fertility
Newsletter
Credit: Deon Black/Unsplash
Heat's impact on male fertility
A recent study highlights the substantial risk extreme heat poses to male fertility, marking a significant concern amid global warming trends.
In short:
- Scientists from Singapore found that exposure to extreme heat significantly increases the risk of low sperm count and concentration, with sperm mobility also affected.
- The research suggests that men in their prime reproductive years, specifically between 25 and 35, are the most vulnerable to these effects.
- Recommendations include avoiding excessive heat, saunas, hot baths, and wearing tight underwear to protect sperm health.
Key quote:
"So just because you're a young male, don't think you're invincible, and don't think you're not also vulnerable to these impacts."
— Dr. Samuel Gunther, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
Why this matters:
The testicles, where sperm production occurs, are particularly sensitive to heat. Prolonged exposure to high temperatures can disrupt this delicate process, leading to decreased sperm count, impaired sperm motility (movement), and changes in sperm morphology (shape and structure). This can ultimately reduce a man's ability to father children.
Research has shown that heat stress can also damage the DNA within sperm, increasing the risk of genetic abnormalities in offspring.
And it's not just heat — chemicals in our environment are disrupting our hormonal balance, causing varying degrees of reproductive havoc as well.
Keep reading...Show less
Top Story
WATCH: The latest evidence of widespread sperm count decline
"Pregnant women, and men planning to conceive a pregnancy, have a responsibility to protect the reproductive health of the offspring they are creating."
Dr. Shanna Swan, a leading reproductive epidemiologist at Mount Sinai and adjunct scientist with Environmental Health Sciences, discusses a new analysis that found that sperm count globally dropped by more than half between 1973 and 2018, and that the decline is accelerating.
Dr. Swan, a coauthor of the new analysis published in the Human Reproduction Update journal, outlines the implications of this infertility crisis and some of the environmental causes. Swan authored the book Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race.
Watch the video above for Dr. Swan's thoughts on the latest findings, and read about the report here.
Keep reading...Show less
Elon Musk thinks the population will collapse. Demographers say it's not happening
Billionaire Elon Musk tweeted, not for the first time, that "population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming." Climate change is a serious problem facing the planet and experts say it's difficult to compare problems.
How healthy is a farm's soil? Check how active its microbes are
Researchers developed a probe that could help farmers better understand their land by measuring the electric current from the tiny creatures in the dirt.
Photo by Stephen Cook on Unsplash
Opinion: Billionaires 'kvetching' about population collapse
The world population is unlikely to collapse soon, and the imagined demographic outcome of some billionaires is by no means the greatest risk to the future of civilization.
Photo by Ishan @seefromthesky on Unsplash
MIT predicted in 1972 that society will collapse this century. New research shows we’re on schedule.
A 1972 MIT study predicted that rapid economic growth would lead to societal collapse in the mid 21st century. A new paper shows we’re unfortunately right on schedule.
www.salon.com
Global warming is boiling our testicles, suggesting a new animal fertility crisis looms
Scientists say overheating could render animals — including humans — increasingly infertile.
ORIGINAL REPORTING
MOST POPULAR
CLIMATE
