12 Things every man should know about his balls

img_how_to_remove_hair_from_your_testicles_safely_2784_600Let’s be honest, testicles are no one’s favorite part of the male anatomy. They’re not exactly attractive, for one, and they have a particularly awful habit of causing incredible pain when injured. But the balls are crucial to sexual health, fertility, and are a place that is known to get cancer. With the help of  Dr. James Smith, director of reproductive health at UC San Francisco, we put together a crash course on what balls are, what they do, how you should take care of them, and dispelled some of the pervasive myths about them. 

 
 

The Physiological Basics

“Balls” is not exactly a scientific term. The main structures of that make up the balls are the testicles, the epididymis, and the scrotum. The testicles are oval-shaped organs that make testosterone, a hormone involved in all kinds of male functioning and development. Testosterone also plays a role in generating sperm, which is produced in tubes within the testes. The epididymis is a tube located on the back of each testicle. It transports and stores sperms cells and is where sperm matures. The scrotum is the loose sac of skin that holds the testicles. It’s role is protect the testes by regulating their temperature and moving them away from danger.

 
 
 

What’s Normal

On average, testicles are two inches long and about an inch across. It’s totally normal for guy’s testicles to be different sizes and for one to hang lower and behind the other. In most men the right testicle is slightly bigger and the left hangs lower. Although the scrotum is usually wrinkly, testicles themselves should feel smooth and firm but not hard.

 
 
 

What Needs Attention Now

There are some conditions that men should know require medical attention right away. If a man experiences sudden, painful swelling of the testicles, he may have testicular torsion, which means his testicles are twisted within the scrotum. This is a medical emergency and will involve a surgical fix. Torsion can happen after trauma but some men are just born with testicles that rotate more freely. Another, slightly less urgent, issue that should elicit a trip to the doctor is inflammation, swelling, or tenderness. This can signal a chlamydia infection.

 
 
 

Men Can Have More Than Two Testicles

Polyorchidism is an extrememly rare condition where a man has more than two testicles. Only around 100 cases have been reported in scientific literature. The extra testicle is usually found in the left sac of the scrotum and it is often detected around age 18. Most often, men with polyorchidism will have three testicles but the record stands at five. Polyrochidism may or may not affect fertility. It is also possible that polyorchidism is the reason some men have remained fertile after a vasectomy.

 
 
 

Bumps and Lumps

There are many different causes of bumps on a man’s balls and most are harmless. Some of the more common causes include varicocele and epididymal cysts. A varicocele is an enlarged vein, like a varicose vein. These can affect fertility and cause pain but can also be harmless. Epididymal cysts are fluid-filled lumps located at the back of the testicles. These usually don’t require treatment. Only four out of every 100 lumps found on men’s balls are cancer but they are still something to bring up to your doctor. “I say that if they feel anything that’s funny or different, it’s definitely worth getting checked out,” says Smith.

 
 
 

What Affects Fertility

There are all kinds of suggestions out there for how a man should keep his balls in top baby-making form. For most men, the best way to keep these parts healthy is to stick with the basics. “In general, it’s just good, clean living,” says Smith. If you have fertility concerns consider abstaining from drinking and smoking and maybe boost your intake of antioxidant-rich foods. Alcohol use can decrease testosterone and sperm production. It can also cause erectile dysfunction. Smoking cigarettes is associated with lower sperm count too. Stress and obesity can cause hormone changes that affect fertility. It’s also true that activities that overheat your balls, like bicycling or frequent sauna use, may slightly reduce sperm count. (Your briefs are fine though.)

 
 
 

Why They Move

Small movements of the balls are just the blood flowing through the various veins and arteries in the scrotum. Bigger movements, however, serve many different purposes. Testicles are very temperature sensitive, so the muscles down there move them a lot to keep them comfortable. The dartos muscles (the one that makes the scrotum wrinkly) moves the testicles within the scrotum. The cremaster muscle raises and lowers the scrotum and testes as a whole. During sex, these muscles work together to move a man’s balls closer to his body. A man’s balls must move upward as part of the ejaculatory process. If you’re curious about the workings of the cremaster, you can witness the cremasteric reflex for yourself. When another person lightly strokes a man’s inner thigh, the cremaster will move his balls away from this perceived threat. They will relax again once the threat is gone

 
 
 

Why They’re on the Outside of the Body

If you’ve ever been hit in balls, you’ve probably wondered: Why are these things on the outside? Most people answer that the testicles need to be kept at a temperature two to three degrees lower than body temp in order to function properly but that still isn’t a complete explanation. It’s hard to say exactly why anything evolved the way it did but researchers at the University of Albany think that balls require this lower temperature to keep sperm dormant for as long as possible. A man’s swimmers don’t have a long lifespan once they’re active, so it’s possible that, in ideal conditions, sperm doesn’t fully wake up until it’s released into the warmth of a woman’s vagina.

 
 

Men Have Some of the Smallest Testicles in the Animal Kingdom

Compared to many animals, human males don’t have very big testicles. This is a very popular topic for research and many scientists believe it’s related to our relative lack of mate competition. It has been shown across all kinds of animals, from chimps to insects, that balls tend to be bigger when females are more likely to have more than one mate. The one of the most popular hypotheses for why this is that larger testicles release more sperm.

 
 
 

They Get Bigger During Sex

Just as blood goes to the penis when a man is aroused, it also travels to his balls. This can cause the testicles to increase in size by 50 percent or more. However, if a man’s balls are changing in size — whether getting bigger or smaller — at other times, he should talk with his doctor about this difference as soon as possible.

-mensjournal

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ABOUT: Nana Kwesi Coomson

akcoomson@yahoo.com

An Entrepreneur, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communications Executive and Philanthropist. Editor-in-Chief of www.233times.com. A Senior Journalist with Ghanaian Chronicle Newspaper. An alumnus of Adisadel College where he read General Arts. His first degree is in Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (major) and History (minor) from the University of Ghana. He holds MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Energy with Public Relations (PR) from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who studied at Clark Atlanta University in USA on the Business and Entrepreneurship track.

View all posts by: Nana Kwesi Coomson  

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