Some at-home tests also check how well sperm can move. For a home sperm test, you collect a semen sample by ejaculating into a small cup. A home sperm test may be appealing because you can do it in the privacy of your own home. Results are often ready within a few minutes.
A low sperm count, also called oligozoospermia, is where a man has fewer than 15 million sperm per millilitre of semen. Having a low sperm count can make it more difficult to conceive naturally, although successful pregnancies can still occur.
Smoking, drinking alcohol, and taking certain medications can lower sperm numbers. Other causes of low sperm numbers include long-term sickness (such as kidney failure), childhood infections (such as mumps), and chromosome or hormone problems (such as low testosterone).
Yes, low sperm count is curable.
Frequent male masturbation isn't likely to have much effect on your fertility. Some data shows that optimum semen quality occurs after two to three days of no ejaculation. But other research suggests that men who have normal sperm quality maintain normal sperm motility and concentrations even with daily ejaculation.
Some research suggests that increasing body mass index (BMI) is linked with decreasing sperm count and sperm movement. Eat a healthy diet. Choose plenty of fruits and vegetables, which are rich in antioxidants — and might help improve sperm health. Prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Use of cocaine or marijuana may temporarily reduce the number and quality of your sperm as well. Alcohol use. Drinking alcohol can lower testosterone levels, cause erectile dysfunction and decrease sperm production. Liver disease caused by excessive drinking also may lead to fertility problems.
There is no specific frequency with which a man should ejaculate. There is no solid evidence that failure to ejaculate causes health problems. However, ejaculating frequently can reduce the man's risk of getting prostate cancer. Ejacu-lation can be through having sex or masturbating a few times a day.
The age where a man is most fertile is between 22 and 25 years. It is suggested to have children before the age of 35. After this age, the male fertility begins to worsen. After 35, the sperm might result in pregnancies where mutations can occur.
IVF with ICSI is often the best treatment option for men with low sperm count. Hormonal treatment: If a male patient has low levels of the pituitary hormones that stimulate sperm production, we may attempt hormonal treatment before considering more invasive options (such as IVF with ICSI).
Sperm count is considered low if it dips below 15 million sperm per milliliter (mL) of semen, although the average is around 75 million sperm per mL. Risk factors include having obesity or overweight, having experienced trauma or surgery in or around the testicles, and taking certain medications.
If your menstrual cycle lasts 28 days and your period arrives like clockwork, it's likely that you'll ovulate on day 14. That's halfway through your cycle. Your fertile window begins on day 10. You're more likely to get pregnant if you have sex at least every other day between days 10 and 14 of a 28-day cycle.
A man might have watery semen if he doesn't get enough zinc in his diet. Zinc is an important nutrient for sperm production. Men who ejaculate several times a day might also develop watery semen, since the body needs time to “catch up” on its semen production.
A study of 250 men who had sperm analyzed at a fertility clinic showed that men who ate higher amounts of fruits and veggies, particularly green leafy vegetables and beans (legumes), had higher sperm concentrations and better sperm motility compared to men who ate less of these foods.
A trained expert checks your sperm count, their shape, movement, and other characteristics. In general, if you have a higher number of normal-shaped sperm, it means you have higher fertility. But there are plenty of exceptions to this. A lot of guys with low sperm counts or abnormal semen are still fertile.
Causes of male infertility
These may include: Abnormal sperm production or function due to undescended testicles, genetic defects, health problems such as diabetes, or infections such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, mumps or HIV. Enlarged veins in the testes (varicocele) also can affect the quality of sperm.
Diagnosis of male infertility
To work out the cause of your infertility, your doctor will usually order a semen analysis or blood test to measure your hormone levels. They might test for infections, or send you to get an ultrasound to look at the structure of your testicles and other scrotal contents.
You produce sperm every day, but a full sperm regeneration cycle (spermatogenesis) takes about 64 days. Spermatogenesis is the complete cycle of sperm production and maturation.
Because of this technique, 90% of all infertile males have the potential to conceive their own genetic child. In vitro fertilization: For some couples dealing with male infertility, in vitro fertilization (IVF) is the treatment of choice.
For healthy semen samples collected between 5:00am and 7:30am were found to exhibit a statistically higher sperm concentration, total sperm count and a higher percentage of normally shaped sperm, compared to samples produced later in the day.
For men with normal sperm counts, studies find that semen volume and sperm count/concentration increase after two days of abstinence. However, sperm quality—the motility (movement) and morphology (shape) of sperm—decrease after two days of abstinence, with a significant impact seen after 7–10 days.