Male Fertility and Freeze Sperm
Many people are aware that female fertility declines with age, but male fertility also changes over time.
For example, this research(Nybo Andersen AM, Urhoj SK. Is advanced paternal age a health risk for the offspring?. Fertil Steril. 2017;107(2):312-318) states that advanced paternal age is consistently associated with serious health conditions in offspring, including birth complications, genetic syndromes, cancers, and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and schizophrenia.
The optimal reproductive age for men is generally between their early 20s and 40s. Since it takes about 120 days for sperm to develop from precursor cells to mature sperm, men who plan to freeze sperm should start preparing 4–5 months in advance to ensure high-quality sperm.
To clarify, spermatogenesis—the process of sperm formation—takes roughly 64–72 days, starting from the germ cells in the testes. After this, sperm spend additional time in the epididymis to mature and gain motility. Altogether, this full cycle from cell to fully mature sperm takes around 3–4 months, which is why early preparation is important.
During this preparation period, maintaining a healthy lifestyle is key: quitting smoking and alcohol, managing weight, and reducing stress. Traditional Chinese Medicine can also provide supportive care during this time.
After sperm collection, laboratory staff cannot judge sperm quality by appearance alone, so multiple collections are recommended, typically spaced about one week apart. This is especially important if the sperm will later be used for procedures like IUI, where a larger amount of sperm is needed, making the benefits of multiple collections outweigh the drawbacks.
Becoming My Own Object
Patients are objects.
Regardless of their objective clinical signs or their subjective complaints, to us, they are objects.
A few days ago, a patient with double vision told me that he saw two of me.
For that moment, I felt that I had become my own object.
From medical school to now, I have spent over ten years in clinical practice.
Although I have always had empathy for my patients, true shared experience between people is difficult—if not impossible.
Until that moment, when I became my own object.
The Importance of Breakfast for Gallbladder Health
It should be common sense that skipping breakfast may contribute to gallstone formation. Skipping breakfast is a poor dietary habit—not only from the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine, but also in modern medicine.
I use ChatGPT to search some studies:
Recent epidemiological research indicates a positive correlation between skipping breakfast and gallstone formation. A large U.S. study showed that delayed first meal time (e.g., skipping breakfast) was associated with higher gallstone prevalence (Sun et al., 2024) – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39737153/ PubMed Another analysis of NHANES data found that individuals with later breakfast patterns had increased gallstone risk compared to those who ate earlier in the day – https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-024-20512-x SpringerLink Additionally, a large prospective cohort study reported higher gallbladder and bile duct cancer risks (which are often linked to chronic gallstone pathology) among people who never ate breakfast – https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10465444/
I was thinking this should be common sense, especially for patients who already have gallstones. Doctors should educate them about the importance of eating habits. Even if they do not feel hungry in the morning, it is still beneficial to eat a small amount to establish a regular gastric acid secretion rhythm. Over time, this can help develop a “breakfast biological clock”, which may support better digestive and overall health.