How to increase your sperm count
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Are you ready to start having kids, but worried your sperm count is too low? Semen is most likely to be fertile when it contains more than 15 million sperm per milliliter. That count can go down when your testicles get too hot, when you’re stressed out, and when you have an STI that’s interfering with sperm production. Luckily, there are many steps you can take to boost your count. Here are some helpful tips on how to boost the production of your sperm.
Changing Your Habits
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Avoid overheating your testicles. There’s a reason our testicles rest outside our bodies: they need to stay a bit cooler than the rest of our internal organs. When testicles get too warm, they aren’t able to produce as much sperm.[1] There are a number of ways to make sure your testicles don’t get overheated:
- Don’t wear tight pants and jeans.
- Wear loose, cotton boxer shorts instead of briefs.
- Sleep without underwear so that your testicles stay cooler.
- Avoid hot baths and saunas.
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Wear a jockstrap when you play sports. It goes without saying, because most men know this from experience, but a blow to the balls will hurt you and kill your sperm.
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Massage your body with herbal oils. This, along with regular exercise, improves overall blood flow and circulation. Increased circulation means healthier sperm.
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Reduce stress levels. Stress can decrease your sexual function, leading to reduced sperm production.[2] If you work 12 plus hour days and never give yourself a chance to rest, your count might be down as a result. Try practicing relaxation techniques throughout the day to keep yourself feeling calm. Keep your mind and body healthy by regularly practicing yoga and meditation, or take up running or swimming.
- Stress hormones block Leydig cells, which are tasked with regulating testosterone production. When your body experiences too much stress, it can actually stop producing sperm altogether.
- Make sure you’re getting enough sleep every night. Exhaustion can also lead to increased stress and cause decreased sperm production.
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Stop smoking. Smoking cigarettes causes sperm counts to be lower, makes them move more slowly, and causes the sperm themselves to be misshapen. According to one study, men who smoke have 22% fewer sperm than men who don’t. Marijuana seems to have a similar effect on sperm.[3] Cutting back on both of these substances is a good idea if you want to boost your count.
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Drink alcohol moderately. Alcohol affects your liver function, which, in turn, causes a dramatic spike in estrogen levels. (Yes, men have estrogen.) Since testosterone is directly linked to sperm health and sperm production, this isn’t a good state of affairs. Even two drinks a day will have long-term effects on sperm production.
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Ejaculate less frequently. Frequent ejaculations can lower sperm count. Your body produces millions of sperm each day, but if you already have low sperm count, consider storing them up longer between ejaculations. If you have sex or masturbate daily, cut down on the frequency for increased sperm production.
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Be careful around toxins. Exposure to chemicals can affect the size, movement and count of your sperm. It’s more and more difficult to avoid exposure to toxins, but it’s absolutely necessary for your overall health and the health of your sperm. Do the following to decrease your exposure:
- If you work around chemicals all day long, protect your skin with long sleeves and gloves, and make sure you wear a mask and goggles to protect your face.[4]
- Use natural cleaning supplies instead of cleaning with chemicals.
- Don’t use pesticides or herbicides in your house or yard.
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Be wary of medications. Certain medications can lead to decreased sperm count and even permanent infertility. If sperm production is a big concern for you, make sure you ask your doctor whether any medication prescribed might affect your sperm count.[5]Look at the labels on over-the-counter medicines, too.
Improving Your Diet and Exercise Regimen
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Exercise regularly. Finding out a workable exercise regimen is a tough task in the modern world, but rest assured that exercise will help you produce more sperm. Exercise releases testosterone into your body, helping with sperm production. Use compound exercises and lift heavy weights, but refrain from working the same set of muscles the day after. Giving your muscles time to rest and rebuild should help you produce testosterone.
- Do not exercise too much! Excessive exercise causes the release of adrenal steroid hormones that actually cause a testosterone deficiency. So whether you want to put on that extra muscle or help out your sperm, remember not to stress your body too much.
- Do not use anabolic steroids. Anabolic steroids may help you pack on the pounds, but they shrink your testicles and may cause infertility. If you’re trying to conceive, stay far, far away.
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Eat healthy foods. A diet that’s low in fat, and high in protein, vegetables, and whole grains is good for your health and for your sperm.
- Eat plenty of fish, meat, eggs, fruits and vegetables.
- Peanuts, walnuts, cashews, sunflower and pumpkin seeds are also considered to increase sperm count.
- Avoid soy-based foods and high-fructose corn syrup. Soy foods have a mild estrogenic effect on the body. While that may be good for women, it’s not great for grooming sperm. High-fructose corn syrup causes insulin resistance, which lowers fertility. Men who drink a quart of Coke regularly have 30% less sperm than men who don’t drink Coke.
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Lose weight. Losing weight will help you counteract low sperm count. Scientists don’t know why obesity correlates to low sperm count, but a recent French study found that obese men were 42 percent more likely to have low sperm count than their non-obese counterparts. In the same study, scientists found that obese men were 81 percent more likely to have no sperm at all in their ejaculate.[6]
- There are a number of different theories for why this is. Some speculate that fatty tissue converts testosterone into estrogen; others speculate that more mass in the thighs could make the testicles too hot.
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Try supplements.[7] Try supplements that are made from natural herbal ingredients to specifically help the body make more semen. Researches found that men who consumed 5 mg of folic acid and 66 mg of zinc sulfate a day for 26 weeks experienced an almost 75 percent increase in sperm count. Folic acid and zinc sulfate are critical in the formation of DNA.
- Vitamin C and selenium may also be good supplements to take in order to increase sperm production.
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Get tested and treated for STIs. Certain sexually transmitted infections, such as chlamydia and gonorrhea, can cause scarring that interferes with the passage of sperm.[8] Get regularly tested for STIs; if you have one, be sure to get the proper treatment. In most cases you’ll be prescribed a course of antibiotics to clear up the infection.
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Determine if you have a varicocele. This is a swelling of the veins that drain the testicle. It can lead to increased temperature of the testicle and decreased sperm count. See your doctor to determine if this might be affecting your fertility. If so, a surgical procedure can take care of the problem.
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Try hormone treatments and medications. It’s possible that your sperm count is low because your hormones are out of balance. Hormone replacement treatments and medications can change your hormone levels and help you produce more sperm. Talk with your doctor about whether this option is right for you.
- Hormone replacement treatments and medications usually take at least 3 months to work before you start seeing results.
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ABOUT: Nana Kwesi Coomson
[email protected] An Entrepreneur, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communications Executive and Philanthropist. Editor-in-Chief of www.233times.com. A Senior Journalist with Ghanaian Chronicle Newspaper. An alumnus of Adisadel College where he read General Arts. His first degree is in Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (major) and History (minor) from the University of Ghana. He holds MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Energy with Public Relations (PR) from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who studied at Clark Atlanta University in USA on the Business and Entrepreneurship track.
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(Selorm) | 
(Nana Kwesi)
I need help to boost my sperm. Am 55 years of age.
How best to increase my sperm count?