Men, did you know that you play a role in 50-60% of infertility cases? Or that the health of the placenta is linked to dad’s health? This impacts rates of morning sickness and pre-eclampsia. If you want to increase your odds of conception and make pregnancy easier on mom then it is time to take control of your health. Keep reading to learn how to increase male fertility naturally.
What impacts male fertility?
In order to learn how to increase male fertility we first need to know what impacts it.
- Lifestyle
- Weight/metabolic health
- Environmental toxins
- Injuries/surgeries
Some of these factors make a bigger impact than others, but they are all play an important role in fertility and overall health. Try to take a minimum of 6 to 9 months working on your health preconception. Mom has to spend 9 months carrying your baby the least dad can do is make sure his health is fantastic. This sets up an easier pregnancy and healthier baby.
How Lifestyle Affects Male Fertility
Living an unhealthy lifestyle is going to have a big impact on fertility. Many lifestyle factors such as alcohol, smoking, poor sleep, or emotional stress all play a role.
Alcohol
It has been shown that up to 63% of moderate drinkers (3 or more drinks per day) have abnormally shaped sperm. This is about 3 cans of beer or 2 medium glasses of wine. Alcohol will also slow down the production of sperm by decreasing the production of many hormones needed to produce sperm shown below.
GnRH → FSH/LH → Testosterone/Sperm production
Gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH) is released by the hypothalamus to signal the pituitary gland to release follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) to stimulate the testes to produce testosterone and sperm production.
To sum it up, alcohol causes less sperm production, lower quality sperm, and damages existing sperm. It would be best to avoid alcohol 2-3 months before conception as it can take up to 74 days for sperm to mature.
Smoking
Smoking cigarettes, marijuana, or anything else has detrimental effects on fertility. Smoking and other drug use can cause a decrease in overall sperm quality, motility, concentration, and total amount. It can also cause abnormal shaped sperm and even damage the DNA. Not to mention all the other negative effects to the smoker’s health. I don’t feel I need to spend much time elaborating how bad smoking is for you.
Sleep
Poor sleep quality can impact sperm production. Interestingly enough, too little or too much sleep can lower you sperm quality. The ideal sleep time is 7-8 hours. I suspect that people who need longer sleep times have lower quality sleep and try to make up for it by sleeping longer.
If that isn’t enough, getting too little sleep (less than 6 hours) will cause an increase in antisperm antibodies. This means you are creating an autoimmune condition where your immune system attacks your sperm. A late bedtime also causes a lower sperm count. So, if you don’t want your immune system working against your fertility make sure you get enough sleep.
Emotional Stress
Chronic stress will also cause a decrease in fertility through several pathways. Chronically high cortisol will decrease testosterone production and increase the conversion of testosterone to estrogen. Chronically high adrenaline and noradrenaline causes an inhibition of GnRH, FSH, and LH discussed in the alcohol section above. High psychological stress can also lead to erectile dysfunction.
Some stress is always going to happen, but if there is something that is always stressing you out and you get little or no break consider working with a counselor or therapist to work on lowering your stress.
Weight and Metabolic Health
Obesity has a very wide range of negative health impacts, so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that it has been shown to lower fertility as well. Excess adipose tissue releases estrogen and causes more testosterone to be converted into estrogen. Overweight men have been shown to have more sperm with damaged DNA (not exactly what you want to be using to make a baby). Men who are overweight that use assisted reproductive technology such as IVF have a lower rate of live births. It’s something sad to think about, but that means to reduce the risk of a miscarriage getting to a healthy weight/body composition is important.
My goal is not to scare you, but to make you aware of how important it really is to take your health seriously in the 6-12 months leading up to conception. By improving your metabolic health with regular exercise and eating whole foods you’ll improve your fertility and every other aspect of your life. The “sacrifice” of putting down your favorite junk food is well worth the reward.
How Environmental Toxins Reduce Male Fertility
Environmental toxins are mainly man made and sometimes hard to avoid. However there are many we bring into our homes and expose ourselves to daily unnecessarily. Here is a list of common environmental toxins:
- BPAs – Plastics found in many lower quality plastic products.
- Pesticides – At the very least avoid the EWG dirty dozen list and get organic coffee.
- Phthalates – Used in many plastics.
- Fragrances – Used in many products such as air fresheners, colognes, candles, lotions, soaps, etc.
- Cell Phones – Keep the phone out of your front pocket, the EMFs are frying your family jewels.
- Air Pollution – Harder to avoid but if you work somewhere with a lot of airborne pollutants, this is where a good quality mask makes sense.
- Heavy Metals – If not injected into you at birth these typically will only become an issue if it is a workplace hazard.
- Formaldehyde – In preservatives, disinfectants, and building materials. Avoid buying furniture, paint, etc. with formaldehyde.
- Laptop Computers – If you use this directly on your lap you again are frying your family jewels with EMFs.
Exposure to these toxins can lower your fertility. Many of these toxins disrupt the endocrine system. Some of the chemicals act like estrogen in the body, some block testosterone production. Some actually make it into your reproductive organs and cause direct damage. I’m no Ken doll I’d like to be plastic free down there, and everywhere for that matter.
Do your best to get these chemicals out of your home as you run out of the products you are using that have them. This is about lowering your toxic load so your body isn’t constantly trying to clear avoidable chemicals all day and night. Removing these chemicals may not fix everything in your life, but it will make healing easier.
Injuries/Surgeries
Injuries and surgeries directly to the testes or prostate can impact fertility or even block semen flow depending on where the scar tissue is. But, have you thought about how seemingly unrelated injuries or surgeries can affect fertility? Old injuries can cause a chronic stress to the body causing constant cortisol release. Like mentioned earlier, chronic cortisol release will lower testosterone production and therefore lower sperm production and quality. These old injuries can have a profound effect on our hormones and health and can typically be corrected with ease. However, some of the areas of fascial restriction can be difficult to find. This is where AK muscle testing is extremely helpful to find these “hidden” injuries that need to be corrected.
Ask Your Doctor How to Increase Male Fertility
Want help improving your fertility? By addressing the factors discussed above and helping patients prioritize what will have the biggest effect on their health, I often see all aspects of health improve including fertility. Leave any questions or comments you may have below, or give the office a call (984.234.3313) if you’d like to schedule!
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