The health of the sperm directly affects the chance of pregnancy. You may be suggested to first assess the conditions of your sperm, if you and your partner are planning a pregnancy. Sperm health depends on various different factors, which is provided below:
- Quantity: If you will be considered as fertile if your semen contains at least 15 million sperm per milliliter in a single ejaculation. It might make it more difficult to get pregnant your partner pregnant if you ejaculate comparatively lower count of sperm in a single ejaculation because there are fewer sperm available to fertilize the egg.
- Movement: In order to successfully fertilize an egg, a sperm must have better movement to swim through a woman’s cervix, uterus and fallopian tubes. This character of sperm is known as motility. If will be considered as fertile if at least 40 percent of your sperm have better movement.
- Structure (morphology): Normally sperm have oval heads and long tails, which help them to swim through a woman’s cervix, uterus and fallopian tubes. This factor is not considered as important as other factor like sperm quantity or movement, but more likely you are to be fertile if most of your sperms are with a normal shape and structure.
Causes for male fertility problems
Several past or ongoing health issues can lead to male fertility problems, including:
- The health issue with the hypothalamus or the pituitary gland, which is a part of the brain that send signal to the testicles to produce sperm and testosterone.
- STD or testicular disease
- Sperm transport disorders
- Acute viral illness
- Age can also affect the quality of sperms. The quality and the presence of normal healthy sperm tend to decrease with age male’s age, adversely affect fertility capability after age 50.
How to improve health of your sperms:
You can improve your chances of producing healthy sperm by following below measures:
- Ideal healthy weight: Some study shows that sperm count and sperm movement are directly linked with body mass index (BMI) and it has been decreased with the increase BMI values.
- Healthy diet. Diet rich in antioxidants like fruits and vegetables, might help to improve sperm quality and health.
- Prevent sexually transmitted diseases (STDs): STDs such as gonorrhea and chlamydia cause infertility in men. To prevent yourself from such diseases, use a condom each time you have sex and limit your number of sexual partners. It is advisable to stay in a mutually sexual relationship with a partner who isn’t infected.
- Stress management: High level of increased stress can decrease sexual function and badly affects the hormones needed to produce healthy sperms.
- Physical activities: Regular physical activity can increase levels of powerful antioxidant enzymes which can be helpful to protect your sperm.
You might consider the opinion of an infertility specialist, if you and your partner unable to conceive after a year of unprotected sex. A fertility specialist can be able to identify the root cause of the problem and provide suitable treatments.
You may Contact Dr Shivani Sachdev Gour for your fertility problems. She is recognized as one of the best gynecologist and infertility specialist based in Delhi.