How to Prepare for a Semen Analysis
You may do it all the time, but not for academic reasons. Now they’re asking you to provide a semen sample to see how it measures up. If you feel like you’re being singled out, don’t. Truth is, there’s a long history of looking at semen under a microscope. The Dutch lens maker van Leeuwenhoekfirst peered at sperm...CONTINUE READING→
The Rhythm of Language
Dear Mr. Dad: My 2 ½-year old is learning lots lot of new words, but has trouble singing even the simplest song. And although he sometimes rocks in time to music, he’s almost never on the beat. Is there a connection between language, music and rhythm, and is a problem with any of them a...CONTINUE READING→
The Skinny on STIs and Male Infertility
How many sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are there right now in the U.S.? Believe it or not, 110,000,000! That’s double the number of folks that get the flu each year. Talk about an epidemic! Not only that, but 20,000,000 new STIs are diagnosed each year. Fully half of these infections occur in 15- to 24-year-olds. Unfortunately, most studies examining STIs and...CONTINUE READING→
Making Veterans’ Healthcare More Patient-Centered
The population of American veterans is not “one size fits all.” As someone who spent nearly 13 years on active duty in the Army, including nine months in the Middle East during Operation Desert Shield, I know that personally. Varying military experiences, and the specific health issues associated with them, pose ongoing challenges for the...CONTINUE READING→
Abortion: An Issue That Affects All of Us
Dear Mr. Dad: I remember a thoughtful column you wrote a few years ago about abortion and the need for men and women to talk about it. I’m wondering whether your thinking has changed in light of the draconian anti-abortion laws in Georgia, Alabama, and other places. I’m also wondering what you think about the...CONTINUE READING→
What You Didn’t Learn in Sex Ed
Is it my imagination or does every new electronic device, be it an alarm clock, cooking widget or cell phone, come with a 100-page owner’s manual? No more learning by simple intuition or reason nowadays. According to Malcolm Bradbury, the digital age is different: “We don’t have reason; we have computation. We don’t have a...CONTINUE READING→
Young Men’s Body Image
As a female college student, I have participated in a fair number of conversations about body image and self-esteem. For many college women, these conversations revolve around how much they had to eat that day, that they cannot treat themselves for a while, or that they need to get back on the treadmill this semester....CONTINUE READING→
Age-Related Muscle Loss: A Serious Health Problem with Simple Solutions
As we age, we often accept changes in our body and health as being part of the aging process. The fact is though, we don’t have to accept these changes. For men, the amount of muscle we have, or our strength is often connected to our virility and stamina. This being said, the condition sarcopenia...CONTINUE READING→
Six Important Ways to Let a Man Know He’s Sexually Desired
I have a secret I need to confess, up front. For most of my life I believed that there was something wrong with me because I wasn’t always interested in sex and ready to jump at every opportunity to have it. Like many boys reaching adolescence, I was very interested in sex and talking to...CONTINUE READING→
Boys and Girls: Nature vs. Nurture
Dear Mr. Dad: My husband and I have a boy and a girl and we try as much as we can to treat them the same way. We don’t limit our daughter’s wardrobe to pink and our son’s to blue and we’ve banned gender-stereotyped toys from the house. But our daughter still behaves like a...CONTINUE READING→