What is the male biological clock?

Question

Does male fertility decline with age? Is storing ones own sperm for later fathering, as is being done in India, something that makes sense to insure healthier babies when older?

Is older fathering of babies wise for the health of the child?

http://themalebiologicalclock.blogspot.com/

http://how-old-is-too-old.blogspot.com/

http://ebdblog.com/paternalage/

http://ageofthefatherandhealthoffuture.blogspot.com/

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/10/021018080014.htm

Answer 1

I only recently found out that men DO have a biological clock!

Not in the same way women do. Men CAN father children all their lives. But their fertility does drop with age. Apparently the "sperm factory" gets a bit flawed with age. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/10/021018080014.htm

An even more important factor is the question of whether there is any risk to the babies health with fathering babies in your later years.

I always knew as a woman gets older, she has a greater risk of having a child with Down's syndrome, but I very recently found out the age of the father greatly increases that risk! http://www.webmd.com/content/article/70/80975.htm

And a study from just a few months ago showed that a man in his 40s has a 5 times greater risk of having a child with autism than a man in his 20s!!! (almost twice the risk when in 30s compared to 20s) When a man is in his 50s, the risk is 9 TIMES HIGHER! http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/04/AR2006090400513_pf.html

Upon hearing that study I realized my brother's 2 autistic children were born when he was 36 & 40.

There are also increased risks for schizophrenia.
http://www.schizophreniaforum.org/for/curr/Malaspina/default.asp


Many men father babies in their later years & the kids turn out fine. But everyone should know the increased risks involved.

After all, the child is the one who pays the biggest price.

Answer 2

This sounds like another invention to sell more products to us consumers. The fact, as the paramedic from SC pointed out, is that men will continue to produce healthy sperm until death, and while sperm counts may go up or down during one's lifetime, there is only a correlation and not a causation between aging and declining male fertility.

Older fathering of children is not as good since by the time the child is about and about he/she will not grow up with a strong and healthy father but an aging one who will not be there for them later in life. But this is more of a social issue and not a medical one.

Answer 3

There really isn't one. Men produce sperm until the day they die; unlike women who are born with all of their eggs. However, after age 40 or so, a male's testosterone level can drop causing a decrease in sex drive.

Paramedic in SC