Low Sperm Count

There is nothing more frustrating than when a couple is trying to conceive a baby and is unable to. As months turn into years, the relationship can begin to crumble. The first step when it comes to discovering why a couple is not conceiving is to get a complete physical. Often a doctor will want to test a man’s sperm count first, as it is one of the quickest and least expensive things to check. If the results come back that the man has a low sperm count, the first two questions are usually: “how did it happen”, and, “how can I fix it”.

There are a number of different ways that low sperm count occurs. Age is a big factor. As men grow older, their sperm becomes much less active and may decrease in amount. Semen is very fragile and can be affected temporarily by things like stress, heat or psychological issues. Smoking tends to lower sperm count and sperm motility. In addition, men who smoke frequently tend to have lower sex drives and have sex much less frequently than men who do not smoke.

Recreational drug use can have a huge impact on sperm count. Men who have used cocaine or marijuana for a lengthy amount of time will have a much lower sperm count than men who have not. Men who bicycle often, especially men who do mountain biking, may have damaged certain nerves and blood vessels, causing injuries to the scrotum which may lower the sperm count.

There are some things that some men can do to improve their sperm count. The first thing to do is to exercise regularly, in order to improve the state of your body and to help with stress. If a man is using recreational drugs, he should stop doing so in order to give his body a chance to start producing sperm normally again. There are also a few different medical procedures that can be done in order to improve the odds of pregnancy. The first is called washing. This procedure separates the sperm from the semen, giving the sperm a better chance of piercing the egg. Filtering is a controversial, experimental procedure that involves putting tiny fibers and semen in a syringe. The dead sperm is supposed to stick to the fibers, leaving only the live sperm and a higher chance of success.