What is the ``sperm crisis'' that plagues modern men and couples who want children?
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Based on some data and research, several experts are sounding the alarm that men's sperm counts have been declining for over 10 years, and that their fertility has also declined as a result. Some experts call this situation a ' sperm crisis ,' but are men's sperm counts actually decreasing and their fertility declining?
The Decline in Male Fertility - WSJ.com
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A recent study found that men's sperm concentration in France fell by almost a third between 1989 and 2005. Additionally, studies tracking health records over multiple years have found that sperm counts among healthy young men between the ages of 18 and 25 have declined significantly over the past 15 years. I'm here.
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Generally, 1 milliliter of semen contains over 60 million sperm. If the sperm count is 40 million or more per milliliter, it is considered fertile, but if the sperm count is less than 20 million, the probability of pregnancy is greatly reduced or disappears.
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The figure below shows the rate of decrease in sperm count in a 35-year-old man, with the sperm count in 1989 as 0. In 1989, the sperm count was 73.6 million per milliliter, but in 2005 You can see that the sperm count has decreased to 49.4 million by now.
'Sperm count is an indicator of health,' says Joel Lemoal, an epidemiologist at the Public Satellite Surveillance Institute in France. Scientists who agree with this opinion believe that exposure to pesticides, environmental hormones such as bisphenol A , and lifestyle habits such as sitting in chairs for long periods of time are contributing to the ``sperm crisis.'' In fact, external factors that are associated with a decrease in sperm count include smoking during pregnancy, hot water, shampoos containing endocrine disruptors, fatty foods, sitting in a chair for long hours at work, and marijuana. You can
External factors that affect the decrease in sperm count may also have a negative effect on a person's body parts, and sperm count is also deeply related to average lifespan. In other words, investigating the decline in sperm count and its causes seems to lead to learning more than just fertility.
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In addition, there is increasing evidence that the number of sperm is influenced by events that occur during the initial stage of life in the womb. That can affect the child's sperm count and health,' says Lemoal.
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However, not everyone involved in this field agrees with the ``sperm crisis'' theory. Stefan Schlatt, director of the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Male Epidemiology at the University of Münster in Germany, seems to think that ``there is no sperm crisis'' because even though sperm counts are decreasing, , because it is still unclear how many men are identified as having decreased fertility. Additionally, measuring sperm concentration in a population is extremely difficult for several reasons. One of the reasons for this is how to select representatives of the population. For example, if we proceed with research based on people who participate in fertility clinics, we predict that the research results will be greatly distorted. can. In addition, other external factors such as abstinence period and scrotal temperature may cause large changes in sperm concentration at the time of measurement, which is why some people deny the ``sperm crisis'' theory. This seems to be the basis of the idea.
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However, according to Dr. Richard Sharp, a male reproductive health expert at the University of Edinburgh in the UK, research in northern Europe shows that men who have low sperm counts to the point that it affects their fertility are It has been revealed that this has reached the ratio of 1 in 5 people. The key to this 'sperm crisis' may be Sertoli cells , cells that support reproductive cells . These Sertoli cells proliferate during the six months before and after the birth of a man, and the number of these cells determines the upper limit of sperm production, so it is impossible to produce more sperm than that number, Sharp said. says the doctor.
These results vary greatly depending on the country and region, and it is said that no research has been conducted in developing countries in particular, so it is unclear how widespread this 'sperm crisis' is occurring around the world. It is currently unknown. However, it is important to note that it is true that men's sperm counts are decreasing in some regions, and that this may be due to daily lifestyle habits, such as long hours at a desk. Maybe there is a need.
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