Riddle Me This - Male Fertility Paradox?

[FinnRooney]

I assume warm showers are therapeutic because it brings your body temperature up if you are hypothyroid.

A study from 2003 showed that male rats, when exposed to hyperthermic baths (eg: hot water baths) three times daily showed a 70% decrease in testicular testosterone levels.

Another study of men exposed to 30 minutes of wet heat (eg: hot tubs) each week showed a significant drop in sperm count... Then a spike in sperm count of 491% afterstopping the hyperthermic exposure.

So, what gives? I thought the goal would be to stay as warm as comfortably possible? Why would warm water have these affects?

 

[olive]

Warm body, brief periods of cold exposure - specifically on testicles.

 

[lampofred]

Peat wrote in one of his multiple sclerosis articles that a rapid increase in temperature increases the activity of estrogen and other cellular excitants, that might be what's happening here since the temp increase is from a hot bath instead of a gradual increase via better thyroid function

 

[theLaw]

The difference is hot vs warm.

Hot can quickly lower blood sugar.

 

[Herbie]

Looks like maintaining warm stable temperature is optimal.

 

[BigYellowLemon]

Just because something makes you healthy doesn't mean it'll necessary make you fertile. Not a paradox at all. It's like when people think increasing their health will also increase their beauty, when that's not necessarily true at all. There's plenty of very unhealthy beautiful people. There's tons of very fertile unhealthy men and women. Doesn't mean making yourself healthier won't make you more fertile, just that it's not always a given and it can sometimes make you less fertile.

The reason heat makes men less fertile is because the membranes of sperm have a very high concentration of DHA. The DHA acts to increase their speed because DHA is so fluid (look at DHA's melting temp vs other fatty acids). DHA is also extremely sensitive and can be oxidized extremely easily. In the majority of the body you don't want DHA, but in your sperm it doesn't matter, they constantly die and are remade on a daily basis. All that mattered in evolution is that your sperm was as fast as possible and that you produced a lot of them, and that they delivered your DNA intact.

The reason the naked mole rat lives so long for it's size is bexause it has low DHA in it's membrane. A side effect of that is that most naked mole rat sperm is non-functional.

Which is similar for humans and most long living animals. Most long living animals live long because they have very low DHA on their membranes. Humans are like this. And, humans produce malfunctioning sperm compared to most mammals. Human sperm, like naked mole rat sperm, is exceptionally bad at it's job, and only a small fraction of sperm produced actually function as they should and as they do in other mammals/primates. But, considering we're all here, I'd say it gets the job done well enough.

 

[FinnRooney]

Thanks for the amazing responses everyone, I definitely understand now. Does anyone know if underwear is particularly bad? or if the whole topic is overblown.

 

[lvysaur]

Human sperm, like naked mole rat sperm, is exceptionally bad at it's job, and only a small fraction of sperm produced actually function as they should and as they do in other mammals/primates. But, considering we're all here, I'd say it gets the job done well enough.

People have a strange prejudice where they consider civilization, or even time, as "progressive".

In some aspects, it is also regressive, and reality as it exists today is simply a function of whatever was "good enough" to make it here. In the past, many people had bigger brains, many were much taller (there are oral records of giant Native Americans and Paleo-Eskimo cultures), etc.

 

[Runenight201]

People have a strange prejudice where they consider civilization, or even time, as "progressive".

In some aspects, it is also regressive, and reality as it exists today is simply a function of whatever was "good enough" to make it here. In the past, many people had bigger brains, many were much taller (there are oral records of giant Native Americans and Paleo-Eskimo cultures), etc.

Bigger brains doesn’t necessarily mean more intelligent, and from what I believe, human progress would entail increasing our brain/body ratio while maintaining good physiological health.

As nutrition, hormones, and epigenetics advance, creating humans with a far superior brain/body ratio could result in some scarily intelligent people.

Perhaps they’ll be intelligent enough to solve the mess we’ve created for ourselves.

 

[lampofred]

Bigger brains doesn’t necessarily mean more intelligent, and from what I believe, human progress would entail increasing our brain/body ratio while maintaining good physiological health.

As nutrition, hormones, and epigenetics advance, creating humans with a far superior brain/body ratio could result in some scarily intelligent people.

Perhaps they’ll be intelligent enough to solve the mess we’ve created for ourselves.

I honestly believe human intelligence peaked during ancient Greece/Rome and has been drastically declining since then. Except for during the middle ages which is probably a low point

 

[lvysaur]

I honestly believe human intelligence peaked during ancient Greece/Rome and has been drastically declining since then.

I think it's been declining for a lot longer than that.

As nutrition, hormones, and epigenetics advance, creating humans with a far superior brain/body ratio could result in some scarily intelligent people.

CRISPR has some promise.

 

[Spartan300]

I think the OP just wanted to know whether it would make a difference if he took cooler showers

 

[FinnRooney]

I think the OP just wanted to know whether it would make a difference if he took cooler showers

Nah, I was more concerned about if i should be wearing underwear or heavier clothes to stay warm or if its doing damage.

 

[Runenight201]

Nah, I was more concerned about if i should be wearing underwear or heavier clothes to stay warm or if its doing damage.

Did Wayne Rooney take Finasteride?

If so, that's probably why he fell from being the top striker in the EPL to playing for..... DC UNITED

 

[Cirion]

The difference is hot vs warm.

Hot can quickly lower blood sugar.

This guy has the right answer.

Too cold is bad. Too hot is bad. "Just right" temperature is the answer. When I take Epsom salt baths I make it nice and warm but not HOT. I can get my body temperature to over 100 degrees with just a "warm" bath.

I find that keeping my house temperature at between 70-72 degrees is optimal for maintaining a warm body temperature without it being uncomfortably hot. Any higher and it feels too hot, any lower than 70 and it feels too chilly.

 

[fradon]

I assume warm showers are therapeutic because it brings your body temperature up if you are hypothyroid.

A study from 2003 showed that male rats, when exposed to hyperthermic baths (eg: hot water baths) three times daily showed a 70% decrease in testicular testosterone levels.

Another study of men exposed to 30 minutes of wet heat (eg: hot tubs) each week showed a significant drop in sperm count... Then a spike in sperm count of 491% afterstopping the hyperthermic exposure.

So, what gives? I thought the goal would be to stay as warm as comfortably possible? Why would warm water have these affects?

its like wearing tight underwear that gets too hot. i think for fertility issues they recommend boxers as it increases sperm count.

 

[Herbie]

its like wearing tight underwear that gets too hot. i think for fertility issues they recommend boxers as it increases sperm count.

I dont know how any man can wear budgie smuglers, its so contrictive and uncomfortble, ive never been able to wear them since pubity. Cotton boxers or die.

 

[mujuro]

CRISPR has some promise.

Or malice. Have you seen Gattaca?