Men have biological clocks too

by Bethany Sanders (Subscribe to Bethany Sanders's posts) Jul 8th 2008 10:00AM

Categories: Just For Dads, Pregnancy & Birth, In The News

What do Rod Stewart, Michael Douglas, and Charlie Chaplin have in common? They all had children at an age when many dads are enjoying their grandchildren (60, 58, and 73, respectively, for those of you who are interested).

Though it's far more common to find a 70-year-old father than it is a mother of the same age, recent studies have shown that men have biological clocks too. And just like women, those clocks start to tick around age 35.

French researchers studied over 12,000 couple who were undergoing fertility treatments. What they discovered was that when a man is over the age of 35, the chance of his partner miscarrying increases. When a man is over the age of 40, the chances of a successful pregnancy drop even further. The culprit, say experts, is DNA damage to the sperm.

Young at heart: Famous older dads(click thumbnails to view gallery)

This study is part of a growing body of evidence that, even if they can't hear it, men's biological clocks tick loudly once they hit their mid-30s. This may change the way that fertility specialists handle treatment in couples where the man is older, so that they can have their best shot at becoming parents.

Source

Comments (1)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Amanda 7-08-2008 @ 5:42PM

I remember a couple months ago I read an article about how another factor that can affect a man's fertility is vascular disease, the risk of which increases with age. It was saying that as a man ages, the vascular tissue is not as resilient and thus decrease sprem count and production. I do not know where I found this article, most likely a link from teh msn home page, have you read anything similar?

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