Researchers are finding more and more evidence that ties heavy marijuana usage to male infertility. And while men who smoke weed may be able to conceive, it may increase the chance of autism in their offspring.
This result poses critical considerations for couples attempting to have babies. There’s still more to be uncovered, but there are real worries regarding marijuana’s influence on sperm for prospective fathers, especially when dads-to-be consume it in small doses.
Health Concerns Related To Marijuana
If a couple is having difficulty conceiving, the medical consensus is that they should try abstinence for a few months. Physicians who counsel guys attempting to conceive against using cannabis are not merely trying to dampen their high.
Research indicates that marijuana has a specific effect on sperm. Excessive marijuana usage affects sperm numbers, sperm motility (essentially, their ability to move toward an egg), and sperm deformity.
Recent research indicates that marijuana has deleterious impacts on sperm concentration, viability, and the capacity to undergo the necessary modifications to penetrate an egg.
It is also possible that sperm levels of testosterone and other hormones that affect fertility could fluctuate, although there is little information to confirm this.
This doesn’t mean cannabis renders sperm absolutely useless — centuries of teenage pregnancies demonstrate that’s not the case. But for men who are looking for the best shot with their shot, it’s worth cleaning up one’s act.
If this study is any indicator, the influence of marijuana on sperm may be more than previously believed.
Rose Schrott, who was a doctoral student at Duke University at the time the study was conducted and was a co-author of the study, was surprised to find a significant link between male marijuana use and changes in a gene implicated in autism.
Schrott chose to concentrate on specific genes after additional research revealed 177 probable genetic alterations in the sperm of marijuana-using men.
Utilizing 24 males, 12 users and 12 non-users, animal models, and genome-wide sequencing of DNA segments, she and her colleagues discovered that when men smoked or ingested marijuana, the DLGAP2 gene underwent significant methylation.
This is significant since the found DLGAP2 gene is significantly related to autism, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
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How Long Does It Stay In Your System?
Meanwhile, according to Healthline, it can take between one and three hours to feel the full effects of marijuana and another one to three hours for those effects to wear off.
According to American Addiction Centers, the effects of consuming weed edibles can last for multiple hours. When the effects of marijuana have worn off, it can be detectable in the body for a much longer duration.
Medical News Today claims first-time smokers may have cannabis detected for “about 3 days,” while more persistent smokers at three to four times per week can have it detected “5-7 days” later.
Those who consume marijuana on a daily basis should expect tests to identify the drug for at least 30 days. As per Medical News Today, specific tests include urine, saliva, hair, and blood testing. Urine testing can identify marijuana between three and thirty days after ingestion.
Saliva tests normally identify cannabis within 24 hours but have been found to detect cannabis for up to three days following consumption.
Hair tests can detect cannabis for up to 90 days, but they can produce false-positive results if the individual being tested was in recent contact with a cannabis user. Blood tests can identify marijuana for up to four hours.
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