When people reach middle age, many people become “fat”, especially after the age of 40, work and life pressure increases, busy work every day, exercise less, plus smoking, drinking too much, the body began to obese. This time to have children, can be easy to get?
You may have heard that women are too fat to have children easily, but in fact, obesity in men can also lead to infertility. The mechanisms that cause male infertility are also diverse. The role of obesity on male fertility is mainly from 5 aspects:
1.Obesity causes excessive peripheral adipose tissue, which leads to the conversion of androgens to estrogens in the body under the action of aromatase, causing an increase in estrogen levels and a decrease in testosterone levels in the body, which is an important requirement for sperm production, and a decrease in testosterone will lead to an impact on sperm production and cause secondary male hypogonadism.
2.Obesity can lead to hypertension, hyperglycemia, and hyperlipidemia, also known as metabolic syndrome. Recent research has shown that metabolic syndrome can affect male gonadal function and lead to impaired sperm production.
3.Excessively obese men have fat accumulation in the lower abdomen, which affects the heat dissipation function of the scrotum and will increase the temperature of the scrotum. Normally, the scrotal temperature is 2 to 3°C lower than the body temperature, which is suitable for sperm production. Increased scrotal temperature decreases semen parameters and increases sperm DNA damage and oxidative stress. The accumulation of fat around the scrotum also inhibits heat dissipation and increases the local temperature of the testes, which can cause a decrease in sperm quality. In addition, obese patients tend to exercise less than normal people, and long-term inactivity can also affect sperm quality.
4.Obesity also affects male libido and sexual function, and can lead to erectile dysfunction or ejaculatory dysfunction, which can affect male reproductive function.
5.Obesity is often associated with sleep apnea, which causes oxygen deprivation in the body and affects sperm production and viability.
How do you know if you are obese? BMI is a number derived by dividing body weight in kilograms by height in meters squared, and is an internationally used standard for measuring the fatness of the human body and whether it is healthy. BMI values for adults:
Underweight: under 18.5; normal: 18.5 to 23.9; overweight: 24 to 27; obese: 28 to 32; very obese: over 32.
Men who are preparing for pregnancy should exercise more and keep their weight under control.