point mutation that'll affect her in all sorts of ways and I will never stop thinking about whether or not this could have been avoided by not drinking.

I think you can forgive yourself. Single-point mutations are just about the most random things that can go wrong. A cosmic ray can cause one.

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

#177

Post by asylteltine »

lgessler wrote: post #75
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.

In theory yes but it’s hard to avoid in practice. It doesn’t cause the same amount of acute damage and altered state though. But either way yes I don’t eat sweets like candy and generally keep things like donuts and cookies to one day a week.

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

#178

Post by dudul »

giardini wrote: post #174
dudul wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lived 2 years in Sweden, I just bought a good winter coat. Somehow that an a few good sweaters/base layers were enough to keep me warm without hammering my face every evening. But that's just me I guess.

Two questions: 1. what would be "a good winter coat" in that environment? I'm curious b/c I once found myself in upstate NY in winter with Texas clothing and it was near-fatally inadequate. 2. I've heard the phrase "get hammered[drunk]" but not "hammering my face". Searching for that sent me down a rabbit hole, i.e., https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hammering+my+face&t=operav&ia=web I assume you intended the former meaning,…

1. You don't know how to pick clothes? Just make sure you pick something wind and water proof that covers your junk. Clothes are often rated for specific temperatures.

2. Legit can't tell if you're serious here? Yes I took the idiomatic "getting hammered" and made it my own with "hammering my face". You really couldn't infer the meaning based on the context of this thread where we discuss alcohol consumption?

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

#179

Post by timbit42 »

asylteltine wrote: post #33

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

Smoking has become socially unacceptable. Eventually this will happen to alcohol as well since it is worse for health than smoking.

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

#180

Post by chiefalchemist »

AlecSchueler wrote: post #170
chiefalchemist wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two things: 1. No one dies from "cookies poisoning". No one loses a liver or other organs from too many cookies. Alcohol, by definition, is a poison. The comparison to chocolate chips simply doesn't apply. 2. While I have my general doubts about the WHO in some cases, this was the quickest and easiest thing I could find. https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-...

1. No one dies from "cookies poisoning". No one loses a liver or other organs from too many cookies. Alcohol, by definition, is a poison. The comparison to chocolate chips simply doesn't apply. No, but too much sugar/butter does cause health issues. There's a certain threshold for damage. Does alcohol cause damage to offspring via genetic alteration to sperm? Perhaps it does, but we can't really say anything concrete…

I'm well aware of the problems cause by sugar and lack of exercise. But, again, alcohol is different. It is literally a poison. Sugar is not a poison in that same sense.
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