Healthy sperm: Improving your fertility. Healthy sperm: What you can do that may increase your fertility. Do your sperm pass muster? Despite several months of effort, you and your partner haven't yet conceived. You're not ready to seek a fertility evaluation, but you might be wondering whether you're doing all you can to make sure you have healthy sperm.
Male fertility depends on sperm quality and quantity, which can be affected by a variety of things. While you may not be able to control all the factors that could improve your fertility, there are steps you can take to maximize your fertility and make sure your sperm are top performers.
What factors are linked to having healthy sperm?
To achieve its goal, sperm must have three things going for it:
- Quantity. You're most likely to be fertile if you have more than 20 million sperm per milliliter of semen. However, researchers are finding that having healthy sperm (the quality) may be just as important as the total amount of sperm you produce. Of the millions of sperm in the ejaculated semen, only about 200 actually reach the egg in a woman's fallopian tube. But, just one is needed to fertilize the egg.
- Quality. It's not enough just to have enough. Sperm shape and structure (morphology) are equally important. You are most likely to be fertile if more than one-third of your sperm are of normal shape and structure. A normal sperm has an oval head and a long tail that propel it forward. Sperm with large, small, tapered or crooked heads or kinky, curled or double tails are less likely to fertilize an egg.
- Motility. To reach the target, your sperm have to move. Riding the semen wave will only take the sperm so far. To reach the egg, sperm have to move on their own — wriggling and swimming the last few inches to reach and penetrate the egg. Sperm movement (motility) is an important characteristic of healthy sperm. You're most likely to be fertile if at least half of your sperm are moving.
What can you do to produce high-quality sperm?
It takes only one sperm cell to fertilize an egg. With millions of sperm vying for the chance, you'd think each act of intercourse between you and your partner would have excellent odds of resulting in pregnancy. In fact, it may take many attempts before you succeed, even if you're both healthy and your timing is right — that is, you have sex in the days leading up to ovulation when the egg is released from the ovary.
Here's what you can do to increase your chance of contributing enough hardy, energetic sperm to get the job done.
- Take a multivitamin. A daily multivitamin can help provide selenium, zinc and folic acid — trace nutrients that are important for optimal sperm production and function.
- Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. These foods are rich in antioxidants, which may help improve sperm health.
- Reduce stress. Stress might interfere with certain hormones needed to produce sperm. Stress can also decrease sexual function.
- Get regular exercise. Physical activity is good for reproductive health as well as your overall health. But don't overdo it. Men who exercise to exhaustion show a temporary change in hormone levels and a drop in sperm quality.
- Watch your weight. Too much or too little body fat may disrupt production of reproductive hormones, which can reduce your sperm count and increase your percentage of abnormal sperm. You're most likely to produce lots of high-quality sperm if you maintain a healthy weight.
Caution: Hazardous to sperm
Even under the best circumstances, only 50 to 70 percent of a man's sperm are healthy enough to fertilize an egg. Sperm can be especially vulnerable to environmental factors, such as exposure to excessive heat or toxic chemicals. To protect your fertility:
- Watch out for toxins. Experts think certain workplace and household substances might have an effect on sperm quantity and quality. These include heavy metals used in industrial workplaces, pesticides and chemicals in solvents. Use protective clothing, proper ventilation and face masks to reduce the risk of absorbing such toxins.
- Quit using tobacco. The sperm of men who smoke may be misshapen and may move more slowly than those of nonsmokers. Smoking can also damage your sperm's DNA. Experts suspect such damage could even affect a baby's growth and development and increase a child's chance of having certain health problems, including cancer. And chewing tobacco isn't safe either — it also may cause low sperm counts and damage. As if that weren't enough, tobacco use can increase erectile dysfunction. Research shows men who both smoke and drink alcohol have lower sperm counts and motility than do men with either habit alone.
- Limit alcohol. Heavy drinking may reduce the quality and quantity of sperm. Limit alcohol to no more than one or two drinks a day. The combination of tobacco and alcohol is particularly harmful.
- Steer clear of illicit drugs. Marijuana can decrease sperm density and motility and increase the number of abnormal sperm. Cocaine and opiates can contribute to erectile dysfunction, and amphetamines can decrease sex drive.
- Skip the tub. To maximize the quality and quantity of your sperm, avoid hot tubs and baths. Spending more than 30 minutes in water 102 F (40 C) or above may lower your sperm count. Saunas and steam rooms may have a similar effect.
- Avoid hormone havoc. Anabolic steroids, usually taken illegally, can shrink the testicles and drastically reduce fertility. Anti-androgens used to treat prostate enlargement and cancer interfere with sperm production. Testosterone supplements also decrease fertility.
- Stay cool. Increased scrotal temperature can hurt sperm production. Experts know that hot work environments, tight underpants, prolonged sitting and use of laptop computers can all increase scrotal temperature. They are still studying how these activities affect fertility.
- Avoid lubricants during sex. Personal lubricants, lotions and even saliva can interfere with sperm motility. However, vegetable-oil-based lubricants are okay.
Medications and fertility
Many medications can reduce your fertility. Medications that may affect fertility include:
- Medications to control a chronic condition such as high blood pressure, inflammatory bowel disease or gout, or to suppress your immune reaction to a transplanted organ. Ask your doctor how your treatment may affect sperm development.
- Chemotherapy drugs. These medications can cause permanent infertility. So can radiation treatment for cancer. If you'll be undergoing cancer treatment, talk with your doctor about saving and freezing your sperm (semen cryopreservation) before treatment.
Separating fact from fiction
A number of myths have made the rounds in recent years, including groundless rumors that menthol cigarettes and certain soft drinks can make men sterile. Here are some that turn out to be true:
- Fact: Bicycling can sabotage the system. Sitting on a bicycle saddle for more than 30 minutes at a time — especially if you also wear tight bicycle shorts — may raise your scrotal temperature and affect sperm production. In addition, prolonged cycling can cause genital numbness — a sign of damage to delicate nerves and arteries. Choose a seat that's not too hard or narrow, and make sure it's adjusted to keep weight on your "sit bones." Take frequent rests while biking.
- Fact: Pollution affects sperm. Experts think environmental toxins may have something to do with falling sperm counts. One culprit may be estrogen-like chemicals widely used in agriculture and industry. These substances are found in places ranging from drinking water to household products. Other environmental toxins that might affect male fertility are growth hormones present in meat.
- Fact: The flu slows sperm production. An illness that causes a fever can affect sperm production and sperm quality. But it won't affect fertility for two to three months, since it takes sperm 75 days to mature.
- Fact: The calendar also matters to men. Sperm counts are higher in the winter and lower in the summer. This may be because cooler temperatures are associated with increased sperm production. Sperm counts are also higher in the morning than at other times of day. However, experts aren't sure that time of day or time of year makes a notable difference in fertility.
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