Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race

infertility is linked to an increased risk of certain diseases and earlier death in both men and women, while leading to a decrease in the number of children born over time.

In one study involving a thousand women between the ages of eighteen and forty in the United States, 40 percent of participants expressed concerns about their ability to conceive, but one-third were unaware of the adverse effects that sexually transmitted infections, obesity, or irregular periods could have on their ability to procreate. Even more

The worst offenders: chemicals that interfere with our body’s natural hormones. These endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are playing havoc with the building blocks of sexual and reproductive development. They’re everywhere in our modern world—and they’re inside our bodies, which is problematic on many levels.

women get older, they tend to experience a negative triple whammy, an increase in the risks of three interrelated adverse reproductive outcomes—infertility, miscarriage, and chromosomal abnormalities (including trisomy 21, which is the presence of three copies of chromosome 21, also known as Down syndrome).

Male reproductive issues are currently thought to cause approximately one-quarter to one-third of infertility cases, equal to the proportion of female reproductive challenges.

given the declines in sperm count and testosterone levels and the increases in hormonally active chemicals that are being spewed into the environment, we really are in a dangerous situation for mankind and world fertility.

In particular, the ubiquity of insidiously harmful chemicals in the modern world is threatening the reproductive development and functionality of both humans and other species.

Take declining sperm counts: statistically, this phenomenon goes hand in hand with many other problems for males, including an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and premature mortality

identify when she’s on the verge of ovulating, a woman can track several things. First, changes in her cervical mucus: it becomes thin, clear, and slippery like egg white right before ovulation. Or she can monitor her basal body temperature—first thing in the morning, before getting out of bed—because it will rise about half a degree when ovulation