Why More Men Are Suffering From Fertility Issues Than Ever Before and the Implications on Their Health
A recent research article discussed the history of the decline in sperm counts of more the 50% since the 1970’s! At the same time mens problems with conceiving are going up, erectile disfunction is increasing, testosterone levels are declining by 1% per year.
They current state of reproductive affairs can’t continue to go on much longer without threatening human survival. It’s a global existential crisis! Dr. Shauna Shawn has been researching fertility for 30 years and studied a miscarriage boom in Santa Clara California, which she eventually linked to toxic waste being dumped into the water by a semi-conductor plant. She moved on to sperm rates in 1997 and they have been her “canary in a coal mine scenario” she said.
In 2017, she sounded the alarm with a meta analysis of 40,000 men showing that sperm counts fell a whopping 50% between 1973 and 2011. Today, the average male is nearing 47.1 million sperm per milliliter and it used to be about 200 million. They WHO deems a rate below 15 million is low and Shawn argues that anything below 40 million creates challenges for reproduction.
Not only do men have less sperm than their fathers, but they also have lower testosterone levels. A drop has been noted in young adults and adolescents as well. Environmental toxins like chlorine and round up and other things may be involved. Many of us simply eat too many things that aren’t good for us, move too little, drink too much alcohol and engage in cab its that are actively hindering our reproductive abilities (like long bike rides/spinning), many things are also out of our control.
Interestingly though, infertility doesn’t just alter a man’s ability to make children it also increases his mortality risk. Infertile men die younger than their fertile peers! Men with sperm concentration lower that 15 million/milliliter have a 50% greater chance of being hospitalized for any medical reason at all and poor fertility has been linked to higher rates of diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
This is why we are so passionate about helping you achieve optimal health. It's about more than just being able to conceive the healthiest babies possible, although that is a great side effect! There are things you can do to help. Get adjusted (and take your supplements), minimize processed food, eat well, limit cycling time (if you are into cycling/spinning), limit stressful events, avoiding skin cleansers that are antibacterial, getting rid of vinyl shower curtains, phthalates and flame retardant items from your home. 90% of homes sampled had at least one of these toxic chemicals found.
