How to increase your sperm count and keep it up: lots of great sex, cold baths and garlic
Everything from heat to drugs to hormones to abuse during childhood can affect the number and health of sperm. Experts give tips on how to give a chance at fatherhood your best shot
As we celebrate Father’s Day, here’s a timely look at how to protect that crucial asset that helps turn men into dads: their sperm.
And a friendly reminder that an enjoyable way to start the day – great sex – isn’t just great for heart health. Studies underscore the importance of regular sex for sperm health, too.
All kinds of factors play a role in sperm health, from the environment a man lives in, to what he eats, and even his mental health.
New research from the Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston suggests that abuse or neglect in childhood might have an effect on the quality of a man’s sperm.
The study, based on the degree to which men had been exposed to physical, verbal or sexual abuse, or emotional neglect, analysed semen – the liquid that transports sperm – to assess key gene regulators found in sperm “miRNAs”; levels were 300 times lower among men who experienced early life abuse.
While the study was small, fertility specialists agree that there has been a steady decline in sperm quality over the past 20 years, which could be partly explained by a stressful contemporary lifestyle and partly by stress in childhood.