"Our main reproductive organ is our brain" - Molly Kelly
In my last blog, we spoke on the gastrointestinal system and how stress affects it. The gastrointestinal tract breaks down food and drinks in order to provide nutrients for your body in order to have health and vitality. Stress affects the gut in various ways and in the last blog we spoke on various complications and diseases you can incur, which you can read about in my last blog. In this blog, I am going to elaborate on stress and the reproductive system. Now since we have two genders, we are going to speak on the male reproductive system, and in another blog the female. So let's get started!
The male reproductive system essentially is responsible for urination and as well as sexual function. This system is made up of organs which execute both of these function doing the following jobs. They produce, maintain and transport sperm and semen. Also, the discharge sperm into the female reproductive tract and they produce and secrete male sex hormones. Now when it comes to stress and the reproductive system it can be heavily affected especially with your testosterone levels. Testosterone is a hormone produced in your testicles which are important to normal male development and functions.
(https://ib.bioninja.com.au/standard-level/topic-6-human-physiology/66-hormones-homeostasis-and/male-reproductive-system.html)
Stress lowers your testosterone levels insurmountably. When you're always in fight or flight mode, there will be no chance for you to think about reproduction and you'll incur so many deficiencies as well. When you have lower testosterone levels, there are so many problems that you can encounter, according to the Cleveland Clinic is
Low sex drive
Erectile dysfunction
Decreased sense of well-being
Depressed mood
Difficulties with concentration and memory
Fatigue
Moodiness and Irritability
Loss of muscular strength
These are all the effects of testosterone levels psychologically and physiologically when they are low. Also another issue is what stress relates to your sperm production and motility. Your ability to manage stress affects the hormones in your body to increase sperm production and your quality of sperm. Sperm quality is determined by quantity, movement, and structure (morphology), so when your enduring stressors and going through stressful situations it inhibits you from actually being able to reap the benefits of having this. Understanding this is a whole blog in itself, but I did my best to introduce this topic, so you can do more research on your own time.
This is why stress management is so crucial and imperative for your health, vitality, and growth as an individual for yourself and the em-betterment of society as a whole. I hope you enjoyed this blog, and we will be going over the stress and female reproductive system next. Have a great rest of the day!! Peace!! :)
Comments