In recent years, the sperm situation of Chinese men has also started to be not optimistic. Reproductive medicine experts in many parts of the country have done some surveys and studies, and they found that the number of sperm contained in each milliliter of semen in Chinese men has now dropped to 20 to 40 million. And the average male sperm count is declining at a rate of almost 1 million per year, and the higher the degree of industrialization the greater the decline in sperm density.
What is the concept that the higher the degree of industrialization the greater the decline in sperm density?
In medical terms, a sperm count of less than 20 million sperm per milliliter of semen can cause infertility, while less than 4 million can mean complete sterility. Some experts even say that at this rate, we will soon not need family planning, and even the continuity of the Chinese nation is at risk.
Whereas 30% of visits to urology clinics used to be for infertility, that percentage has now risen to 50%. As some patients say, when it becomes a ‘lucky’ thing to be able to conceive a child successfully, no matter how far our society has developed and how rich we are, isn’t it a sadness?
What moves a man’s sperm? Let’s count the “risk factors” that threaten the quantity and quality of sperm.
Danger one: car exhaust when we enjoy the convenience of private cars, but did not think that car exhaust is threatening our health, and even our ability to have the next generation. Experts from the University of Naples, Italy, conducted a study of 85 men working at highway toll booths, showing that 7 out of 71 married people failed to have offspring after marriage, although their sperm count did not differ from that of other young men in the same area, but the sperm vitality was generally weak.
Automobile exhaust contains a large number of harmful substances, such as high concentrations of carbon dioxide, nitric oxide, sulfur dioxide, etc.. Prolonged exposure of the human body to these substances will result in cumulative damage, which not only affects reproductive health, but may also increase the incidence of tumors and other diseases. The male sperm cells are very sensitive to harmful substances such as nitric oxide and lead, and long-term exposure to such environments can easily lead to the destruction of sperm quality. Equally serious is the fact that dioxins contained in car exhaust are extremely strong environmental endocrine disruptors, also known as “environmental estrogens”. It is not an estrogen itself, but it can produce estrogen-like effects in the human body, even at very low doses, but under the effect of long-term sustained low-dose “environmental estrogen”, it can cause changes in testicular morphology and reduced spermatogenesis in men.
The biggest victims: highway toll collectors, traffic police, sanitation workers, employees of newsstands and roadside stores
Danger two: pesticide residues “modern agriculture” production methods, a large number of herbicides, pesticides and other agricultural chemicals, and in doing so, resulting in many agricultural products processed feed and food with high levels of various pesticide residues. Like car exhaust, pesticides are also a type of “environmental estrogen”. The main damage caused by environmental hormones is the reduction of human sex hormone secretion, decreased sex hormone activity, reduced sperm count, increased incidence of reproductive organ abnormalities and cancers, with the consequence of reduced fertility, decreased survival rate of newborns and poorly developed offspring.
One survey showed that the nematicide dibromochloropropane affected over 26,000 farm workers in 12 countries in the late 1970s, resulting in 64% low sperm density and 28% inability to have further children. It is well documented that dibromochloropropane is the active ingredient in about 100 pesticides, and its use was strictly controlled in 1984 because of reduced sperm density and semen volume in farm workers exposed to it.
Compared to occupational exposures, the average consumer is exposed to small amounts at a time, but over time, a cumulative effect is created, and those who can afford to consume organic vegetables and fruits are, after all, a very small minority.
The biggest victims: occupational exposure and all those who want to eat vegetables and fruits
Danger three: renovation whether you buy a new house or a second-hand house, almost every household has to redecorate some. After the renovation, there are a bunch of new furniture waiting to fill the room, in the whole process, if a little lax in the selection of products, pollutants will take advantage of the opportunity to enter. Moreover, even if a single piece of furniture pollution exceeds the limit is not much, a variety of furniture gathered together, there is a superimposed effect of pollution, the room inevitably became a “gas chamber”.
Statistics show that more than 90% of the newlywed rooms have varying degrees of decoration pollution, including formaldehyde, benzene. Had seen a 20-year-old boy, sperm concentration of only a few million, a question he may be exposed to benzene in the daily work. More than 20 people in the same workshop with him came to test the sperm quality, and 80% of them failed.
In the renovation, especially the luxury decoration, due to the use of excessive marble, there is an additional problem – radiation. Radiation can also play a role in killing sperm, we’ll talk more about that later. No wonder experts recommend that new houses, especially wedding houses, must be tested for environmental protection before moving in.
The biggest victims: renovators and new house occupants
Danger four: radiation don’t move! Now count how many appliances and electronic products around you! Refrigerators, televisions, microwave ovens, stereos, DVDs, air conditioners, three cell phones, massagers, two laptops, an IPAD, an e-book, an MP4 …… each is a small source of radiation.
Radiation has been determined to have a definite effect on human health. Large doses of radiation can cause changes in testicular tissue structure, increase the rate of sperm malformation, and decrease sperm count, sperm density, and other important indicators. However, whether small doses of radiation can cause infertility is still being studied. We should try to reduce the reliance on electronic products in our daily lives, if you can not do without, try to do with less. Use one computer at a time, don’t leave your desktop and laptop on at the same time, one to chat and one to play games. Use a number, not two pants pockets each carrying a cell phone. When using the computer on the table, don’t be lazy on your lap, or stomach. A graduate student has done experiments, laptops placed on the legs very close to the testicles, the amount of radiation is not small, but once taken away for a distance, the amount of radiation fell rapidly. Another reason for laptops on your lap is the effect of high temperatures on sperm quality.
The biggest victims: electronic controls and computer room personnel
Danger 5: Sauna (high temperature) high temperature can produce damage to the testicles, but exactly how high the temperature and how long the exposure to this temperature will have an impact on the testicles, there is still debate in the academic community, mainly that high temperature will cause testicular spermatogenic function is impaired. In animal experiments, the fertility of males was reduced after they were exposed to 38.5°C for 55 minutes. In reality, men should try to avoid staying in a hot environment for too long, such as taking sauna baths and soaking in hot water.
Similarly, the sperm of sedentary people is indeed a bit poorer than the quality of sperm of other men who spend less time sitting, such as drivers and white-collar workers, also because of frequent sitting so that the temperature of the testicles is higher, so the fruitfulness and quality of sperm are somewhat lower.
The biggest victims: car drivers and sauna control people
Danger six: smoking, alcohol smoking has always been a major enemy of health, the impact on semen is equally obvious. Foreign studies have long shown that smokers have significantly lower semen quality compared to non-smokers, with higher sperm malformation rates and increased numbers of white blood cells in semen. The nicotine and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons produced in tobacco cause testicular atrophy and altered sperm morphology. Alcohol has a direct effect on both the human liver and the male testes. Studies have found that patients with chronic alcoholism develop testicular atrophy, leading to decreased semen quality. Therefore, it is important for men to avoid regular excessive alcohol consumption.
Some people may ask, “My father was an ‘old smoker’ and an ‘alcoholic’, but I was born with no problems at all. This is related to the previous generation’s early completion of the task of childbirth, smoking and drinking on the body’s harmful effects have not yet fully manifested. But now more young people are having children later, he suggested that for men who are ready to “close the mountains”, it is best to stop smoking for more than three months before considering allowing your wife to conceive, but the wine can be drunk in small amounts. In addition, for long-term second-hand smoke wife, the reproductive endocrine, egg development and maturation, as well as a series of embryonic implantation, growth and development of the impact should not be underestimated.
The biggest victims: old smokers, alcoholics, long-term passive smokers
Danger 7: Drugs anti-cancer, hormonal, immune-suppressing drugs, antibiotics and other drugs can impair male gonadal function, causing a decrease in sperm quantity and quality, or by affecting the endocrine function of the gonads, leading to sexual dysfunction. The effect of drugs on male fertility is influenced by the type of drug, the dose, the course of treatment, the age of the patient and other factors. Generally, the higher the dose of the drug used, the longer the course of treatment, and the younger the patient, the more serious the damage to the fertility function and the longer it takes to restore the fertility function. It is best to stop taking the drug for more than three months some drugs or even more than 1~2 years before considering childbirth.
At present, the society is flooded with sexual health products, some containing sex hormones or similar ingredients, which may affect the normal sperm-producing function of the testicles, unmarried infertile people should be extra careful when choosing.
The biggest victim: those who suffer from chronic diseases and need to take long-term medication
Danger 8: Staying up late & chronic stress as well as chronic anxiety and tension The human biological clock governs the neuroendocrine activity (many people think that only women have endocrine, in fact, men also have), and there are studies that show that endocrine activity is strong at night. This is also true for sperm production, which takes place mainly at night, and if you don’t get any rest, it disrupts the biological clock. In the long run, the endocrine disruption tends to cause difficulties in sperm production, quality and quantity.
If you are stressed, I am stressed too! Long-term chronic stress, anxiety and tension can affect the functioning of the three major systems of men: neurological, endocrine and immune, which will naturally affect the quality of sperm as well. They often encounter couples in the clinic who can’t conceive a child the more they try to get pregnant, and when they give up completely (such as adopting a child), they mentally relax and end up successfully getting pregnant again.
The biggest victims: you, me, him (everyone in the city has a big “duck pear” on his head)
Danger 9: Noise With the development of modernization, the impact of urban noise on health has become more prominent. Noise is a kind of environmental pollution. It will make people feel nervous, anxious, so that the human body endocrine disruption, resulting in abnormal semen and sperm. Long-term noise pollution can cause male sterility; for women, it can lead to miscarriage and fetal abnormalities.
The biggest victims: people who work or live close to the roadside
Danger 10: Reproductive System Infections People only know that they can contract STDs from unclean intercourse, but little is known about the adverse effects of reproductive tract infections on sperm. Infections of the reproductive glands, such as epididymitis and prostatitis, can affect the composition of seminal plasma, which is like keeping fish in sewage. From a clinical point of view, the chances of infection in young people mainly come from unclean sex and activities like sauna, so sex must be safe and hygienic. The actual fact is that you should see a doctor promptly after the occurrence of genital tract infections, not just find some medicine to eat a little, perfunctory. Once you miss the opportunity to treat, the formation of chronic reproductive tract infection, more will increase the difficulty of treatment. The chronic infection may also cause blockage of the vas deferens, the generation of sperm can not be properly discharged, naturally it is impossible to have children.
The biggest victim: those who have unclean sex [you can do this: life back to the basics, fertility before 30 years old to complete]
Sperm quality is related to the major issue of human survival and reproduction. For these factors, on the one hand, we must take a high degree of vigilance, timely attention and avoid; on the other hand, we must also call on all the forces of society to improve our living environment. We as individuals can do a lot, such as smoking less, drinking less, working less overtime, eating more healthy food, etc..
”In short, life should be as natural as possible, back to the basics, including our living, diet, mentality and other aspects of life. There is a very image, is to let our life ‘with the heavens (sun) walk, to do is to do for the heavens, the opposite is to go against the heavens, nature will be punished, pay the price of health.” In the current situation where it is difficult to improve our overall living environment for a short period of time, it is advisable for men to complete the task of childbirth earlier, not later than 30 years old. The earlier you have children, the more the human body is in a strong stage of functioning and less likely to be affected by various risk factors. At the same time, Prof. Chunhua Deng called on the government and the public to respect the objective laws while developing the economy, and not to destroy the environment (both natural and social) that we rely on for reproduction and survival because of some temporary economic interests or/and face-saving projects. Defend the sperm, defend our nation! It is not an alarmist statement!