10 things you don't know that can hurt your sperm!

Posted by Dr. Liu Yang

Stay away from smoking

Monitor the presence of toxins

Limit your alcohol intake

Abstain from illicit drugs

Keep away from the tub

Avoid hormones

Do not use lubricants during sex

Keep the temperature right

Fertility and medications

Separating fact from fiction

Conclusion

(Read more about 5 things you should do to produce high-quality sperm)

Sperms are extremely vulnerable to external factors such as the presence of toxic chemicals or excessive heat. Only 50 to 70 percent of the sperms are healthy and are capable to fertilize even with a healthy man under favorable circumstances. So you need to take some safeguards to protect your fertility and here are some tips:

Stay away from smoking

With each puff of cigarette smoke, you inhale about 4000 toxic chemicals that are capable of damaging the DNA structure of your sperm. Recent researches show that it will hinder even the growth of the baby and the child is likely to develop some sot of health problems including cancer. Moreover, regular use of tobacco will result in erectile dysfunction and the sperm count will also be at the lower side.

Monitor the presence of toxins

You may come in contact with several toxic substances both from the workplace and home. Pesticides and chemicals in solvents have their presence in almost every house. When you come in contact with them, make sure to wear protective measures to minimize the absorption of such toxins.

Limit your alcohol intake

Heavy intake of alcohol will reduce the quality and quantity of the sperm and you need to limit it to not more than two drinks a day. Combination of alcohol and tobacco is even more dangerous for the sperm.

Abstain from illicit drugs

Illicit drugs like marijuana, amphetamines and cocaine will affect the sperm count and sperm motility, and it will increase the number of abnormal sperms. Cocaine in particular contributes to erectile dysfunction.

Keep away from the tub

If you are regularly using hot tubs or baths, it is time to keep away from it, as studies show that spending more than 30 minutes in a hot water tub with a temperature of more than 40 C (102 F) will lower your sperm count. Apart from that, steam bath and saunas also have the same effect on your sperm count. So say goodbye to your tubs!

Avoid hormones

There are many men who illegally use anabolic steroids, which can drastically affect their fertility. Though these steroids will initially bring some vigor, it will later affect a person’s health, and the testosterone supplements decrease your fertility. Anti-androgens that are used in the treatment of cancer and prostrate enlargement will also interfere with the production of sperm count.

Do not use lubricants during sex

Many of the lubricants, lotions and even saliva may interfere with sperm motility; however, if you want to use one, you can use vegetable oil based lubricants.

Keep the temperature right

Prolonged sitting, tight underpants, hot work environments and the use of laptops will increase scrotal temperature and an increase in it can hurt sperm production.

Fertility and medications

Many medications are also said to affect your fertility. Check out the following:

1.Medications for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease or gout, high blood pressure, or those that are used to suppress the immune reaction to a transplanted organ may affect sperms.

2.Chemotherapy drugs and radiation treatment for cancer can cause permanent infertility, and if you are in the above category, talk with your doctor about the plans to save and freeze your sperm before treatment.

Separating fact from fiction

There are many myths about fertility that include the one that certain soft drinks and menthol cigarettes can reduce fertility. Here are some facts:

Bicycling can harm your sperm production

If you are riding a bicycle for more than 30 minutes especially with tight bicycle shorts, it may raise your scrotal temperature and it will in turn affect your sperm production. Moreover, regular cycling may result in genital numbness- a sign of numbness to the arteries and nerves.

Pollution can affect sperm

There are toxic elements around us and too much exposure to it will affect your sperm count. The toxins range from the estrogen like chemicals that are widely used in agriculture to growth hormones present in meat.

Flu slows sperm production

Flu normally affects sperm count and sperm quality but it will not affect fertility only for two to three months as it takes sperms 75 days to mature.

Calendar for men

Researches show that sperm count is higher in winter and lower in summer mainly because of the temperature difference. It is to be noted that sperm count is on the higher side in the morning that other times of the day; however, experts are not sure whether it makes any difference in fertility.

Conclusion

To preserve and to enhance your fertility ,you need to adopt a healthy lifestyle and you need to follow certain guidelines and to avoid certain things. Even then you may not be able to make it happen on the first attempt or even in the 40th. About 25% couples have problems at some point and it increases with age. About 40% of the infertility problems can be attributed to man but often it is with both men and women. If there is any fertility problem, you can consult a specialist and he can help you to come out of it.

(Read more about 5 things you should do to produce high-quality sperm)

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