Every system in the human body is unique and fascinating and has its specific organs to do tasks. The reproductive system is one of the complex structures of the human body. We listed 5 surprising facts about the reproductive system.
- Testicles are located outside the body for cooling
Are you aware of the fact that sperm cells are incredibly highly vulnerable to heat? Yep, in fact, sperm cells simply can’t stand a hot environment that your testicles need to be located outside of the body.
Pretty neat, huh? It may never cross your mind, but when you think about it, at 37 degrees Celsius, the inside of the human body is actually pretty hot.
This temperature is generally too hot for the sperm cells to survive at all, and as such the testicles are hanging outside your body which gives them room to breathe cooler air.
The scrotum, which is the skin holding the testicles hanging in between your crotch also can move up and down to adjust the temperature when needed.
According to an article published on the Verywell Health website, this unique positioning serves a vital purpose for their proper function. The testicles need to maintain a lower temperature than the rest of the body to produce healthy sperm. By hanging outside the body, they are able to stay cooler, as the scrotum can adjust its position in response to environmental factors such as temperature, helping to ensure optimal sperm production and fertility.
When your body is cold, the scrotum comes closer to your body and when your body is hot it moves further away from it.
- Healthy men produce some 500 million sperm cells daily
The testicles are definitely one of the busiest factories in the world. Do you know how many sperm cells they produce every single day? Some whopping 500 million sperm cells.
This is the average number for men who are considered healthy by today’s standard.
Meanwhile, some 250 million sperm cells get out of your body when you ejaculate. That’s a pretty massive number, right?
Men need to produce a ton of sperm cells in order to ensure that at least ONE of those swimmers can make it to the egg for conception. This is a survival of the fittest.
The vagina and the egg themselves also need to have a tough protection system to make sure only the fittest sperm gets to the egg in order to create the highest quality human being.
If your sperm cells are super healthy and 2 cells reach two eggs at the same time, you’ll be making twins!
- The vagina is very acidic to protect itself
So, you probably have heard about this, that the vagina is a very acidic environment.
In fact, it is so acidic that sperm cells easily die off upon entering the vagina. This is all a good thing by design, you know.
The vagina needs to be extremely acidic to ensure protection. This way the bacteria from outside of the body will find it super hard to survive and enter the female system easily.
This acidity naturally creates some kind of barrier so that harmful bacteria or yeast can’t find themselves multiplying at a rapid rate.
As stated by the National Institute of Health, the Lactobacilli species, a prevalent component of the vaginal microbiome, has the ability to generate an acidic pH and bacteriocins. These properties work in synergy to combat bacteria in the vaginal environment. By producing an acidic environment, Lactobacilli play a crucial role in safeguarding women against sexually transmitted pathogens and opportunistic infections. This natural defense mechanism serves to maintain a healthy balance and protect the vaginal ecosystem.
This is how the female reproductive system protects itself from infection.
If the vagina pH level is too alkaline, bacteria will find it easier to reside, multiply, and spread.
In order to keep the natural acidity of the vagina intact, women are advised not to rely on perfumed douches and the likes.
- Oral health plays a big role in a foetus’ health
This one may not be as common knowledge as it should be, but the thing is, oral health can greatly affect a woman’s pregnancy.
These two things are so highly correlated that a mother’s oral health can determine the health of her foetus.
First off, being pregnant itself is already a cause for big hormonal changes in a woman’s body.
These hormonal changes could potentially cause an increase in the risks of catching gum diseases.
Given that in our modern world so many types of food contain excessive sugar or the likes, the risks double and even triple for women who regularly consume such foods.
In order to prevent a variety of gum diseases, which can then cause health problems to the growing foetus, pregnant women are advised to pay close attention to their dental hygiene and care and regularly have a dental check-up.
- The hormone that makes men ‘manly’ is called androgen
You surely have heard a lot about how testosterone plays a role in developing male characteristics in men (although clearly, women also have testosterone, just in much smaller amounts).
But you probably have not heard much about androgen.
Actually, androgen is not a single hormone, rather, it is a cluster (or group) of hormones that eventually become responsible for creating ‘manly’ men.
In simple terms, the presence of androgen helps men achieve that manliness that everyone seems to covet. The most well-known androgen is definitely testosterone itself.
But there are more hormones within this cluster, such as androstenedione and dihydrotestosterone (or DHT for short).
Many male enhancement supplements will focus on some of these famous androgens to help men achieve higher libido levels and get bigger erections.
As stated by Better Health, hormones play a crucial role in various processes such as growth, reproduction, and overall well-being. Among these hormones, androgens are responsible for bestowing men with their distinct “male” characteristics, a process known as virilization. The primary sex hormone in males is testosterone, predominantly produced in the testes.
But there are other ways to increase androgens naturally, either by food or specialized exercises.
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- Ovaries are very fertile
Surprisingly, girls are born with plenty of eggs. An average girl is born with between one to two million eggs.
But due to various factors, the number drops so that by the time she’s having her first menstruation, only about 300,000 eggs remain.
This is still quite a large number. But the quantity keeps dropping with each cycle. Studies indicate that on average, women lose about a thousand immature eggs per month.
This affects her fertility but not so significantly. A woman may still be able to give birth to 35 children during her biologically-active age.
But the decline is sharp so that by the time a woman reaches menopause, she will have less than a thousand eggs. These eggs remain trapped helplessly.
Further, the remnant eggs would be so ravaged and damaged to even make a decent zygote after fertilization. So they are simply wasted away as they can’t drop down the fallopian tube.
- The smallest and the largest cells
Human beings comprise cell multiplication. The sperm cell fuses with the egg to become an embryo that then grows into a fetus.
But did you know that the male sperm is one of the smallest cells in humans, while the egg is the largest cell? Each of these cells passes over its key DNA to the offspring.
The human cells vary in dimensions. The average size is about 100um in diameter. The smallest is the red blood cells being so small that it misses the nuclei.
The sperm is amongst the smallest, measuring between 0.003 – 0.005 mm in length.
By contrast, the egg is so huge it can almost be seen by the naked eye. Its diameter is a whooping 120mm.
The sperm is produced in millions and each ejaculation releases up to 200 million of these minute cells. It’s versatile when deposited in the vagina, remaining alive for up to five days
Yet an egg can only live for 24 hours after release.
- The uterus is vital for reproduction
For any woman, this pear-shaped organ plays an important role. It initiates menstruation during puberty, signifying that your female relative has come of reproductive age.
But this is just the beginning of many other functions that this female anatomy performs. It supports egg fertilization, gestation, pregnancy, and labor.
This thick-walled muscular organ is highly flexible and able to expand and accommodate a growing fetus. It can change from grapefruit size during the first trimester to watermelon size during the final phase of pregnancy.
Strange enough, the uterus forms another protective shield around the unborn baby. It helps to feed and nourish the baby but is ejected once the child is born.
Uterus also prepares a woman for pregnancy after each menstrual cycle.
But it’s not just about ovulation and pregnancy only. The organ is also important for sex. The most intense orgasm stems from the cervix, only besides clitoral excitement. The cervix is a highly-erotic uterus opening.
- Vagina teems with micro-organisms
While the penis is usually alkaline, the vagina is typically acidic. Its pH ranges between 3.8 and 5.0 in the hydrogen concentration in a solution register.
This makes it moderately acidic. Still, it’s bustling with a myriad of microbiomes.
The vagina hosts many guarding bacteria and is basically a whole ecosystem. There are all kinds of bacteria existing within the small cavity.
Over 580 bacteria from ten different clusters coexist. The three main clusters are Firmicutes (34%), followed by Proteobacteria (25.8%) then by Actinobacteria (17.4%), and Bactriodentes (12.7%).
These helpful bacteria survive the hostile acidic ground within the vagina. But the key player here is the bacteria from the genus Lactobacillus. They create the acidity that acts to protect women against sexually transmitted pathogens and opportunistic infections.
The essence is to turn the environment hostile to potentially harmful bacteria that could bring foreign infections. Thus any fungi, bacteria, and yeasts invading from outside are eliminated on contact with this surface.
- High-pitched men have better sperms
Women are always attracted to the booming deep voice of men. And the deeper it is, the more attractive females find these men.
Numerous studies conclude that besides prominent jaws and muscle mass, women prefer men with a baritone voice.
But all these features could be a façade in terms of sperm quality. Now you may wonder what a voice pitch and sperm have in a common. Well, it terms out to be plenty, especially for men.
A Live Science report of a 2012 study confirms that high-pitched men have higher-quality sperm.
It finds that while genetics invest so much to retain an attraction to the females, it overlooks a crucial aspect of reproduction – sperm quality.
Testosterone is responsible for the deep manly voice. It’s also essential for the production of high sperm concentration.
When it prioritizes looks and features, it expends so much that it thwarts sperm production.
Thus men with high-pitched voices produced better-quality sperm in comparison with their deep-throated counterparts.
We hope you have enjoyed reading it. “5 Surprising Facts About the Reproductive System.”
