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13 dogs with jobs are further proof that humans owe a lot to this exceptional species.

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Megan Leavey

We all know dogs are (hu)man's best friend.

Our pets keep us company, take us on adventures, and teach us about unconditional love. In return, we give them food and shelter and train them to do silly things.

[rebelmouse-image 19527711 dam="1" original_size="376x237" caption="This mutt does a mean "roll over."" expand=1]This mutt does a mean "roll over."

But service and working dogs take their relationship with humans a step further — these pups are trained with skills that can save lives. Did you know that some dogs can detect allergens in your food? And get help in an emergency situation?

Here are 13 impressive things service and working dogs can be trained to do that help save lives:

1. Smell blood sugar levels.

When blood sugar levels change, the human body releases chemicals that dogs can smell. Diabetic-alert dogs are trained to smell when their partner's blood sugar level is dangerously off and to let them know that action is needed to get those levels back in the safe zone.

Luke, a boy with Type 1 diabetes, has a diabetic-alert dog named Jedi, who alerted him to low glucose levels:

Good low Jedi. #diabeticalertdog

A post shared by Luke and Jedi (@lukeandjedi) on

2. Find a person buried in an avalanche.

If you're ever caught in an avalanche, having a dog on the search-and-rescue team could drastically increase your chances of survival. An avalanche dog can search 2.5 acres in 30 minutes. (It would take a team of humans up to four hours to cover the same ground.) These skilled canines sniff the snow for a pool of human scent; when they find it, they alert their handler and start digging.

Keena the avalanche pup is training in Colorado:

SEARCH! #puppyintraining #avydog #drive #rocket #chickenhawk #imgoingtogetyou @ruffwear @avyinstitute @grandtargheeresort

A post shared by Keena The Avalanche Pup (@keenatheavalanchepup) on

3. Alert you to the sound of a fire alarm.

Hearing dogs are trained to assist people who are deaf or hard of hearing. These pups alert their partners to a wide variety of sounds: a door knock, a spoken name, an alarm clock, a fire alarm, and more.

Like any service dog, hearing dogs require years of committed training to perform their tasks. But even these furballs — like Sophie the collie/lab mix — need a little down time!

4. Support someone who has PTSD.

A post-traumatic stress disorder service dog can detect early signs of anxiety then nudge, paw, lick, and generally distract their human from potential triggers in the environment, giving their partner a chance to regain control.

5. Detect changes in blood pressure.

When a person's blood pressure or heartbeat changes rapidly, a cardiac-alert dog can warn the person of this danger. Without this signal, people with conditions like dysautonomia risk passing out (among many other complications) due to severe blood pressure changes.

Here, medical-alert dog Blaine cuddles with his handler:

Don't know what I would do without him 💙

A post shared by Nicole & Blaine Reynolds (@stilllifewithblaine) on

6. Get help in an emergency situation.

Many service dogs can be trained to summon help in an emergency situation, whether it's finding another person to assist their human or using a special phone to call 911.

7. Protect people during seizures.

Some seizure dogs are trained to alert their handler before a seizure (similar to a cardiac-alert dog) while others respond a certain way during or after a seizure — such as barking for help, moving away certain objects that could be dangerous, or protecting their human as they collapse.

This adorable mug belongs to Riley, a seizure-alert and response dog:

8. Deliver medical supplies to injured soldiers.

During World War I, "mercy dogs" were trained to search a battlefield for wounded soldiers. The dogs carried packs with medical supplies that soldiers could use to treat their own injuries. Some dogs were trained to retrieve a handler to assist the injured soldier.

Below, Lt. Col. Edwin H. Richardson poses with Red Cross war dogs during World War I:

[rebelmouse-image 19527712 dam="1" original_size="1024x743" caption="Image via Library of Congress." expand=1]Image via Library of Congress.

9. Detect potential allergens in food.

Some people don't like peanuts. Some people go into anaphylactic shock and risk serious health complications or even death if they touch peanuts.

For the latter, allergy detection dogs can be trained to sniff out allergens like peanuts, milk, soy, latex, or other substances. The pup can alert their human of the danger or even block the person from going near the allergen.

10. Support someone with autism.

Autism service dogs provide crucial companionship for their partners, and some are trained to alert and respond to certain triggers. For example, if a human has trouble with anxiety or sensory processing, their pup can provide calming comfort by lying on top of them — a technique called "deep pressure therapy."

Ultron, an autism service dog in training, helps his partner Axton navigate the world more confidently and independently:

They make a great team! ❤️🐶 #servicedog #autismservicedog #ateamforever #greatdaneservicedog #aboyandhisdog #skyzone #greatdane

A post shared by Journey of Ultron and Axton (@journeyofultronandaxton) on

11. Guide a person who is visually impaired.

Guide dogs are loyal pups who are trained to help those who are blind or visually impaired physically navigate the world. Humans have been training dogs for this purpose for centuries, and the practice of dogs helping guide people is actually so old that we'll never really know how or when it began.

This little guide dog in training, Smudge, isn't quite big enough for her harness yet:

12. Sniff out explosives.

Bomb-sniffing dogs alert their handler if they smell even a small amount of explosives. These dogs are common in the military, but they also save lives working with organizations like the United Nations Mine Action Service. UNMAS uses mine detection dogs to de-mine conflict-heavy places, including Colombia and Sudan.

13. Provide physical balance and support.

Brace and mobility service dogs help their humans physically get around by opening doors, picking things up off the ground, helping their partners up from a fall, providing counterbalancing or bracing while walking, and more.

Here you can clearly see service dog Kaline's mobility harness:

People tend to talk about how fortunate dogs are to have devoted humans looking out for them. We spend years training them and thousands of dollars on food, vet visits, cute outfits (don't deny it), and treats — the list goes on.

But as lucky as dogs are to have us, we're infinitely more lucky to have them sticking with us every step of the way.

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Dad's heartfelt lunch message shows how simple, everyday acts can change lives

You can make a huge difference by using O Organics.

via Meg Sullivan (used with permission) and Canva/Photos

A volunteer hands out food in a food bank and Meg Sullivan shares her dad's kind gesture.

When we consider people who have had a positive impact on the world, we often think of those who have made grand gestures to improve the lives of others, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Greta Thunberg, or Mahatma Gandhi. Unfortunately, that type of effort is out of reach for the average person.

However, O Organics would like to remind everyone that they can positively impact the world through small, consistent acts of kindness that add up over time. Much like how a small creek can create a valley over the years, we can change lives through small, consistent acts of kindness.

O Organics is dedicated to the well-being of all by nourishing people everywhere with delicious organic foods grown by producers who meet USDA-certified organic farming standards.

Upworthy's Instagram page recently posted a touching example of everyday kindness. Meg Sullivan shared how her father, Tom, peeled oranges for her lunch just about every day from kindergarten through high school. But on the final day of her senior year of high school, he sent his 17-year-old daughter unpeeled oranges with a touching note about how she’d have to start peeling them for herself.



“It’s Time Baby Girl,” he wrote on a wikiHow printout on how to peel an orange with a drawing of himself crying. For the father, this daily ritual was about more than just making lunch; it was about showing that he cared by going the extra mile. “I could have put money on her lunch account,” Tom told Today.com. “But it’s one of those little things I thought was important, that she knows somebody’s taking the time to take care of her.”

The small, daily gesture taught Megan an essential lesson in kindness.

The post reminded people how their fathers’ small acts of kindness meant so much to them. “My dad peeled my oranges until I graduated high school, too. Now, I peel my daughter’s oranges and will for the next 7 plus years,” Katie wrote in the comments. “Love this. My dad peeled mine, too. When I moved out, he gave me an orange peeler gadget,” Mary added.

o organics, albertson's giving backO Organics has a wide array of foods and flavors covering almost everything on your shopping list.via Albertson's

Did you know that every time you go to the supermarket, you can also change the world through small gestures? O Organics not only allows you to feed your family delicious and nutritious organic food, but each purchase also gives back to help people and communities facing food insecurity.

Through contributions from customers like you, O Organics donates up to 28 million meals annually. The company’s contribution is essential when, according to the USDA, 47.4 million Americans live in food-insecure households.

O Organics has a wide array of foods and flavors covering almost everything on your shopping list. “Over the years, we have made organic foods more accessible by expanding O Organics to every aisle across our stores, making it possible for health and budget-conscious families to incorporate organic food into every meal,” Jennifer Saenz, EVP and Chief Merchandising Officer at Albertsons, one of many stores where you can find O Organics products, said in a statement.

O Organics now offers over 1500 items, from dairy products such as eggs and milk to packaged meats and breakfast staples such as cereal bars, granola and oatmeal. You can also enjoy affordable organic produce with O Organics’ fresh salads and fruit.

Everybody wants to make the world a better place. With O Organics, you can feed your family healthy, organic food every time you go to the market while paying it forward by contributing to the company’s efforts to end food insecurity nationwide. That’s a small, daily gesture that can amount to incredible change.

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Parenting

Yet another school district shifts to 4-day week and parents are sounding off

So... when are we getting the matching 4-day work week?

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When talking with other parents I know, it's hard not to sound like a grumpy old man when we get around to discussing school schedules. "Am I the only one who feels like kids have so many days off? I never got that many days off when I was a kid! And I had to go work in the coal mine after, too!" I know what I sound like, but I just can't help it.

In Georgia, where I live, we have a shorter summer break than some other parts of the country. But my kids have the entire week of Thanksgiving off, a week in September, two whole weeks at Christmas, a whole week off in February, and a weeklong spring break. They have asynchronous days (during which they complete assignments at home, which usually takes about 30 minutes) about once a month, and they have two or three half-day weeks throughout the year. Quite honestly, it feels like they're never in school for very long before they get another break, which makes it tough to get in a rhythm with work and career goals. Plus, we're constantly arranging day camps and other childcare options for all the time off. Actually, I just looked it up and I'm not losing my mind: American kids have fewer school days than most other major countries.

So it caught my attention in a major way when I read that Whitney Independent School District in Texas recently decided to enact a 4-day week heading into the 2025 school year. That makes it one of dozens of school districts in Texas to make the change and over 900 nationally.


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The thought of having the kids home from school EVERY Friday or Monday makes me want to break out in stress hives. But this 4-day school week movement isn't designed to give parents a headache. It's meant to lure teachers back to work.

Yes, teachers are leaving the profession in droves and young graduates don't seem eager to replace them. Why? The pay is bad, for starters, but that's just the beginning. Teachers are burnt out, undermined and criticized relentlessly, held hostage by standardized testing, and more. It can be a grueling, demoralizing, and thankless job. The love and passion they have for shaping the youth of tomorrow can only take you so far when you feel like you're constantly getting the short end of the stick.

School districts want to pay their teachers more, in theory, but their hands are often tied. So they're getting creative to recruit the next generation of teachers into their schools — starting with an extra day off for planning, catch-up, or family time every week.

Teachers in 4-day districts often love the new schedule. Kids love it (obviously). It's the parents who, as a whole, aren't super thrilled.

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

So far, the data shows that the truncated schedule perk is working. In these districts, job applications for teachers are up, retirements are down, and teachers are reporting better mental well-being. That's great news!

But these positive developments may be coming at the price of the working parents in the communities. Most early adopters of the 4-day week have been rural communities with a high prevalence of stay-at-home parents. As the idea starts to take hold in other parts of the country, it's getting more pushback. Discussions on Reddit, Facebook, and other social media are overrun with debate on how this is all going to shake up. Some parents, to be fair, like the idea! If they stay-at-home or have a lot of flexibility, they see it as an opportunity for more family time. But many are feeling anxious. Here's what's got those parents worried:

The effect on students' achievement is still unclear.

The execution of the 4-day week varies from district to district. Some schools extend the length of each of the four days, making the total instructional time the same. That makes for a really long day, and some teachers say the students are tired and more unruly by the late afternoon. Some districts are just going with less instruction time overall, which has parents concerned that their kids might fall behind.

4-day school weeks put parents in a childcare bind.

Having two working parents is becoming more common and necessary with the high cost of living. I know, I know — "school isn't daycare!" But it is the safe, reliable, and educational place we send our kids while we need to work.

Families with money and resources may be able to enroll their kids in more academics, extracurriculars, sports, or childcare, but a lot of normal families won't be able to afford that cost. Some schools running a 4-day week offer a paid childcare option for the day off, but that's an added expense and for families with multiple kids in the school system, it's just not possible.

This will inevitably end with some kids getting way more screentime.

With most parents still working 5-day weeks, and the cost of extra activities or childcare too high, a lot of kids are going to end up sitting around on the couch with their iPad on those days off. I'm no expert, and I'm certainly not against screentime, but adding another several hours of it to a child's week seems less than ideal.

Of course there are other options other than paid childcare and iPads. There are play dates, there's getting help from family and friends. All of these options are an enormous amount of work to arrange for parents who are already at capacity.

Working 4 days is definitely a win for teachers that makes the job more appealing. But it doesn't address the systemic issues that are driving them to quit, retire early, or give up their dreams of teaching all together.

Giphy

A Commissioner of Education from Missouri calls truncated schedules a "band-aid solution with diminishing returns." Having an extra planning day won't stop teachers from getting scapegoated by politicians or held to impossible curriculum standards, it won't keep them from having to buy their own supplies or deal with ever-worsening student behavior.

Some teachers and other experts have suggested having a modified 5-day school week, where one of the days gets set aside as a teacher planning day while students are still on-site participating in clubs, music, art — you know, all the stuff that's been getting cut in recent years. Something like that could work in some places.

As a dad, I don't mind the idea of my busy kids having an extra day off to unwind, pursue hobbies, see friends, catch up on projects, or spend time as a family. And I'm also very much in favor of anything that takes pressure off of overworked teachers. But until we adopt a 4-day work week as the standard, the 4-day school week is always going to feel a little out of place.


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Love Stories

A speeding driver accidentally hit a bicyclist. Now they're married and having a baby.

A truly bizarre and beautiful love story.

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They crashed into love, you could say.

If you think it's hard meeting people these days, maybe you're just not thinking outside of the box. Dating apps, speed dating, and blind set ups by friends are old news. If you want to make a stronger connection, maybe it's time you looked in some more unexpected places. Do you have a hot dentist? Fight through the numbness in your tongue and tell them how you feel. Ever swapped numbers with a political canvasser that came knocking on your door? At least you already know whether you agree on politics.

All kidding aside, it is tough to find love in 2025. But, as cliche as it sounds, you really do sometimes find it in the last place you'd ever expect.

A wild story out of China is proving that love can be found in the strangest of places.

A 36-year-old man named Li was in a hurry one day in late 2023. Reports say he was dealing with an emergency, which may have distracted him while driving. And then the worst happened. He struck a woman who was riding an electric bicycle, sending her hurtling to the ground injured. Li scrambled out of his car to check on the woman and apologize. Now he had two emergencies to deal with.

Her response, as she lay there in agony with what would later be determined to be a broken collar bone: "No worries."

gif of someone in a hospital bed saying "no worries"No worries!Giphy

Her kindness and forgiveness (and maybe a little bit of millennial people-pleasing) opened the door for the two to stay in touch after the accident. Li visited the woman in the hospital every day as she recovered, where they struck up a friendship. That friendship quickly turned into more. After just a few weeks, it was actually the woman—broken collarbone and all—who confessed her feelings to Li first. They had really hit it off during those visits. Li was hesitant due to their age gap and, well, the extreme weirdness of how they met, but eventually he gave it a chance, realizing it was kind of rude to turn her down for a date after hitting her with his car and putting her in the hospital.

Less than a year later, she was pregnant, and the couple just tied the knot in February of 2025, bringing their unbelievable love story full circle.

If it sounds like the plot of a movie, it kind of is. A similar premise is at the heart of the 2024 film We Live In Time with Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh. Who says you can't find a Hollywood ending in real life?


The story was shared far and wide on social media where it raised a few eyebrows, and inspired more than a few jokes.

Clever Reddit users were quick to point out that Li may have taken the idea of "hitting on someone" a little too literally.

One user shared that Li's story was similar to one of her own: "This is similar to how my grandparents met. My grandfather was just in the US on vacation. on his way to go back to his country he got into a car accident. He stayed to make sure the woman in the other car was ok. The rest is history."

I think it gives people hope to hear these bizarre and unexpected love stories. The world has been different since COVID. In person connections with other people are more rare. And people are burnt out on dating apps, with usage dipping drastically over the last year or two. I can imagine it feels impossible to find someone if you've tried all the usual avenues and come up empty. So maybe you don't want to go out intentionally running over attractive pedestrians, but if we can take anything away from Li's story, it's that staying open-minded and optimistic can actually pay off sometimes when it comes to love. Congrats to the happy couple! Though, for safety reasons, it's probably best if Li lets his wife drive from now on.

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Health

Man unexpectedly dies during brain scan. What scientists saw should give everyone comfort.

They may have uncovered the secrets of our final moments.

via Canva

A doctor is analyzing brain scans.

Death remains one of the greatest mysteries of life. It’s impossible to know what happens as a person passes and whether there’s anything afterward because no one has ever been able to report what happens from beyond the grave. Of course, if you ask those with a keen interest in the supernatural, they may say otherwise.

However, in 2021, researcher Dr. Raul Vicente and his colleagues at the University of Tartu, Estonia, became the first people ever to record the brainwaves of someone in the process of dying, and what they’ve come to realize should be very comforting to everyone. “We measured 900 seconds of brain activity around the time of death and set a specific focus to investigate what happened in the 30 seconds before and after the heart stopped beating,” Dr. Ajmal Zemmar, a neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville, US, who organized the study, told Frontiers.


The patient who died while having his brain waves measured was 87 years old and had epilepsy. While researchers were studying his brain to learn more about the condition, they had a heart attack and passed away. “Just before and after the heart stopped working, we saw changes in a specific band of neural oscillations, so-called gamma oscillations, but also in others such as delta, theta, alpha, and beta oscillations,” Zemmar said.

The different types of brain oscillations that occurred in the patient before and after the heart attack were associated with high cognitive functions, including dreaming, concentrating, memory retrieval, and memory flashbacks. Therefore, it’s possible that as the patient was dying, they had their life flash before their eyes. What an amazing and comforting experience right before leaving this mortal coil.

“Through generating oscillations involved in memory retrieval, the brain may be playing a last recall of important life events just before we die, similar to the ones reported in near-death experiences,” Zemmar speculated. “These findings challenge our understanding of when exactly life ends and generate important subsequent questions, such as those related to the timing of organ donation.”


How long are people conscious after they are technically dead?

Science has found that people can remain conscious up to 20 seconds after they are declared dead. Even after the heart and breathing have stopped, the cerebral cortex can hang on for a while without oxygen. So, some people may experience the moment when they hear themselves declared dead, but they aren’t able to move or react to the news. In cases where someone performs CPR on the deceased person, the blood pumped by the compressions can temporarily keep the brain alive as well.

Although the experience of death will probably always remain a mystery, we should take solace in the idea that, in many cases, it may not necessarily be a miserable experience but an ecstatic final burst of consciousness that welcomes us into the great beyond. “Something we may learn from this research is: although our loved ones have their eyes closed and are ready to leave us to rest, their brains may be replaying some of the nicest moments they experienced in their lives,” Zemmar concludes.

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Community

Teen with Down syndrome visits mother's grave to tell her he graduated high school

"I know you'd be so proud of me and happy. I love you so much."

RM Videos/YouTube

Paul Marshall Jr. visits his mom LaTonya's grave following high school graduation.

When Paul Marshall Jr., a teenager with Down syndrome, graduated from Haughton High School in Haughton, Louisiana in 2020, there was one person on his mind–his mom Latonya. Latonya passed away in 2010 following a battle with cancer when he was just 9 years old. And a resurfaced clip of Paul Jr. visiting her grave following his graduation ceremony to tell her his good news is once again going viral and bringing tears to viewers eyes.

In the video, Paul Jr. is seen walking up to his mom's grave while holding a bouquet of flowers. "Oh Mommy, I have something to say," he says. "I did it. I did it. I graduated today and I know you're so proud of me and happy. I love you so much." He walks to his mom's headstone and places the flowers in front of it before kissing his hand and placing it on the grave.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

In an interview with KSLA, His father, Paul Marshall Sr., shared more about the video. "A week before he said, I want to go by mom’s grave and take some flowers," he said. He went on to share how much this day would have meant to LaTonya. "She always wanted the best for Paul Jr. Her last dying words were, ‘I just want to see Paul Jr. graduate'," he said.

Paul Jr. told the news station more about his graduation day. "I’ll miss high school and I’m very sad about it," he said. "God has my mom. And my grandmother will take care of my mom."

His graduation was not guaranteed. "Paul Jr. was born with one functioning kidney and a defective heart," his father shared. Less than a year before graduation, he needed to have heart surgery to have a new hear valve put in. And a few months later, he needed to have a kidney transplant. His donor? Paul Sr. Together, they underwent a grueling 8 hours of surgery.

"We’ve learned how to endure," his father said. "Paul Jr. could be hospitalized for 5 days, and on the 6th day, he’s out and laughing. If you’re having a bad day, or going through something, Paul Jr. is the person you want to be around and talking to that day."

LoveValentines Day Love GIF by Dave GamezGiphy

Their touching story garnered lots of emotional responses from viewers. "This is so sad and so sweet. It sucks losing your parents. It's like before time and after time, your life just isn't the same," one wrote. Another shared, "Holy shit that destroyed me. We’re all proud of you, but her most of all." And another added, "These sappy videos never get me but damn this one hit me in the feels and the tears are rolling. My mom died exactly 7 days after I graduated and she worked so hard to get me there. Really wish she could see me now. Losing a parent so young is hard and I can’t imagine losing them when you also have disabilities. Very strong for him and his support system to get him there. I know she would have been proud and it would have been one of the best days of her life seeing him graduate."

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Parenting

Husband says men should spend 9 months achieving peak physical condition before trying for a baby

Sperm health plays a huge role in pregnancy, and no one's talking about it.

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When a woman becomes pregnant, her whole life gets turned upside down. She can't drink alcohol or use THC or, in some cases, even have caffeinated coffee anymore. Her body changes size and shape rapidly. She'll feel exhausted and nauseous much of the time. And she has to eat enough food to feed an extra person, take vitamins every day, and be poked and prodded by her OB around 20-some odd times over the span of her pregnancy. It's a lot to go through, all to make sure the baby is as healthy as possible.

Dads, by comparison, get off pretty easy. After the whole conception part, their main job is just to support mom and make sure she has everything she needs. It can be a lot of late night Taco Bell runs, but otherwise, it's a pretty chill job until the baby arrives.

One husband recently went viral when he advocated for a more hands-on, and some say extreme, approach from dads well before they even start trying for a baby with their partner.

"Men should have to spend nine months getting in the best physical shape of their lives before having a baby," Hunter Leppard tells his wife Maya in a TikTok video.

He goes on to note that several elements of pregnancy, and potential complications, are tied to the father's sperm health.The science backs him up on most of this. Pre-eclampsia, for example, may be tied to faulty sperm. The father's sperm also play a role in the development of a healthy placenta that can deliver oxygen and nutrients to the developing baby. Who knew!

"So if you're going to spend nine months following all of these rules while building a baby inside of you, then I can spend the nine months prior to that not drinking alcohol, limiting caffeine. I'll get blood work, I'll have three healthy meals a day. I will be in the best physical shape of my life prior to you getting pregnant, for the betterment of you and your pregnancy and our baby. It's common sense."

Watch Hunter's full passionate plea here:


@maya.and.hunter

it’s common sense he fears

I have two kids and I don't think anyone has ever talked to me once about sperm health and how it affects pregnancy.

Why are we not having a bigger conversation about this? Why is the onus of maintaining a "healthy" pregnancy completely laid at women's feet? They have enough to deal with!

Commenters on the now viral video had the same thought:

"Why aren’t we TAUGHT THIS! It’s so obvious I should know but never heard it said until Tik Tok of all things!" one user wrote.

"Why is nobody talking about this?" asked another.

Some women chimed in to say that their own partners did this already, and they were grateful for it:

"My husband quit smoking, limited caffeine, and drank more water then also abstained during the entirety of my pregnancy, it's empathy, and compassion."

"Yes! 👏 Some men actually do the work. My husband lost 30lbs, and prioritized eating healthy and specific fruits to ensure I’d have a healthy pregnancy after we had a miscarriage before our daughter."

"My husband stopped smoking, drinking, and started eating really healthy before we started trying. My pregnancy has been pretty dang smooth!"

"My husband actually cut out caffeine, beer, and ate healthier in order for us to get pregnant this last time.. I’m now 4 months pregnant with the boy we’ve been wanting and my pregnancy is much easier than the first two!"

It's truly amazing that sperm health can impact "embryo development and implantation, the risk of miscarriage, the likelihood of pregnancy complications, birth weight and overall fetal health, and the inheritance of certain genetic mutations," according to a Yahoo Life article. And all it took for us to learn about it was a viral TikTok.


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Knowing, as GI Joe says, is half the battle. The other half is actually getting guys to follow through on this knowledge. Sadly, it's not a given that they will. Men are notoriously cranky about wearing condoms and, as a group, prefer women to be the ones responsible for birth control. There might be a male birth control pill one day, and surveys show guys would be up for it, but... we'll see. Likewise, pregnancy has always been viewed as something that women do and go through, so adjusting that programming could take a little work.

Hopefully we can get to the point where men taking a proactive approach to pre-pregnancy is a standard practice. And no, you don't need to spend nine whole months becoming an ultra-marathoner with chiseled abs. But regular exercise, reducing caffeine and alcohol, and eating a diet with plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, will go a long way toward healthier sperm and a healthier pregnancy. That's not so bad, am I right guys?

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