For example, research suggests that in many countries “male infertility remains a hidden, highly stigmatized problem—laden with feelings of inadequacy, and often spoken of, derogatorily, as in shooting blanks—and it leads to feelings of emasculation,”

This much is clear: The problem isn’t that something is inherently wrong with the human body as it has evolved over time; it’s that chemicals in our environment and unhealthy lifestyle practices in our modern world are disrupting our hormonal balance, causing varying degrees of reproductive havoc that can foil fertility and lead to long-term health

Ovulation occurs around day fourteen in a twenty-eight-day menstrual cycle (day one is the first day of a woman’s period), when a surge in luteinizing hormone (LH) causes one of a woman’s ovaries to release a mature egg.

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals, as well as lifestyle factors—including diet, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol or drug use—can alter these parameters, sending levels of these crucial hormones in the wrong direction.

In 2018, the global sperm-bank market was valued at $4.33 billion; it’s expected to reach $5.45 billion by 2025. A widely touted estimate is that thirty thousand to sixty thousand children are conceived through sperm donation each year in the United States alone.

This includes the rates of declining sperm counts and testosterone levels, increasing rates of testicular cancer, and the projected worldwide increase in the prevalence of erectile dysfunction. On the female side of the equation, miscarriage rates are also increasing by about 1 percent per year.

In one study, researchers from the UK asked men experiencing infertility to share their thoughts and feelings about what they were going through. All characterized their desire to procreate as “a taken-for-granted expectation” and “part of being human,” so merely seeking help for fertility issues was viewed as a sign of “weakness” and caused them

After a man starts producing sperm during early adolescence, he’s at continuous risk for potential harm to his swimmers, a vulnerability that lasts for the rest of his life.

In Western countries, sperm counts and men’s testosterone levels have declined dramatically over the last four decades, as my own research and that of others has found.