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The bone sperm connection
We already know that the health of our bones is affected by sex hormones, but scientists have discovered that the relationship may go both ways.
A paper in the journal Cell suggests that bones and the hormones derived therein play a critical role in regulating sex hormones and male fertility. The discovery was a surprise to researchers and may be a route to treating male fertility problems.
Here is what scientists discovered about the bone-sperm connection and what it might mean for men trying to conceive: Continue reading »
How do you know when it's time to get pregnant?
Should I have a baby?
It’s a question probably every woman asks herself at least once. Straight or gay, married or single, housewife or high-powered lawyer: At some point, we all look in the mirror and wonder if we should be getting pregnant right about now.
For some of us, it’s an easy question. We’ve always wanted kids and can’t wait to conceive. For others, we just asked that question because our mother asked for the 10,000th time, and the answer is still no.
For most women, though, it’s more complicated. There are pros and cons to having a baby. Even if you know you want kids, choosing the right time can be a torturous dance of weighing variables: Where are you at with your career? Do you need to finish grad school first? Should we have a baby before or after we buy a house?
If you’re not sure whether or not you want kids, the issue is even more complex. You might wonder if you’re really cut out to be a mom at all.
There’s one thing that cuts through the knot of indecision: baby lust!
Surprise!
Everyone knows that as a woman ages, her chances of getting pregnant decreases. This scientific fact has proven to be a double-edged sword for me. I was born in 1969, the day after my mom turned 41, so I’ve never put too much stock in broad-sweeping conclusions when it comes to conception as it relates to age.
Yes, I must have put some stock in it. After all, I opted against a vasectomy after my triplets were born despite the fact that neither my wife nor I wanted any more children. Why did I opt against it? Simple. Caroline was 38. And as I stated earlier, everyone knows that as a woman ages, her chances of getting pregnant decreases. Throw in the fact that Caroline had needed the help of hormone shots to conceive our other four children? We figured we were good to go.
What’s that saying about making God laugh? Something about telling Him your plans?
Sperm counts are falling among men in the developed world.
My colleague Heather has a great piece up at the Daily Beast about the rising numbers of men suffering from low sperm counts.
Falling sperm counts aren’t an accident. They’re being caused by living in the developed world. Overeating, exposure to industrial chemicals, recreational and prescription drugs can all have adverse effects on sperm counts. Heather says the effect on future generations could be dramatic. So dramatic that instead of worrying about “peak oil”, we should be fretting about “peak sperm”.
Sperm counts may be falling by as much as 1.5% a year in the U.S., and double that in Europe. If that trend continues, it won’t take long for male fertility to dry up entirely. In a few generations, men would be routinely infertile.
Is this really happening? And if it is, why aren’t we hearing more about it?
Out in the fields around Dorest, a giant figure known as the “Rude Man” is inscribed in stones. Since Victorian times, it’s been thought to be a symbol of fertility. Some people even say it has magical powers to bless women with lots of babies.
Maybe they’re right. The women in the surrounding towns now have the highest birth rate in the country. The typical women in these townships has 3 children, double the U.K. average, and nearly three times the birth rate of women in cities like Westminster.
Is the Rude Man knocking these ladies up?
ABC News reported on a study recently published by The Lancet that suggests women who receive “irradiation of the uterus and ovaries at a high dose” before puberty have a greater risk of suffering miscarriage or stillbirth.
Lead author of the study, Lisa Signorello of the International Epidemiology Institute, wrote that the increased risk is “probably related to uterine damage” caused by radiation. “Careful management is warranted for pregnant women treated with high doses of pelvic irradiation before they have reached puberty,” she says. Despite the elevated chance of losing a pregnancy, female cancer survivors shouldn’t be too pessimistic. Of the participants studied, only three percent of women reported stillbirth or neonatal death.
Two percent of the male survivors studied reported losing pregnancies, but researchers insist “there was no increased risk of an adverse outcome among the offspring of men who had their testes irradiated after a childhood cancer diagnosis.” Continue reading »
Researchers have been taking on the mystery of menopause as of late. In Italy, scientists developed a test that can tell a 20-year-old when her fertility will shut down. Here in the U.S., some doctors want more testing for POI, in which period problems mask early onset of menopause.
Now new research has found that exposure to certain hormone mimicking chemicals in the womb could mean shortened fertility for the females who had been exposed.
And also, older moms might have more fertile daughters. Continue reading »
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