On campus, I am constantly seeing teenage men and women wearing jeans. This article of clothing is considered fashionable and is acceptable to wear to classes as well as a plethora of other places. That being said, there is an element of risk a male takes when deciding to wear jeans in which are too tight on him. There are health risks in which have correlated with people who wear skinny jeans. Could there really be a problem involving the health risks a male has when he decides to make the “harmless” (or maybe not so harmless) decision to put on jeans that are too slim on him.

Let’s first take a look at how often people really do where jeans.

• Americans wear jeans 4.2 days a week on average
  • Men wear them 3.9 days a week on average
  • Women wear them 4.7 days a week on average

A majority of the week, males and females tend to wear jeans.  That is quite frequent if you consider how many weeks there are in a year in which males and females choose to wear this article of clothing.

I have decided to look at a study in which analyzes how the tightness of a male’s jeans correlates with dyspermia. 121 men within their late 20’s and early 30’s were examined. The controls of the group were normospermic infertile men with two normal semen analyses.  Tight trousers and underpants were examined along with possible confounding variables such as smoking, alcohol, coffee-drinking, age, and education.

When examining the results of the study, the researchers used odds ratios to show how strongly there is a connection between two things ( in this case pant ‘tightness’ and sperm count). The odds ratio being over one means there is a much more likely chance there is a correlation between the two. A narrower confidence level of 95% is used in this experiment to correspond with the 5% chance that results are due to chance (a conventional rule).

It was found that when comparing men who wore loose fitting underpants versus those who wore tight underpants that the odds ratio was 1.9 (with a confidence level of 95% being between 0.9-4.1).   It was found that when comparing men who wore loose fitting trousers versus those who wore tight trousers that the odds ratio was 1.6 (with a confidence level of 95% being between 0.9-3.0). When then comparing men who wore both loose pants and underwear versus those who wore loose underpants and trousers, the odds ratio was 2.5 (with the confidence level of 95% being between 1.2-5.2).  The odds ratios seemed to show that there was a high chance the tightness of the jeans lowered sperm count.

The p-value of these results was less than 5%. As we discussed in class, the researchers can then reject the null hypothesis that the tight jeans do not affect sperm count. The p-value being less than 5% elevates the confidence we find in the results but does not mean these results are not a fluke as results due to chance are always possible. These results do not necessarily prove that sperm quality or count is decreased when a person wears tighter clothing. However, there is a correlation with these results and we can see a strong possibility of causation. No reverse causation is possible here.

I would not necessarily warn men not to wear jeans but would inform them to be cautious of the results that accompany wearing them this far as more research is needed to support these results.

One theory that can explain the reason tight-fitting jeans may affect sperm count is explained by Justus Liebig University Giessen who claims, “’wearing tight fitting under trousers is associated with higher scrotal and consequently testicular temperatures than wearing loose fitting under trousers or none.”

It seems a human’s internal temperature, which is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, is much too hot for a man’s testicles. Therefore, they are located outside the body. The heat created by the tight pants may lower a man’s sperm count as heat tends to kill off sperm.

Amos Grunebaum, MD, director of clinical maternal-fetal medicine at the New York Hospital-Cornell Weill Medical College states: “Anything you do that damages sperm will affect them for the next 10 to 11 weeks.”  Reversing the causes of lowering one’s sperm count thus take time to occur.

In conclusion, the study above has results in which were eye-catching as the p-value was under 5%, meaning the researchers should reject the null hypothesis.  More studies with similar results must be done to consider this scientific knowledge.  The explanations behind why the sperm count are lowered deal with the heat produced near the male’s groin area when jeans are too tight.  Men, I suggest going with looser fitting jeans for both style and safety.

https://books.google.com/books?id=FGps_gqjp_8C&pg=PA18&lpg=PA18&dq=average+number+of+days+a+week+people+wear+jeans&source=bl&ots=9M9e4b8nJW&sig=hkXue_1ayV3I5Tz9U9n84bqqmHw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDUQ6AEwBGoVChMI4MHeu5rCyAIVwoI-Ch15YAuW#v=onepage&q=average%20number%20of%20days%20a%20week%20people%20wear%20jeans&f=false

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2605.1995.tb00400.x/epdf

http://mentalfloss.com/uk/health/26660/do-tight-jeans-cause-infertility-in-men

http://kidshealth.org/teen/expert/guy_stuff/tighties.html

http://www.webmd.com/infertility-and-reproduction/features/boxers-vs-briefs-increasing-sperm-count

http://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/t_article_image/dalb5tccd7o6j274h5kk.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zdMsE5mi4C0/maxresdefault.jpg

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