Fathers Are Getting Older, Science Is Telling Us That's A Problem

[@emcd3589]

Thank you for addressing the rampant misogyny in the unequal obsession with materal age vs. paternal age.

[@NeuroEverything]

Glad you enjoyed the video! It's honestly very uncomfortable seeing how science hyperfixated on maternal age (at least until very recently).

[@A3A3adamsan]

There is an unequal difference between the two, though. An old man has a child, they may be less healthy, or smart. An old woman cannot have children. That's quite unequal outcome of aging, wouldn't you say? Is addressing a more serious problem that woman face "misogyny"?

[@pamdabeep]

​@@A3A3adamsanwhile the older man still could have kids, it's unethical for him to do so...yet society never bats an eye. Paternal age matters just as much, if not more, as men think it's totally fine to have kids as they get older despite the science saying it's a horrible idea.

[@A3A3adamsan]

​@@pamdabeep Science doesn't say anything like that. At what age EXACTLY is it not ethical to have children? When you are 60? 55? 30? A 30 year old's son might have a slightly worse chance, than a 25 year old's son, so is it therefore unethical to have kids at 30? It's ridiculous. Society never bats an eye is not quite true. I know, my father was over 70 when I was born. I'm the highest educated among his children, I have no genetic diseases. Last time my IQ was measured, a decade ago, it was around 130. Would the world be a better place without me? Even, if I had Down syndrome... What are you saying exactly? Would the world be a better place, if people with Down syndrome were not alive?

[@emcd3589]

​@A3A3adamsan I'm suprised that I have to point this out but the discussion of late maternal age does not include post menopausal women. It includes people of reproductive age only.

[@Iselas181]

My wife and i started having kids at 30, now at 36 we have 4 kids all super healthy. A lot of the issues come from men eating a lot of unhealthy food, lots of micro plastics and almost no exercise. I am a very healthy person in general, I exercise twice a day, I eat a very balanced diet and I avoid plastics as much as possible. I also live outside a small town with little to no pollution. There is research coming out that shows micro plastics damaging mens ability to produce viable sperm, and this doesn't even take into account the amount of pollution people are exposed to in cities. If people knew what break dust and tire dust does to their lungs they would not want to live in a city. All of this being said, age plays a role but our bodies are under attack daily. Our DNA is directly affected, our ability to produce sperm is heavily impacted, and nobody is talking about it.

[@renatonascimento9306]

okay. but couldn't the use of frozen sperm increase the chance of other problems? such as metabolic syndromes. IVF methods don't replicate the same selective pressure on sperm as natural fertilization. other concerns can also be raised, such as cryopreservation stress and epigenetic changes. if you want to give your children the best chances, have them now. cryopreservation may solve some, but introduces a whole set of new problems. some of the research you brought also isn't free from bias or confounding factors, this is inherently a hard subject to research, as human data is limited and mostly observational.

[@jessa5388]

Almost certainly not. Freezing should not cause chemical changes in sperm. We freeze cells all the time and they're totally fine. We've been freezing sperm for decades with no ill effects. Freezing is fast, thawing is gentle.

[@Kkubey]

I wonder whether it could also be related to the reason they had children later in life. Similarly to how younger siblings rarely have the full parental attention. So apart from genetic results that might affect health, there could also be unlinked factors, especially with things like autism. People who have children in their 20s usually don't seem as concerned or distracted by other matters compared to those who don't have children (yet) or become parents much later.

[@1Hippo]

Very interesting, always great to see the original research. Few remarks though: 1:30 Hard to draw conclusions from this, since the 95% confidence intervals are huge and overlapping. Especially in the older age groups is less data available. Age 40+ has a lower bound even below 1 and 45+ has the weird effect of showing apparently less risk again. 2:43 This looks more solid, uses data from 2.7M swedes and the 95% CI mostly separates from the baseline and low age groups.

[@NeuroEverything]

I agree that the range at the 95% confidence levels overlapping is an issue. The sample size is an issue with all of these studies and it's really difficult to get statistically significant results as a consequence. It's a little unavoidable as a lot of these conditions are relatively rare. The Swedish study is definitely better, but I think the Spain study is great in its own way. It's one of the very first studies to illustrate any differences having been published in 2010.

[@Kat-nh7un]

I’m so glad you made an educational video discussing the “older father.” Everyone blames everything on an older mother, but I always found it strange that men in their 40s, 50s, and even 60s and beyond will have kids yet it is rarely studied whether or not their older age affects the future health of their baby/ child.

[@NeuroEverything]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the video.

[@CJ-ft9yo]

I’ve often wondered why mental health is on the decline in kids and autism, ADHD etc is skyrocketing … when I was young, the average age for parents were 25. I never even heard of autism or dyslexia in school, but undiagnosed then I guess. Now just every dad in the school is around 40. It’s interesting.

[@CarsoDeck]

It can cost hundreds to thousands a year to freeze sperm or eggs. People are already paycheck to paycheck unable to save even $500. How would they ever be able to afford to freeze sperm or eggs? This is a luxury most people can never access unfortunately.

[@NeuroEverything]

Yes, I completely understand that this may not be a feasible solution for all. Unfortunately, it does seem like the only solution out of this problem that we've got right now. It's a bit of a catch-22 situation where if you're young and can't afford a child... you probably also can't afford long term sperm and egg freezing technology.

[@alexc2265]

I consider the lifestyle choices and difficulties of male autistics and those with autistic traits to be a significant confounding variable in several of the studies in question, but the evidence for genetic damage is damning.

[@Karmala-ki5ue]

SO interesting. Hopefully this gets more views.

[@NeuroEverything]

Thank you! Really glad you enjoyed this video :)

[@paulwobo1930]

What about studies claiming there is telomore lengthening with older fathers and grandfathers possibly improving longevity? Seems to also make somewhat sense as an evolutionary adaption.

[@NeuroEverything]

While there are a few studies that demonstrated longer telomeres in the offspring of older fathers… this hasn’t translated to any findings demonstrating increased lifespan (quite the contrary). This shouldn’t be surprising tbh. Men are born with longer telomeres than women but experience more rapid telomere shortening and end up living shorter lives (even when accounting for all social factors). What I’m trying to say is that comparing telomere length at birth and using that to predict lifespan isn’t a great idea because our evidence suggests that longer telomeres at birth may be a compensatory effect of shorter lifespans - rather than the cause of longer lifespans.

[@szymonbaranowski8184]

old people shouldnt raise children their role is to be grandpa for grandchildren with service to them

[@Andy251153]

damn my dad struggled with my mom to have kids, i think for like 10 years. he got fraternal twins through ivf. he was 39 when i was born in 99 it makes me wonder just how badly it affected development, along with the fact that IVF also has impacts on develpment, but its not like i can change anything now. not getting into a lot, but it all makes sense now

[@NeuroEverything]

Hi. I do think that sometimes it's best not to think about "what could have been," as you can end up digging yourself into quite a big hole... and, as you say, there isn't much that we can do about it. It's better to focus on the things that are within our control.

[@krishnathite7609]

Your thumbnail photo looks somewhat similar to rohit sharma

[@szymonbaranowski8184]

most of it can also be explained with mthfr and overload of artificial folate

[@BigBossIsBack]

Older men are a problem but you can't do anything with a 40 year old uterus

[@YuniX2]

I was born with a 40 year old uterus and my mom had menopause almost a decade later. Try again.

[@BigBossIsBack]

You have a double digit IQ and an extra chromosome 😂😂​@@YuniX2

[@tquasa07]

Women want to and expect to have $10,000 spending cash per month, vacation to Aruba, Colorado ski resort, Disney, the big city, every year. You can't make this ish up; everyone's expectations are for grandeur, so you have kids later and later

[@NeuroEverything]

I'm not entirely sure why you're singling out women here. The reality is that what you're describing applies to plenty of men and women. You're telling me men in their 20s don't want to go travelling... spend money on cars and gaming consoles... and drink until 3am with their friends? No.

[@tquasa07]

@@NeuroEverything it's an everyone thing, but I also have specific experience the support what I said, and the reason I'm bitter is because I failed at life and slept around on and led on a good woman (a good woman with very loose spending habits and a delusional idea of her future)

[@Beepbleep413]

@@tquasa07well I’m sorry you had a bad experience but maybe don’t generalize all women?

[@Kkubey]

If you are with someone who takes advantage of you regardless of gender, talk to them about it. If they think that's how it should be, go live a healthy life without being exploited.

[@CJ-ft9yo]

Yes I’m a woman and I expect to have a $10000 spending cash and to go to Disney, so does Mabel my 96 year old neighbour because she’s a woman too … do you really expect to taken seriously?