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Men’s Fertility Issues

Documented Factors Affecting a Man’s Fertility

Hot Tubs

• Researchers at the Universirty of California, San Francisco, conducted a study which showed that regular exposure to high water temperatures (around 30 minutes a week) through submersion in hot tubs and baths does adversely affect fertility levels with impaired sperm production and motility.

• After discontinuing the high temperature exposure from wet heat for 3-6 months, 50% of the same group of men showed a mean increase of their total motile sperm counts of 491%!

Chronic Tobacco Use

• The other men who did not show improvement where smokers. This underscores that chronic tobacco use is a “gonadotoxic” process (kills sperm).

Lack of Sleep

• At the 5th World Congress of the World Federation of Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine Societies in Australia, a Brazilian sexual health specialist reported that chronic sleep deprivation may harm the male libido and set off erection problems. The researcher pointed to a growing body of evidence linking lack of proper sleep to a lowering of libido (sexual drive) and the onset of erection difficulties.

• In some rare cases, this sleep deprivation has triggered sleep sex, or sexsomnia – a disturbing condition where the libido is heightened during sleep and the men initiate sex while asleep (with no conscious memory).

Sleep Apnea

• At the same conference, another cause cited for erectile dysfunction problems was sleep apnea, a condition that presents nighttime breathing problems that require continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment to help restore proper erectile function.

Low Testosterone Levels

• Another cause of low sex drive and erectile dysfunction can be the effects of low testosterone levels in men over 30. In a study by the New England Research Institute, 1,500 men (30-79 years old) were measured for testosterone levels and the results revealed that one in four men had low levels. What’s more, further testing showed that one in twenty men had clinical symptoms that are directly linked to testosterone deficiency.

• Once again, many of these men showed no symptoms related to their low testosterone levels. This highlights the need for all men over 30 years of age to have their levels checked, even if you have no symptomatic signs.

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Sources: Hot Tubs Hurt Fertility UCSF News Office 02 March 2007 (http://pub.ucsf.edu) Tobacco Use, Alcohol Consumption and Infertility International Journal of Epidemiology Volume 12, Number 2 Pp. 179-184 Sleep Loss and Fatigue in Healthcare Professionals Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing April/June 2007  Volume 21 No. 2 Pages 92–100 Sleep Apnea Information American Sleep Apnea Association (www.sleepapnea.org) Testosterone Therapy in Adult Men with Androgen Deficiency Syndromes: an endocrine society clinical practice guideline Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 2006 Jul;91(7):2688

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