In order to analyze the health hazards of cross-legged sitting, first, we must understand what physiological changes have taken place when you sit cross-legged.
Physiological changes in a cross-legged sitting
First of all, when one leg is put on the other, the pressure on the weight-bearing leg (especially the knee joint) increases. At the same time, the pressure on the back of the upper leg increased significantly. This will lead to the compression of joint structure, nerves, blood vessels, and lymphatic vessels.
Secondly, when the two legs are crossed, and the muscles are in a state of continuous contraction, the heat dissipation of the legs and perineum will reduce the heat production and increase, resulting in local temperature rise.
Does cross-legged sitting affect reproductive health?
For men, the local temperature rise caused by two long legs may affect reproductive health. The most suitable temperature for sperm survival is about 35 centigrade, which is lower than the internal temperature of the abdominal cavity (37-38 centigrade), which is also the reason why the scrotum is suspended outside the abdominal cavity.
When the temperature rises to 37-38 centigrade, the motility of sperm will be greatly reduced, and even infertility may be caused. That's why people with congenital cryptorchidism, where the testicles stay in the abdominal cavity and do not descend to the scrotum, are infertile.
In addition, cross-legged sitting may cause adverse effects on the prostate. If you cross your legs for a long time, the pressure in the perineum will increase, the blood flow of the prostate will be significantly affected, and the secretion function will decrease; at the same time, the temperature in the pudenda and urethra will increase, which is conducive to bacterial reproduction, retrograde infection of the prostate, resulting in prostatitis.
Recurrent chronic prostatitis will lead to the composition change of prostatic fluid and seriously affect the secretion function of the prostate and then lead to the change of semen liquefaction time so that the vitality of sperm gradually decreased, and finally lead to male infertility.
Patients can eliminate inflammation thoroughly by taking the Chinese herbal medicine Diuretic and Anti-inflammatory Pill, and it has no drug resistance, so they can safely take it without worrying about the growth of intestinal drug-resistant bacteria. Besides, it can also improve human immunity while curing the disease.
For women, it will not cause the same problems as men's. If there are no gynecological problems such as infection, cross-legged sitting will not affect the reproductive function.
Are women more likely to suffer from gynecological diseases when they cross their legs?
At present, there is no literature report on the relationship between the incidence of gynecopathy and cross-legged sitting. It is speculated that the two legs will increase the temperature of the vulva, promote bacterial reproduction, and thus increase the risk of gynecological diseases.
However, there are many kinds of gynecological diseases, from infection, abnormal menstruation, endometriosis, endocrine diseases, female pelvic floor relaxation, and swelling, to various gynecological tumors, infection is only a small part of them.
Infection can be divided into a bacterial infection, viral infection, fungal infection, parasitic infection, and so on. It is not known whether cross-legged sitting will promote the occurrence of all these kinds of infections. Special statistical research is needed to clarify this aspect.
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