177 – Will going in the sauna ruin my sperm?

A series of inappropriate locker room conversations reveals two things: Sophie’s friends don’t have a good sense of boundaries and there’s a lot of anxiety regarding sperm health.

In theory, higher temperatures do affect sperm.

But this a clinically meaningful effect or are we seeing a rehash of the worry around whirlpools from the 80s and 90s.

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Editor: Robyn Flynn Theme music: “Fall of the Ocean Queen“ by Joseph Hackl Rod of Asclepius designed by Kamil J.

Przybos Chris’ book, Does Coffee Cause Cancer?: https://ecwpress.com/products/does-coffee-cause-cancer Obviously, Chris is not your doctor (probably).

This podcast is not medical advice for you; it is what we call information.

References: Oxidative stress and the impact on fertility https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32033035/ Heat and the impact on spermatogenesis: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7070831/ 2002 study of 8 normozoospermic patients who used a sauna dailiy for 2 weeks: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1365-2605.1998.00138.x?sid=nlm%3Apubmed 2007 study of 11 infertile men after exposure to hot tubs: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17335598/ 2013 study showing a repeated but reversible impairment in spermatogenesis after sauna exposure: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23411620/ 2018 systematic review: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5941775/ Declining fertility rates in Finland: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00324728.2020.1750677#d1e147