Lifestyle and Fertility

By Chris Woolston, M.S.

Humans are closely tuned to their surroundings - especially when it comes to making babies. Just as bears and elk wait for the right season to sire offspring, our bodies reach the peak of fertility only when conditions seem right for raising babies. If there's any sign of illness, malnourishment, or an unhealthy environment, our bodies may decide to put parenthood on hold.

Penis Size: It May Be Written in the Length of His Fingers

By MAIA SZALAVITZ | @maiasz


The ratio of the length of a man’s index finger to that of his ring finger may seem like a strange thing to measure, but new research suggests that it’s linked with penis size. The lower the ratio, the longer the penis.

The new study was conducted on 144 Korean men who were hospitalized for urological surgery. A researcher measured the patients’ penile length — flaccid and stretched — just after they went under anesthesia for their operations. A different researcher measured the men’s finger lengths, in order to prevent knowledge of one measurement unconsciously affecting the other.

They data suggested that those with a lower ratio, whose index finger (or second finger, 2D) was shorter than the ring finger (or fourth finger, 4D), had a longer stretched penis length, which is well correlated with erect size.

Does Low Testosterone = Diabetes?

By Julian Whitaker, M.D., Lifecript Alternative Medicine Expert

Reviewed by Edward C. Geehr, M.D.

Diabetes and low testosterone go hand-in-hand: One in three diabetic men have low testosterone. But one potential cause of diabetes is low testosterone. So which came first, testosterone deficiency or diabetes?

A study published in Diabetes Care may answer that question. Finnish researchers measured levels of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) and testosterone in 702 middle-aged men who had no blood sugar problems, and then reexamined them after 11 years. 

At the time of follow-up, 147 had developed metabolic syndrome (a combination of conditions that increases risk for heart disease) and 57 had diabetes. Most important, the men with the lowest testosterone levels were nearly two and a half times more likely to have developed diabetes or metabolic syndrome.