Sperm health is the less talked about side of infertility, but it doesn’t mean it is any less important. There are few diagnoses when it comes to make factor infertility. No matter what the issue, it always feels like doctors jump right to IUI or IVF and never discuss any options to improve sperm health, when the reality is you can improve sperm health in less than 60 days. Even if everything tested fine with the male, I still suggest supplements to improve sperm health in general. It never hurts. This party takes two to be successful!
What Makes for Happy Sperm Health?
Quality
Sperm quality reflects the diagnoses sperm growth, shape, motility, and count. DNA is a big factor with sperm quality.
- Morphology- reflect size and shape of sperm. These affect sperm movement (motility) and fertilization. Healthy sperm have rounded heads and long, strong tails.
- Motility- this is the ability of sperm to move properly. At least 40% of sperm needs to be good swimmers for the man to be fertile.
Quantity
The reality is that the more you have, the more likely it is to find the egg. When we are talking about lower quantity, we are talking about a lower ratio of the concentration of sperm to a given amount of semen. Generally, sperm make up 5% of the ejaculation. Lower quantity can mean lower chances of conceiving. A healthy sperm count is about 15 million for every mL of semen.
For males with lower sperm count doctors may do a few retrievals to get a larger quantity. When trying naturally, some couples abstain before their fertile window to allow for increased counts when the male does ejaculate. The numbers actually show that men need about 100,000 sperm per egg.
What Can You Do for Happier Sperm?
Let’s start by talking about things that negatively impact sperm.
Heat
Heat and healthy sperm don’t mix. Men that have jobs where they are warm all the time or seated all the time on warm seats (think driving a lot) may have lower quality sperm. What they wear can also affect this. Avoid those tight pants, boys.
Nutrition
Nutrition is key in fertility under any circumstance. You always want a whole food diet with little to know processed food. Limit alcohol intake, as well. Eating organic (or at the very least following the EWG’s Dirty Dozen guidelines) will help eliminate the pesticides found in so many foods that alter hormones.
Low quality processed meats, grains, dairy and sweets all affect motility. Foods high in B-12 like high quality meats, fish and dairy can help reduce inflammation. Vitamin C rich foods like citrus, bell peppers and tomatoes can actually improve counts.
Ditch the Chemicals
I could go on for hours on this subject, but the chemicals in many of our everyday products have endocrine disruptors that greatly affect hormone levels. A great simple switch is ditching the plastic. This means everything from food storage containers to single use water bottles. When shopping for personal care items make sure they are paraben and phthalate free with no artificial fragrances. I suggest downloading the EWG’s Think Dirty App. You can easily scan your products to check the ingredients.
Take Your Vitamins
Men should take supplements just as women should. A few good options for men’s health include: a good multivitamin, B12 (as Methyl folate) to reduce inflammation, Vitamin D3 to boost testosterone, Vitamin C for sperm count and motility, CoQ10 for semen quality and Tribulus and Ashwagandha for sperm count and motility. Keep in mind that the FDA doesn’t regulate the purity of supplements, so I suggest getting them from your doctor or health coach through a certified dispensary.
The good news is it takes less than 60 days for the sperm production to happen, which means you can make these changes today and see better sperm health in less than two months.
