Olivia Burke
If you're a bloke who's partial to a puff on a joint and is also hoping to become a parent, you might want to take heed of this fertility expert's advice.
Dr Natalie Crawford says she is passionate about helping her patients 'optimise their lifestyles' to improve their chances of conceiving a child. Given that the mother-of-two previously struggled to start a family herself, she's pretty much the perfect candidate to dole out advice on this topic.
She's been there, done that, bought the t-shirt, and successfully welcomed a couple of kids - and she's also fluent in the ins and outs of fertility anyway thanks to her line of work.
The fertility physician, from the US state of Texas, recently made an appearance on Steven Bartlett's The Diary Of A CEO podcast and shared some nuggets of knowledge.
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Dr Crawford sat down with some other health experts to offer her insights on hormones and fertility, while sharing some advice for fellas who might be trying to start a family. The doc also issued some more specific guidance for men who smoke cannabis and shared quite the worrying warning about how this can impact a bloke's ability to make a baby.
"The great thing about men, you're making sperm every single second," Dr Crawford said. "The sperm lifespan is 90 days, 72 days to make a sperm, 18 days to get out the ejaculatory system.
"You could make a singular change in your health and see a different outcome in your sperm. That is so rare, that doesn't exist in women's health. One variable can move the needle so much."
Explaining how gents can increase the odds of successfully impregnating their partner, she advised cutting cannabis, cigarettes, and alcohol out of your life, while also suggesting some other lifestyle changes. Fellas apparently 'need to avoid heat', as their testicles 'need to be at a lower body temperature in order to adequately make normally functioning sperm'.
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"So hot tubs, saunas, those should be off limits if you're wanting to get pregnant," she said. "Same with high intensity exercise and compression of the testicles."
The fertility buff said that certain workouts, such as cycling for long periods of time, can 'compress the testicles and increase their heat'. Diet also 'plays a big role', before she then dug deeper into how smoking weed can impact a man's chances of getting their other half pregnant.
She explained that marijuana use 'prevents' Follicle-Stimulating Hormone (FSH) signals and Luteinizing Hormone (LH) signals being sent - which is quite a big problem.
"[These hormones] are crucial to tell your testicles to make sperm," Dr Crawford explained. "And they also impact inflammatory environment."
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So, what consequences can smoking cannabis have on a man's sperm?
Dr Crawford continued: "Sperm are not as modal. They are not shaped as well. The DNA inside their heads is more fragmented.
"In fact, men who use marijuana, their partners have a higher rate of pregnancy loss, even if their partners are not around it at all."
According to research published in the Journal of Urology in 2019, cannabis use can 'reduce sperm count and concentration, induce abnormalities in sperm morphology, as well as reducing sperm motility and viability'.
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On top of that, the study suggested that weed 'inhibits capacitation and fertilising capacity'.
"Studies of hormonal changes suggest inconclusive effects on testosterone levels, lowered luteinising hormone levels and unchanged follicle-stimulating hormone levels," it adds.
So if you're a lad who is hoping to have some mini me's running around in the near future, steering clear of cannabis sounds like the best course of action.