Infertility, isolation, and understanding
Fertility specialist and author of “Fertility Rules” Leslie Shrock deep dives into fertility issues - especially male fertility. Leslie explains the taboo topics of porn addiction and steroid use and how it affects male fertility.
Transcript
Infertility today is much more common than most people know. And I think that part of the problem is no one wants to talk about it.
[MUSIC PLAYING] Fertility is actually a mirror of our health in general.
So the menstrual cycle for women can tell you a lot about your overall health-- when it's irregular, when there are other gynecological issues
in play. For men, sperm is actually a biomarker as well. So, sperm testing is not something that is done traditionally in a doctor's office for any reason
other than infertility. But it turns out we can actually tell-- it can indicate cancer. It can indicate other conditions that may not even be obvious.
And so really, to me, fertility in those two contexts is actually a really important thing
to understand about your body. Shh. One of the biggest problems in male reproductive health today
is porn addiction. Something happens to men who watch a lot of porn-- two things. It's a physical problem, also a mental problem.
And they can't enjoy sex the same way, because they have this idea in their head of what that all looks like. That also trickles into their partner's mental health,
because they then feel that they are never good enough. Porn addiction is a very big problem that is never spoken of and hard to address,
because most men just won't seek treatment. Steroid use is actually very common. It's almost exclusively used for aesthetic reasons.
And men who have been using it for a long time often do not know that it has long-lasting effects
on their fertility. There's a lot of really interesting psychology also with, like, the mentality of men's relationship
with their own bodies, especially if it's something that you've been doing for long enough that the person you're now with and have
been with for a long time has no idea that you're even taking it.
mens health
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