Why Are Men’s Testosterone Levels Plummeting? - Dr Shanna Swan
Dr. Shanna Swan is a Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, an environmental and reproductive epidemiologist and an author.
Many of us have heard about about harmful chemicals in plastics, food and water that can mess with our hormones. But just how much truth is in this? How much of our health is disrupted by our modern environment?
Expect to learn what is happening to male and female reproductive health, how important testosterone is for everyone, the problems with male fertility rates and sperm count, the chemicals that are most impacting reproductive health, what men can do to improve and increase their sperm count, how to limit your exposure to bad chemicals much more...
-
00:00 What’s Happening to Men’s Testosterone Levels?
03:40 How Important is Testosterone?
09:45 Why This Negatively Affects Both Partners
17:03 Link Between Testosterone & Sperm Count
19:04 Statistics on Sperm Count Over Time
24:09 The Social Impact of Lower Fertility
33:58 Using Chemicals to Alter Hormones
42:35 How a Mother’s Food Impacts Her Baby
48:28 Lifestyle Changes to Avoid Toxicity
57:15 Effectiveness of Reverse Osmosis Filters
1:00:19 How Bad Chemicals Impact Behaviour
1:10:35 Men & Women’s Reproductive Success As They Age
1:13:28 Future of Fertility in Humanity
1:22:03 Where to Find Shanna
-
Get access to every episode 10 hours before KZhead by subscribing for free on Spotify - spoti.fi/2LSimPn or Apple Podcasts - apple.co/2MNqIgw
Get my free Reading List of 100 life-changing books here - chriswillx.com/books/
Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic here - neutonic.com/modernwisdom
-
Get in touch in the comments below or head to...
Instagram: / chriswillx
Twitter: / chriswillx
Email: chriswillx.com/contact/
Hello you savages. Get my free Reading List of 100 life-changing books here - chriswillx.com/books/ Here's the timestamps: 00:00 What’s Happening to Men’s Testosterone Levels? 03:40 How Important is Testosterone? 09:45 Why This Negatively Affects Both Partners 17:03 Link Between Testosterone & Sperm Count 19:04 Statistics on Sperm Count Over Time 24:09 The Social Impact of Lower Fertility 33:58 Using Chemicals to Alter Hormones 42:35 How a Mother’s Food Impacts Her Baby 48:28 Lifestyle Changes to Avoid Toxicity 57:15 Effectiveness of Reverse Osmosis Filters 1:00:19 How Bad Chemicals Impact Behaviour 1:10:35 Men & Women’s Reproductive Success As They Age 1:13:28 Future of Fertility in Humanity 1:22:03 Where to Find Shanna
Hey Chris, I've got a question: Would it be possible to post a TLDR document that summarizes the conversations you have on your podcast? Unfortunately, I can't watch/listen to every single talk, so it'd be awesome if I could at least read it within 10 minutes. Edit: It would also be helpful if one wants to revisit an older convo
Have listened to half of this so far and appreciate the bookmarks. Strongly postulate that the advent of smart phones and tablets and their relationship to nnEMF’s play a critical role in the dysfunction of the endocrine system. Quite surprised there was no mention of this with your guest?
I think TO INCREASE INCREASE BIRTH RATE , ONLY WAY is to JUST BAN Contraceptives, Vaults, IUDS, CONDOMS. Nothing other than that will help in Increasing Birth rate.
Also REPLACE PLASTIC with GLASS AND JUTE BAGS.
Great episode, gotta listen to this multiple times.
"we have done very little testing of testosterone levels over the years." Gee. I'm shocked that a male issue is largely ignored by academia and researchers. Kinda like prostate cancer funding.
Well thats interesting seeing as men are the majority in these fiellds
It's even worse for females, because most testing is done on males, which means that when a female patient presents at a hospital with female symptoms of a heart attack, for example, historically, doctors wouldn't ealise that she was having a heart attack, because they were only trained to recognise male symptoms.
Ignored? Let's get real, the leftist academia would pay to make modern men weaker. I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist, but honestly this one is so glaring in order to keep their narrative afloat.
Bingo
Interesting because most medical data is typically based on male studies
More processed food, more drugs, less sleep, less exercise, less sunlight, more microplastics, etc.
Going to go take my shoes off and sit barefoot in the grass
@@christiansnaturestudio6599 biggest factor no cap
@@christiansnaturestudio6599biggest factor no cap
I think people over exaggerate the power of processed foods. Its been shown that simply exercising and going outside has an exponential increase, while stopping processed foods seems to have less effect
@@christiansnaturestudio6599dont forget them head pats and "good boys"
Lack of sunlight and fresh air, lack of proper sleep, too much alcohol, too much weed, lack of physical activity, excess consumption of trash food, a ridiculous amount of young men who are overweight or obese, lack of social connections, lack of a dating life, lack of sex with a real person, lack of confidence, lack of accomplishment, etc. Not that much of a mystery.
Okay, Mr. Wizard, but what is your "solution"? I would bet none of those same folks are "choosing" this. It is just the "choice" they are left with. Probably like at least 2 generations before them it is just that now the Elites that have been exploiting them for generations are just now realizing the music they have been playing is about to come to a stop and there are nowhere near enough chairs to go around. The "old" game there was 1 or two chairs removed each round. Now there is only 1 chair left after just one round for an ever larger number of folks.
@@wendellbabin6457 Anyone talking about "elites" is just a blame shifting victim. Take responsibility.
Maybe in the western world but what about in Asia. Are they really affected by all of those factors?
@@ricky18171 Yeah, I think they are, and possibly even to a worse degree in some cases. The despair of at least a significant segment of Asian men in places like Korea, Japan, and even China has been fairly well covered.
@@utah_koidragon7117 fair enough
The internet and media is making me crazy. People are all talking about all this bad stuff happening to people yet no one really cares enough to do anything. It’s maddening watching the species and society decline and being unable to do anything.
Idiocracy was a movie from the future!!
don't mix up the social media comments with the real world. I heard on some podcast that 90%(something like that) of the comments are posted by 10% of the people, and those people who comment are usually negative, toxic, victim minded, lazy etc. Most people who are on social media don't engage in the comments. I still agree that a lot of people should do better, put in more effort, including me. Lot of people are a bit addicted to venting(just talking about the situation), and that's gives them some kind of feeling of accomplishment, but the effort needs to be there too. It's always easier to talk than do. I'm naturally quite lazy, but I want and I'm trying to be better.
You absolutely can do something about it. Forget the majority. Let them degrade. Worry about you & yours; eat better, exercise, limit exposure to toxins.
They'd rather numb themselves to it through addiction than deal with it and do the hard work to correct it. I myself was guilty of that till last year. It's easy to give up, it's hard to fight.
Get off social media and do something, and by something I mean just live a notmal life.
I love how she doesn't dither on the importance of normal male neuro/physiological development, and her wonderful sense of humor about it at the same time. Women's reproductive care gets so much attention in comparison, we should be so grateful for what she and her team have been doing on the side of men and boys.
Hey what part in the podcast did you see this?
I stopped anti depressant and took action to my gluten intorelance. My sperm count and motility shot up like crazy. I went from 10 million units to 75 million units. I stopped drinking. Never do drugs. This problem can be helped still I think, we just need to be aware of ourselves.
Yeah ssri's are dangerous. Look up pssd
@@kenpe1455 They are dangerous for a subset of the population that uses them, and a successful pharmacological intervention for depression and anxiety when clinically justified.
@@thomabow8949 That's industry propaganda. High serotonin is damaging for everyone.
@@livingroom9555 Labeling it as "Industry propaganda" is an interesting way to invalidate every positive study ever produced ever regarding pharmaceuticals, and not all SSRI usage results in supraphysiological levels of neurotransmitters
How long did it take to count to 75 million.
Wish I knew all this before I had kids. My babies are still young and I’ve been on a mission to decrease our plastics for a while now. I love my cast iron cookware and glass mason jars.
I have changed to glass and less plastic too. But I can't eat store bread because of intolerance so when my bread comes out of the non stick pan, I cut off the crust, hoping to get the forever chemicals off. Am I just foolish to think that they are gone? I sure wonder.
I love how these podcasts/videos always jump straight in, no over the top intro or ads, just right into the good stuff.
87 years old and still very concise, amazing
1) Cosmetic preservatives. 2) Plastics. 3) Tap water (High estrogen= Hormonal disruption/feninization) 4) Junk Food. 5) Sedentary lifestyle. 6) Medication (Opioids and Statins in particular) 7) Alcohol and smoking.
No male should wear cosmetics and expect his testosterone to remain high. Even if there are no preservatives.
@@stoneneils what about skincare?
@@NonExistChannel I never even used shaving cream, just hot water. It could be me but i feel like a lady if i smell like anything other than myself. What am i trying to hide, that I'm a dude?!?!? I don't get it unless i had literally been told i stink in certain situations..like when i was a waiter I had to wear deoderant big time...but not in offices where we just behind computers..none of did cuz we'd ask "dude, would you PLEASE not put that shit on your skin every morning its pissing us all off".
@@stoneneils I am less talking about perfume (which likely doesn't affect testosterone because it mostly is just alcohol) and more about moisturisers, suncream, retinol etc. Women are having higher and higher standards and I don't want to look 'old' too soon
1. Plastics 2. Hormonal disruption 3. Processed foods 4. the _feminine_ problem 5. a society that hates them
@@ianclose123 I was wondering the same. Maybe he refers to birth control.....?
4 & 5 are totally backed by data...i thought facts were important, guys.
Tack onto #5: a culture that tells men they're supposed to go it alone. 6: pornography 7: polyunsaturated fats being promoted as healthy (they're estrogenic and carcinogenic)
Lack of exposure to Sunlight. The joker in the pack of a whole lot of modern conditions.
5) Chemicals in cosmetics. 6) Water supply.
I love how excited this woman is!! So cute. Someone who truly loves their work is refreshing!!
Financial stressors are huge in men's lives in particular, job security has plummeted, opportunities for blue collar workers that pay a living wage have gone down the toilet. So this takes out a entire level of society that used to be able to pay their way, no longer able to to have a dependable wage that supports a family, homes that cost so much that both partners have to work in order to afford a home, child care that costs more than wages. This leads to poor nutrition and drug taking through demoralisation, broken families etc when stressors are not relieved but become chronic. Men and women are acting pragmatically as a result, not having children they cannot support. When automation/AI is taking out whole swathes of jobs, now including white collar work, how are people supposed to support themselves let alone a family?
But many poor people have children and are able to support them..? I think they realize they can’t also buy all the toys they want while supporting kids.
Depopulation is the goal through netzero
@@brianmeen2158 Toys they want? You mean like a home to live in and a car to get to work? I have the best paying blue collar job I can find in my area, I have no kids, my girlfriend has 1 son, his dad pays child support, and she works part time (because he's not in school yet and we can't afford child care) and we can't afford to take on a car payment and full coverage insurance, let alone do something crazy like buy a house. I've given up gaming, I eat once a day instead of thrice, and I'm trying to strike up a side hustle with what little energy I have after working over 9 hours per day. Please, tell me what toys I'm insisting on that are crippling my lifestyle?
@@brianmeen2158many working families in the UK on low incomes have less disposable income than unemployed families.
Not having children they can't support 😂😂😂 Ever driven through an inner city or been to a Walmart?
Amazing work, Dr. Swan thank you
Chris, this podcast is massively informative. My 4 sons are about to hit puberty & this has greatly informed the implications of their fertility & life progression. Really appreciate it, man.
Wish I had had such resources at their age. Good for you that you encourage it. 🙏
Thinking the same about gkids. I have noticed they don't drink water out of plastic, but only out of stainless steel.
Fascinating info.. and love this Dr. ❤
Chris I really love this podcasts of "non-youtube" guests! It brings a new perspective to certain topics. Thanks!
The world seems strange to me. At the age of 8, I felt grateful. For my future, I had three thoughts of serving a tour in the military, going to college, and helping others. Between the age of 10 and 11, there was much hatred expressed toward me. I changed my future thoughts to getting a decent job, marrying a good woman, and making the best for our children. That was in the 1960s.
My dream at 12 was a job that paid decent that I didn't hate, a house, a wife, and a family. I was born in '87. I'm 36 now, I've never been in a relationship, last year I quit my job of more than a decade because it, or rather because my terrible boss, caused me to have four nervous breakdowns in less than a year, the only reason I didn't kill myself at the time is because it would make my aging mom sad, I'm currently unemployed and on a very light dose of antidepressants. (My boss didn't used to be terrible. He was hard, very hard, but fair and reasonable as long as you didn't bullshit him. Not a perfect boss, but pretty damned good. But age caught up to him, he's past the age of retirement, he's deteriorated physically and mentally, and it's turned him into an unpredictable, unreasonable, vindictive, petty tin pot tyrant over the past 5-8 years. I didn't even notice until after a few years after it started going downhill. From what I hear from my former collegues he's just gotten worse since I quit.) I'm looking for a new job, I'm not suicidal anymore, and I'm feeling better mentally than I have in at least half a decade. I expect to die alone in a rented apartment, with at best a cat or dog to keep me company. That's the best I expect out of life. That's all I want, anything else is a fantasy that I don't have the energy to chase anymore.
@@DefaultFlameno offense but your life seems to indicate an excessive amount of risk aversion which has caused you to miss out and stay in bad situations. Were you constantly rejected multiple times a year or did you just never ask girls out? Why did you stay with a hard boss that progressively got worse when surely you could have searched out other opportunities that don’t give you nervous breakdowns?
@@badart3204 Hit it right on the head. To make a very, very long story short, Autism is a bitch, especially late diagnosed Autism. Just managing social situations so they don't explode in my face constantly has been a lifelong game of managing risk. You might say "just stand up for yourself." To that I say: I didn't start out risk averse, quite the opposite actually. A lot of attempts, nearly all of them actually, have exploded catastrophically in my face. I am incredibly stubborn. It took the better part of three decades to gradually learn to become risk averse, simply from not having the energy to deal with it anymore. It's just never worth the effort. I have kept trying throughout my life, with very limited success. I don't think the way neurotypical society expects, I don't react the way neurotypical society expects, I don't feel the same in specific situations that neurotypical society expects. Combining that with taking social risks has been like juggling nitroglycerine my entire life. I've found it best to limit the number I try to juggle, because if I drop a single one that causes me to drop the rest, and then I have to pick bits of metaphorical glass out of my metaphorical skin. Edit: I forgot to say, I never asked girls out. I could just barely manage platonic social situations at 20, and I've found out years afterwards that I was worse at social situations at 20 than I thought I was at the time. Trying for the high-stress 4-dimensional minefield of romance seemed like utter hubris and insanity when I was semi-regularly blindsided by things others considered obvious. (And subsequently getting screamed in the face out of the blue with no warning.) Just dealing with living in society, managing the interpersonal relationships I already had, and a job already ate up all the mental energy I had. Second edit: I stayed with the boss in question because I liked the job and my work collegues, and he was very close to retirement age. Then he stayed two years past retirement age, going on three now. Bascially, I was try to tough it out.
The most compelling reason for me is the increasingly levels of complexity and stress of modern life. People are just tired all the time, and constantly under stress: this destroys people's health over time. Hormones influence behavior as much as behavior influence hormones. If we talk about why people don't procreate, it's also a matter of gender dynamics and lack of any reasonable structure. Men can't be masculine anymore, and can't fill any of their traditional roles. Women live in lalala land thanks to toxic feminism and men are just not compelled to commit and become parents.
Men become fathers, not parents.
Depends on how deep you want to go down the rabbit hole on plastics. I have a microfarm and still use poly tubes in the drip irrigation, hoses, etc... nano plastics going into the ground. large greenhouses are covered with UV treated plastics that still degrade overtime. Cover over fields with "silage tarps", black plastic to kill off the old growth and then broad fork it to aerate it, plant it again with micro-greens, but the ground has plastic from all this... These are all standard organic practices. We talk in the community about how to reduce plastic, but it's not feasible to do without them and make a living... food is too cheap, we get priced out by industrialized farms. eh... not to mention the polyester shirts I wear... usually mixed, but some of them are 100%. My dystopian dream is that a plastic eating bacteria is released into the environment and as I type this the keyboard melts away and my clothes, suddenly I'm naked and nothing works... LOL, Back to the trees! Sounds like a good B rated movie. Maybe AI can make it for me? As far as health though... I was a little disappointed they didn't talk about detox and whether there are ways to detox from all this crap? it's in the air... The lint from the dryer is a large part polyester and just flies up in your faces when you move it to the trash.... We gotta detox somehow.
Cheap food is a bad thing? Only rich people should be able to afford to eat?
Giving blood can help. I don't think there are any clear cut answers at this point and frankly, there may never be. The environment is so heavily saturated.
When my testosterone dropped, I started feeling better. Because I hated the overwhelming desire for women I could not attain.
Actually as a woman I agree, even though it doesn't compare to male testosterone, getting to my mid forties and the libido backing down freed up a lot of space and stopped driving me towards dumb choices
Interesting @@vanessac1965
An ancient poet saidcthat an old man's lowered libido was like a slave being freed from a cruel owner.
Brilliant discussion, thanks guys
I'm so glad we're talking about testosterone. I would LOVE for Chris' team to invite a male fertility doctor to discuss some of the malignant myths going on about male fertility. It drops around the same time as women and older sperm also contributes to the rise in mental and physical handicaps/disabilities and neurodivergent conditions like autism and Down's Syndrome. I've only seen one other men's focused podcast discuss it in-depth which is shameful.
Birth defects from older sperm are less of factor (from what I've read) than older females having children, meaning they are relatively rare. There are no doubt many other factors involved than just age (likely environmental) that affect the quality of sperm, so much more research is needed. Also, lots more children being born that are autistic and/or have ADHD than in the past, regardless of the age of the parent. As an older father who has had 3 normal children, starting at 37, I am skeptical of such studies--or at least would like to know if there are more important factors involved.
It is insane how many factors impact Sperm Count and Testosterone Levels. Working on improving that give you lots of positive benefits as a male. They should teach this in School in Biology (even though it's highly unlikely for this to happen because of a certain outrage). Super Podcast. Highly appreciated.
This actually happened in the Mouse Utopia Universe #25 experiment, so I don't think it's completely related to plastics or other environmental/chemical factors, and it actually might be some kind of psychosocial phenomenon that is so pervasive it affects biology on a macro scale like this. In baboons we see the markedly different cortisol, etc. levels of baboons at the bottom of the hierarchy, having vastly different health outcomes from the ones at the top, even though they eat roughly the same things (which are from nature and not saturated in chemicals [yet] to any degree of large disparity from the others in their same bands/tribes/etc.), and so we could be seeing the mass demoralization of men, where they mostly all see themselves at the bottom of the dominance hierarchy in mating terms to the point they aren't even viable mates, even if they're something like top 75th percentile in terms of holistic desirability to females, etc.
Distilled water isn't a great idea because it removes most of the minerals in the water( calcium and magnesium). Water purified in this way can leach the minerals out of your body. You need the minerals in the water almost as much as you need the water. If you have a way to remineralize the water after distilling it, it would be fine. You can drink distilled water if you're in a pinch but I wouldn't recommend doing it over the long term. I am a water plant operator in the state of Texas. The main reason we do not treat water in this way is because it is way too expensive. Most of our water in the state of Texas is purified through means of filtration and disaffection using cl2. 14% of our water in Texas comes from groundwater( water wells) tho it is not necessary for a disinfectant to be added to groundwater the state of Texas requires the water have a chlorine residual. The company I work for does not use fluoride at all so no worries on that. But if you drink the tap water out here you are definitely drinking a very small amount of chlorine, not to mention most of the water is distributed through plastic pipes, PVC for the mains & poly tubing for the tap lines.
still way better than tap water - plenty of minerals in food, don't need it water. bro. please think.
I'm from south Korea and your pod cast is good to me thx
I say the main culprits are 1) Majority of men are consuming ultra processed foods; seed oils, sugars, sweeteners, dyes, preservatives, refined wheat, and a big one fast food meals multiple times a week. 2) consuming narcotics and alcohol 3) Not active outside getting sunlight Vitamin D. 4) overprescribed anxiety and depression meds, antibiotics, other medications. 5) cleaning chemicals/lotions/soaps/lavenders coming in contact with the skin.
The movie Children of Men seems to be prophetic.
Great episode!
Unfortunately this is not the only reason re birth rates abd family formation, ideological and societal reasons play a role as well. IMO
Hard to start a family when both partners are working, maybe two jobs, just to live paycheck to paycheck.
This is not something that *necessarily* needs correction nor does it have "interventions" that are ethical or as tangible as say testosterone supplementation. Someone who ideologically opposes having children or forming a family is an unavoidable consequence, not in the negative meaning of the word, of a free society.
@@colinsmith1495not that plus the internet on top of that showing you the life you don’t have is a toxic hell hole
@@colinsmith1495When did the majority of parents not work hard to survive? We have a false idea of the level of prosperity we need to have children.
I thought they talked about the role society plays in this. Dr. Shanna made it a point to say, "I want to make it clear that not everything is because of the chemicals."
The “Coupling” statement. 🙏🏽 Im so curious what my testosterone levels are as the tough-training woman that I am?
I’ve been doing blood work every 4 months for the last 3 years. It’s amazing what you can learn about yourself to be proactive with your health. I’m 34 and my testosterone ranges from 690 to 950 on these tests.
yea it goes up and down daily and with other factors... drops some after sex and then builds again. I'm sure mindset and emotional health matters too. this podcast didn't address some other healthy things you can do.
OK but are you getting action?!? What's the point bro? I'm 54 and never had a shot but can't even count how many girlfriends I've had since age twelve. You're focus on yourself is not going to cut it guy. Think of her juices not your blood man..come on..this is sick all this self-absorbtion.
@@stoneneils what are talking about? Sounds like you don’t give a fuck about yourself. But I did just get out of back to back 2 year relationships but that’s not relevant to this. My only point was people shouldn’t supplement blindly because it’s a waste of money. Get blood work done and then go from there.
@@hay_w1re645 Fair enough, I was under the impressions kids are just ordering all sorts of supplements out of insecurities from being virgins lol..sure, I could be wrong...at least in some cases.
I grew up very athletic and eating very healthy. In my family we cook a lot and don't eat processed foods often (cold cuts, processed snacks, etc.). I never smoked and drink very casually. I have kids and in my mid 40s I started feeling very tired all the time and experiencing other symptoms. I got checked and my urologist told me I had less testosterone in my body than a typical 80 year old man. I had to start testosterone injections. That changed my life back to what it used to be. Nobody seems to be able to explain why my body basically stopped producing testosterone. I personally believe it must be related to the food and water (agro-toxics, hormones, micro-plastics, etc.). I also have very high levels of stress (demanding profession).
Testosterone dropping is concerning but it also isn't the entire story either. Some men 400ng/l grow muscles and others don't. For sperm as long as it's not actually low T you should be fine. The biggest problem is sperm quality and I don't believe it's entirely tied to testosterone. I think some of it has to do with men sitting on their testicles all day and the warmth over long periods is having serious effects.
That's directly to tied to T~ T doesn't synthesise if men are not living a high T life.
@@amalj3107 Some men synthesize test better that's my point. That's why even in PED athletes the range of enhancement will vary base on myostatin for example. Genetics always play a role, so it's effect on sperm for example is going to vary wildly from one individual to the next. That's why some people with low T, in the same environment can still have kids, just not every male is capable of it so I feel there is something more at play. Low T just isn't helping.
Would be interesting to study and compare testosterone/sperm counts of men who sit all day in offices and elsewhere (truck drivers), and men who stand all day at work (construction workers etc)
I remember in the 80s there was a big panic that the underwear that men wear reduces sperm. I'd forgotten about it until now.
@grannyannie2948 lol ya I remember tighty whiteys being what every man wore, "boxer briefs" were made cool and pushed on us >.
Tremendous interview, Dr. Swan & Chris. Thank you, Dr. Swan. You a bright light in a dark moment. ❤
I grew up on an organic dairy farm that milked with machines and there was very little plastic exposure. There were many glass tubes and stainless steel pipes
Same here. Raised on raw milk, lots of outdoors, lots of work/exercise and living in an area (Vancouver Island) with natural source water, not recycled. Now 78 always been very healthy and virtually no exposure in early years to any plastics. I never missed a day of work in over 45 years related to any illnesses.
Australian here, for a few years my parents had a house cow, milked by hand, wonderful milk. But even milk from shops came in glass bottles, and if you wanted water it was stored rainwater and you drank it in a glass.
For the Berkey, they do have minimal plastic parts on the black filters (not sure about the white filters that they have) and spout is plastic but you can purchase a metal one.
Good chat. Thank you for sharing. Biology, biochemistry, social imprinting. To go with testosterone levels. Also estrogen levels. Though the male side does seem to be collapsing in a way. Also the one people are not really talking about is. Some fish change sexes due to factors. Some may map across species, but clearly, differences also. Also one thing no one seems to be talking about is. Repairs to the Y chromosome. I'm not sure you can make a plastic free zone on the planet at this point. Even artic ice has micro plastics in it. Forever chemicals need to be addressed better. Also things like teaching people organic supplemental crop growth. I.E. small organic garden. Glad she talked about distilling water. Birth gap. Social media and the changes in matting strategies. Economics is a main contributing factor. But social trends and cultural ideals contribute also. S. Korea, japan, Italy, China, ect.. All seeing similar trends. Passport bros and sis's. 4B, and 10 rule, MGTOW, ect.. Dusties, hoes, leftovers, left behind, ect.. The % who want kids and a partner vs the ones who don't. Intersexual sabotaging strategies and stealth sabotaging rivals. Social engineering, chemical imprinting. Prime birthing range and social imprinting to delay. When it's harder to have kids. Solo/individual ego/vanity/logic traps. Why do people want a dystopian cyberpunk. When they are living it now in ways. XD Not to get into what genetics are actually slipping through.
I really like this lady.
Poor diet, lack of exercise, poisons in food, air, and water, and drug use/abuse (do antidepressants affect it?), perhaps even lack of sunshine and Vit D. If so, many of these factors can be corrected.
How do you know the crash in testosterone isn't making them lethargic and unable to exercise?
Men, Workout. If you can't afford to live off grid and you are consuming cooperate products, our test levels are going to go down. The best way to fight is workout!
No wonder everyone wants to get on TRT, trying to avoid all these chemicals all the time seems way harder than a shot every week.
That's exactly what I was thinking 😅
Japanese women have got it figured out 😂 after 2 failed marriages due to abuse I couldn't endure any more... i joked about marrying my cat because he's a better friend to me and offers so much more than those "men" ever did. I had a strong and high sex drive but abuse just really wrecked that for me 😢
41:00 She never said where the cheap samples come from. I wonder if its related with the sampling and testing measures in sewer systems. During the coof, Some states allowed cities or counties to test for DNA in the sewer systems.
Im just a little bit skeptical on smoking having a huge effect on fertility (not advocating for smoking) because for quite a few generations both men and women smoked yet still managed to have large families...just an observation.
Perhaps it's smoking combined with other lifestyle habits and things in the environment. Several generations ago, people didn't have microplastics running through their bloodstream.
@@Mili-bedili Very true.
@@Mili-bedili Nope, just the lead and asbestos, the way god intended.
I wonder if smoking blocks some part of the estrogen affects that we are subject to with plastics and chemicals.
People have been smoking for centuries, especially men.
Chris, this was good, and usually you do a great job of asking all the questions I myself am asking, but I must admit I was actually rather disappointed with this one. While I believe it's great to raise awareness of low T levels, phthalates, and low birth rates, I didn't find that much practical information I can take home in this one. Here's a list of questions I would have liked to hear: 1. What is an example of an ideal Anogenital Distance (AGD) at birth and what length AGD are we seeing among babies born today? 2. How does that correlate to a man's AGD as he ages? 3. What length AGD is ideal for a man in his teens, 20's 30's, etc? and what length AGD's are we seeing in these age groups currently? 4. How exactly do I go about measuring my own AGD? How do I know if my genitals have reached full masculinity? 5. Say my AGD is poor, is that something that is reversible? If I were to take Tongkat Ali and Fadogia Agrestis, how would my AGD change? Would it increase in size, stay the same? If it did stay the same, would my genitals at least become more masculine? Or would I just act more masculine with no change to my AGD or genitals? 6. Is glass the only option for water bottles or is stainless steel okay? (I'm resuming yes but it would've been nice to confirm) 7. Any recommendations for what to do if I have a glass or stainless steel bottle but the lid is plastic? 8. What about the plastic containers of objects I don't ingest but still touch my skin (i.e. Laundry detergent comes in plastic, I wash my clothes with that liquid, etc)? 9. How can I get involved? Is there some kind of petition I can sign to put some kind of legislation against these awful chemicals? 10. I'm assuming a tabletop distiller does remove phthalates, but does it remove the leftover birth control hormones from the water too? 11. What about clothes? A lot of clothes nowadays are made from plastic, polyester, nylon, surely there are phthalates in those too? 12. Should I try to avoid touching all plastic things? Things such as my mouse & keyboard, toothbrush, & phone case all come to mind. 13. Are there any other practical ways to get food without exposure to plastic? Sure, at a farmers market I can get fruit and vegetables, but what about bread, meat, mustard, cheese? Even at a local butcher, they package the meat in plastic. Lastly, I just want to say thank you for asking questions about this topic to begin with. As a man who has always wondered whether he is masculine enough (whether it be my personality or my mother's exposure to phthalates while I was in utero), it's one that has always been near and dear to my heart. Given that, keep in mind I am trying to be constructive with this comment and mean no ill will whatsoever. Just feel like there is more conversation to be had.Thank you!
I actually had my testosterone checked this fall, where my total was 811 ng/dL and my free testosterone was 21.6 ng/dL. My doctor was quite surprised given that I had a family history of hypogonadism, but she assured me that by me having a healthy diet, good sleep, a purpose (career), and exercising daily. I was on a path to only go up from there. So if I could recommend anything is to find your target macros (protein, carbohydrates, and fat), put your phone down an hour before bed, and workout 45 mins a day. Those fundamental things will go a long way for you. I’m not a medical professional or anything but just relating what I do even if my test levels aren’t as “optimal” as others.
Dr. Swan could really use a basic education in chemistry and material science. She talks about plastics as a single material, which makes about as much sense as treating all metals the same. For example, the discussion about food packaging is almost completely irrelevant, because all solid food packaging is now made from polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), or polyester (PETE). These three plastics are among the safest, most biologically inert materials known. They contain no phthalates, no BPA, nor any other endocrine disrupting chemicals. Furthermore, containers made from one of these plastics, or even heating food in them, does not cause the plastic to somehow "get into" the food. There's no evidence of this, and there isn't even a plausible mechanism by which it could happen. Microplastics are a problem, but they are generated almost entirely by environmental degradation of waste plastics. Phthalates are commonly used in only one type of plastic: PVC, which hasn't been used in food packaging in decades. Phthalate-softened PVC is found in many non-food applications, for example yoga mats, and any other soft plastic item labeled as "vinyl". That's where phthalates come from, not from food packaging. BPA is very rare in modern food packaging. It's used only in polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. In the old days polycarbonate was used for water bottles, and BPA based resins were used in tin cans, but manufacturers have long since moved on to safer materials. The third most common plastic behind PE and PP is polyester (PETE) which is ubiquitous in clothing and water bottles. PETE contains no known endocrine disrupters, and there is no evidence that PETE migrates into food or water from plastic containers. HOWEVER, and this is important, all of these plastics rapidly degrade in the waste streams into smaller and smaller particles, quickly turning into what we're now calling microplastics. This may indeed be a significant problem, but we simply don't have the date and research yet to say for sure. In short, Dr. Swan is a good authority in her area of expertise, but when it comes to the specifics of plastic materials and their health effects, she apparently has no idea what she's talking about.
Very interesting, thanks for the info.
""HOWEVER, this is important, all of these plastics rapidly degrade in the waste streams into smaller and smaller particles, quickly turning into what we're now calling microplastics. This may indeed be a significant problem, but we simply don't have the date and research yet to say for sure."" are these plastics continuously circling our water systems for us to wash in and drink ?
In short, we are still drinking water with microplastics.
Love the input! Felt like the discussion was a bit laborious however and might be why Dr was so willing to delve out of her expertise. But who knows. Feel like i learned more from this comment than half the convo Edit: looking back now she even mentions to Chris that she's a mathematician not a chemist but still most of his questions are to get biochemical answers to his broscience theories. No shade just seems to be a bit of a disconnect
1. She is very aware of the distinction between different plastic types, and she goes into this in detail in her book. 2. PETE stands for Polyethylene terephthalate. Maybe double check those last two syllables there, mate. 3. As she states, cans will now say "BPA free" but they still are lined with other bisphenols.
Severe lack of muscle mass and activity. I had a massive problem with muscle mass that I finally started to do something about near 2 years ago now. With consistent exercise (almost exclusively lifting) for 2 years I'm in a much better spot now. I don't know my actual T levels though.
Stats say people are way more active these days
@@monkboy4628 Ah yes, when you look at pictures from the past and then walk around Walmart you can really tell how fit and active people are now in comparison...
@@monkboy4628 thats the issue with taking the average. The people who are super fit skew the data. So the numbers are worse then they appear
@@monkboy4628I don’t buy that at all lol. People are in terrible shape these days. It’s rare for me to see even younger guys that are even in decent shape
Glad i feel and seem normal.
I think the culture of microwaving and heating food in plastic is a big part of it. Would particularly apply in South Korea/Japan
Everything online is the extreme version. For the 99% of us in the middle, life is just normal. Young fellas..... have fun, be nice, look after yourself and work hard. It really is that easy to be happy.
I cant change what happened to me when mom was pregnant with me or what happened in puberty. Is avoiding plastics literally the only thing i can do to mitigate the effects of these chemicals? Its exstreamly frustrating to listen to this whole thing and not learn any new things i can do to improve myself right now I dont trust tap water and cant afford a osmosis machine or still so i have to drink water from plastic bottles. I want something i can do to actively remove these chemicals from my body.
thx
Why do people keep referring to the birth rate as the fertility rate? There are many reasons why people are choosing not to have children, it’s not all down to people being less fertile.
💯
Cultural Sterility is still functionally sterility.
fertility rate is a term scientists use and all know what each other mean when they use it. The word itself isnt hugely important, but all scientists using the same word to mean the same thing is. Just look at the word "woman." Most of the disagreement online re what a woman is, is not because we disagree. It's becasue we are using words differrently.
Massive cortisol levels due to stress and depression, poor nutrition due to ground soil depletion, bodily inflammation due to seed oils being in everything, and mostly sedentary lifestyles. And for like 30-40% of young men, not getting laid.
Sedentary and isolated. Hormones rise when we're close to women, unless of course they wear too much perfume so their phermones never make it out.
Regarding the milk extraction method, I thought those tubings are made out of polypropylene and it is plastic but doesn't leach any chemicals, even with heat. Like, same with coffee makers and things like that. So she's saying that's not true???
Thanks!
Thank you!!!
You should interview Dr. Anthony Jay
I 2nd that idea.
Very interested in this. To be totally honest, I had a zero sperm count and the Drs were way to nonchalant about it. They also had no clue as to how it happened and offered very little explanation. Fertility issues, both with men and woman, are not talked about enough.
Red light therapy... google it... Lack of exposure to sunlight has got to be a big deal in all these modern conditions.
What is the best way to measure the AGD correctly, when you're doing it on your own? I'm asking for a friend.
Really surprised that obesity and exercise wasn't the first thing mentioned as reasons for average decline of test levels. Also would explain correlations with heart disease and diabetes the doctor mentions. Also young people seeing test as basically a safe steroid being used by all the influencers explains young usage.
You'll make a great dad @ChrisWillx. Thanks for this content. Stay classy!
My older home has copper water pipes. Newer homes have all plastic water piping. Forever leaching these compounds into our water?
Relationships kind of hold back personal development for some types of people. Culture, life style and clearly chemicals have changed us. But maybe this sedation is an opportunity to develop more meaningful connections and build machines/protocols/lessons that facilitate that for future generations. IMHO people have been waay too horny. Makes sense for the wild but we don't live there. And if we're not going to be aggressive on managing relationship predators and sexual predators then mass sedation and hormonal manipulation is the way to go whether deliberate or incidental. I remember confiding the *gasp* feelings I was going through in life to a "girlfriend" and she made her way to blow me as a response.
Both men and women do not have decent access to hormone testing. Ideally we would all have it tested every few years to get an indication of our baseline levels as the ‘normal’ ranges provided by the nhs are wide and we’re all very different.
What will get you first the plastics, the food , the air , the lifestyle or the chronic stress of trying to get all these things perfect
So many researchers are dry. She is the kind of person who would be as fun to listen to as she would to have a beer with.
1:14:56 I’m 40 and I can just and so remember the milk man bringing milk, pop (fizzy drink), eggs, flavoured milk, potatoes, onions etc. no plastic in sight. Bags were paper, bottles were glass. Glass All collected up for reuse.
Yeah, but we need profits. It's basically full communism and will lead to the collapse of the country if we don't allow the shareholders to get their full profits. They will use those profits to invest in drugs that will solve the problems we are seeing now IMO.
Ever considered that people just don’t want to have kids because of themselves or because of overpopulation concerns? What about uncertainty and concerns for kids future in a dystopian world
Overpopulation is a myth.
Exactly, this was a bit anti 'people who didn't want' or 'tried and didn't get to have', children. Especially women cos there aren't enough support systems to enable women to succeed as mothers and breadwinners (or even just as financial contributors)
So, basically we are willing to put up with lower fertility rates and higher hormonal disorder rates for convinient packaging. Single-use plastic is a scurge and we need to get rid of it as much as possible. And that is not only for our own sake but also for the sake of the environment. Thank you Shanna for raising awareness about this issue.
Bring back paper and wax, just make sure THEY'RE devoid of as many excess chemicals as possible, too. Good for the environment, good for our bodies.
Mine aren’t - but yes I’ve noticed it. As I drive around and look are other males driving
It's not obvious that men not looking for relationships is caused by lower sex drive. Could be, but also could be driven by many men simply giving up on what feels like a hopeless endeavour.
There are some huge claims made and I feel like the right questions were not asked. Most of us are aware about the plastics in our bodies, but Shanna says pretty much ANY contact with ANY plastic will make water/food contain that plastic, which is kind of wild. And if so: - does trying to minimize that contact would actually make any sense ?I mean how much would one reduce their exposure by swapping a plastic tupperware to glass.... - Are plastics an endless source of phthalates ? Say you have a reusable plastic jug - does that mean it will leach phthalates into your drinking water for eternity ? - Cosmetics are often mentioned as possible endocrine disruptors, but for whatever reason specific substances are never named.
It is impossible to fully avoid EDCs in our daily lives. However, yes, you should try to minimize the exposure to them. Any food that was in a plastic bag/wrapper will be contaminated, unfortunately. Start by replacing all your plastic cups with glass/metal ones. Avoid using plastic utensils. Avoid eating any canned foods because they spray BPA (a dangerous EDC) coating to prevent the inside of the metal can from corroding -- but this also contaminates the food itself. Also, NEVER ever microwave your food with plastic ever again. As for cosmetics, the main EDC in them are phthalates -- they are what help the product stay on your skin for a long time (phthalates are also found in many skin lotions!).
I have two Anchor ovenware dishes with glass lids.
You build testosterone by hard work ... not on the couch playing games and watching tv.
Yep. Its simple demand. If you dont need the t your body womt make it
Thats a nice slogan but far from true
Yeah guys need to stop playing videogames as much as they do. Problem is, they now spend hours watching other people play videogames lol
I build it by going to the pharmacy.
Thanks for this great Stream 🇬🇧🤜🤛🇩🇪
Not sure Israel is a good example of a high fertility rate exception because if you look at it geographically as a Middle Eastern country, it is actually below average compared to its neighbors. So the various factors of being in the region may be more important to fertility than the fact that it’s a “first world country.”
H.G. Wells' "The Food of the Gods", was a documentary...
Adam McDonald dedicated an episode to this. He raised his Ts with cutting out a lot of plastic, including gum.
I am curious if the low T is connected with population stress. Has anyone compared the T level of city dwellers vs. rural populations. I wonder if low T is not natures way of regulating population. For some time many ppl have been concerned about population levels getting too high around the globe. Coincidentally the low T is occurring at the same time that ppl are beginning to think “enough already with the babies”. Could nature have a homeostatic signals related to population growth to lowering T?
I'm not sure what benefit this would have clinically; it would be more beneficial to investigate "stress" as it correlates/is causal to testosterone deficiencies, which we have. It is not an easy nor prudent solution for an individual with low testosterone to advocate for their moving to a "rural" environment, of which needs strict defining before it can even be assessed. It would also be incredibly difficult to control for the different perceptions and tolerance levels for whatever stressors the studies would look at. I would suspect climates that are temperate and receive a lot of sunlight with relatively isolated populations and no food scarcity to have fairly "normal" levels of testosterone and other androgen levels. Would be interesting to read
@@advancedapathy1531 The human mind is a very subjective calculator and besides physiological parameters, it doesn't have an "objective standard" by which to measure its "stress" against. By this I mean; malnutrition, dangerous circumstances & frightening circumstances, fatigue, etc. are all common-place things for *most* humans across history. So while someone in prehistory has no concept of or word for the idea of "career anxieties" or having "healthcare," they may be equally frightened of tomorrow's food insecurities as someone today would be of those future concerns.
I think it’s actually a much simpler answer. Testosterone is created in the gonads, but production is stimulated by muscle, especially the large muscles. Squatting increases testosterone production quite a lot. Men don’t move as much as they used to. Much less men do manual labor. Use it or lose it.
True, men are much more sedentary now as compared to past generations. Guys today pay $ to watch other guys play videogames 😳
Testosterone production is multi-factorial - any number of metabolic conditions or lifestyle constraints and/or deficiencies (relative to normal function for that individual) can cause a decrease in testosterone production or its precursor steroids.
i think we have problem in 21century with testosterone because how we live have big impact on dht,testosterone etc. tons of food have big amount ingredients and they have very very big impact on man health, they block dht, testosterone and more.
Chris, not sure if you gonna see this, but once I saw a short of yours saying that you got your levels up by eating liver, taking ethilic ( ? ) omega 3 among other things. I haven't watched this video fully yeat, but if you could elaborate further on your diet, like howmuch liver and how many times per week are eating and how much fish oil, it would be great. Thanks bro.
I remember he said he took boron(?) along with a few other things and his T levels went way up. I remember being skeptical when he said that
This American Life and Ira Glass did a facscinating show like 20 years ago regarding testosterone levels...my take way was it is not what you think it is...and high T is not necessarily superior.
I want to get a test test but i dont think i could afford them. Or the means to have it at a healthy level for me. Also in all my years they've never taken one.
Berkey water filter comes with a plastic spigot but they offer a stainless steel spigot that you can change out.
Interesting content, so many KZhead adds though. KZhead adds are a kind of plastic…
This is nature regulating itself and it is well
Are the normies waking up yet? Too late, but its good to see the sheep finally start noticing the wolves and lava coming their way.
1:18:57 Who said this, I wonder? Would absolutely love to know. I could make a couple of guesses. 😅
I’ve been on that there TRT for 8 years 🙌🏽💪🏽😎
Nothing to shout about. You buy your masculinity from big pharma. I also gather it’s a life long thing once on it.
This could be the biggest problem in the world, maybe even in human history.
Eh unless this lower T is acctually causing major dysfunction it could be men need LESS T in general because of the change in society. Meaning long gone are the days of hunting and gathering. Most of our food comes from food markets so we need less big muscles and aggression The largest threat to humans are diseese, natural disaters, and other humans. We have big machines to do heavy lifting so again we dont need the sane strength. Lastly will live in a society were cooperation and agreeableness are more valuable then competition and violence. Thus human need less T
@@xMckingwill That's my point really, it's an open conspiracy to neuter the human race. Gone forever all individual genius which comes only from a single man, instead we'll have an obedient uninspired collective. Those in such a system will have no instinct as to what they're missing out on.
@@xMckingwill Low T rates equate to high infertility rates. That is a major dysfunction.
@@SlimClipper key word I said if there is dysfunction some men have lower T levels and function just fine.
@@SlimClipper Great points by both of you. Very interesting predicament. All we can do is take care of ourselves.
Low reproductivity, high industrialization. Social engi-nerd-ing and affluence. The correlation with phthalates is fucking mind blowing.
is there a case to be made for this to explain the dramatic rise in newer generations identifying as trans/other? I get that increasing societal acceptance will increase that, but the rise seems to exceed what most studies had found in past generations by magnitudes.
Societal pressures are VERY powerful. No one enjoys looking like a fool. Society can tell people how to feel (altering hormones) and why having babies would be a disadvantage etc.
Elon musk implanted a hormone-bot to make me docile and now I cant stop buying dogecoin.
Whats the shirt name on Gymshark?
Geo Seamless T-shirt
Never understand how people don't realize none of us can afford to live, buy a house, or anything else on top of AI going to take all the jobs but yet we should still have a baby