Health Expert Says Men Are Just As Much To Blame For Infertility, Citing Recent Study Showing Step Decline Of Testosterone Over The Last 15 Years
Infertility rates have been climbing over the last several years, but a health expert named Mike Mutzel urges us not to put the blame on women. He highlights a recent study that shows a steep decline of testosterone in men, suggesting they are just as responsible for infertility as woman are.
There are many intimate stories shared online about women who struggle with infertility, whether they have been trying for a baby for years or they experience trouble conceiving after being on hormonal birth control for an extended amount of time. If a couple is trying to get pregnant and they just can't make it happen, the woman is almost always the first person who goes through fertility testing, treatments, etc. But Mike Mutzel, MS, health expert who has more than 224,000 followers on Instagram, says we need to turn our attention to men if we're going to successfully tackle the infertility issue.
Health Expert Says Men Are Partly to Blame for Infertility, Citing Recent Study Showing Step Decline of Testosterone over the Last 15 Years
Mike writes in the caption, "Women are often blamed for fertility issues, but more research is showing Men’s health (nutrition and lifestyle) has a huge impact on fertility and childhood development." He adds that "men's health status may be as much or even more important than women's health" for childbearing success. Which makes perfect sense when you think about the fact that it takes two to make a baby, so of course the health and fertility status of the father would have a tremendous impact on the child.
"Stop blaming women for fertility issues," Mike writes. "Men are living unhealthy lifestyles, which is why we're seeing steep declines in semen quality and testosterone levels as well as declining fertility rates over the last 30 years."
He also shares a recent study from Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology that found men's testosterone levels have declined by 37% over the last 15 years. The research was conducted on 102,334 men. Mike also reminds his readers that testosterone levels are "unequivocally linked with fertility rates" because it stimulates Sertoli cell function and spermatogenesis, as well as muscle growth, bone mineralization, and cognitive function.
He also shares two memes that point to some of the most common habits that men have today that are contributing to lower testosterone levels: watching porn, not working out, eating fast food, drinking unfiltered water (especially from plastic bottles), etc.
Mike suggests some lifestyle changes to men that will help increase testosterone and improve overall health: lift weights; eat an animal-based diet; avoid processed foods, soy, and wheat; get direct sunlight every day; have high-quality sleep; don't watch porn. If both men and women took pride in their health and started taking care of themselves better, the infertility rates would most certainly go down and it would be much easier for couples to conceive.
But the modern lifestyle has convinced us that there's nothing wrong with eating fake food, avoiding the sun, sitting around most of the day, watching porn incessantly, and filing our body with toxins and chemicals. The study concludes that the decline in testosterone can't be fully explained by increasing rates of obesity, so even if a man isn't overweight, he could still be suffering from low testosterone.