Answer:
Quantity of sperm. Semen containing fewer sperm, or no sperm at all, can impact a male’s fertility if the female’s egg cannot be fertilised due to a lack of sperm. This is otherwise known as having a low sperm count. A low sperm count is clinically defined as having less than 15 million sperm per millilitre of semen. If you or your partner are concerned about your potential sperm count, you can check the quantity of your sperm via a sperm analysis.
Quality of sperm. The quality of your sperm may be impacting your fertility, such as sperm mobility and having ‘abnormal sperm’. Decreased sperm mobility can impact the quality of your sperm as it can create difficulty for the sperm to reach the egg, and fertilise it. Many factors of abnormal sperm are unexplained but can be due to a variety of factors including an abnormal shape, making it harder for sperm to move and fertilise an egg. You can check the quality of your sperm via a sperm analysis.
Testicular damage. Testicles contain your sperm and protect the delicate cells from the outside environment. Damage to your testicles can have a serious impact on your fertility by affecting the quality and quantity of sperm. Overheating sperm can seriously impact their quality. Keeping your testicles cool is important to maintain an optimum temperature of your sperm. Simple ways that you can help to do this include not sitting down for long periods of time and not wearing too tight underwear. Other causes of testicular damage are trauma, such as from sport, infection, testicular surgery, a congenital defect and undescended testicles.
Ejaculation disorders. Having problems with ejaculation can impact your fertility if your sperm cannot reach the egg for it to be fertilised. Examples of ejaculatory disorders include premature ejaculation (where ejaculation occurs too early), retrograde ejaculation (where semen is ejaculated into the bladder) and the failure to ejaculate. If issues with ejaculating are impacting your fertility, then you may wish to learn more about Surgical Sperm Retrieval, which can be discussed with a Consultant at an IVI clinic.
Lifestyle Choices. Choosing healthy lifestyle choices is one of the most important and manageable ways to improve your fertility. The following lifestyle choices can cause male infertility by damaging your sperm quality, quantity or sperm passage: excessive alcohol, illegal recreational drugs such as cocaine and marijuana, steroids, an unhealthy diet, obesity and unsafe sex leading to sexually transmitted infections/ diseases that can block the sperm passage.
