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There are many lifestyle and environmental causes of low sperm count. We’ve compiled a check list. Positive changes can help!

Half of all infertility cases are male related! The good news is that low sperm count is the most common reversible cause of male factor infertility.

Firstly, there are certainmedical conditions or prescription medicationsthat can interfere with male fertility.

Some common medical conditions or previous testicular injury can impair sperm production. It’s advised to have a general check up with your personal physician to diagnose or manage any health issues that may contribute towards low sperm count. Occasionally a change or an adjustment of a particular medication may be required. If necessary your doctor will refer you onto a specialist for further evaluation.

Sperm quality is just as important – some of these factors below also effect sperm motility (movement and speed) and morphology (shape). Semen can also suffer (fluid that contains spermatozoa). These criteria influence the chances of conception taking place.

Causes of low sperm count and other abnormalities

Often there’s a few contributing factors -

Stress – adrenal hormones can interfere with the production of our major sex hormones. Chronic stress leads to other health ailments which can eventually interfere with the reproductive system.

Nutritional deficiencies and poor eating habits – lack of fresh organic fruit and vegetables. Eating too many processed products, refined foods, sugars, and fats.

Pesticides - present on conventional fruit and vegetables. Responsible for numerous health issues.

Growth hormones - found in conventional animal products. Associated with estrogen dominance related conditions.

Too much alcohol – depletes vitamins and minerals from the body. An overworked liver can cause a rise in estrogen.

Excessive caffeine consumption – linked to several sperm problems. Mostly found in coffee, tea, chocolate, cola, energy drinks, and some medications. There are other types of caffeine based stimulants people use to help keep awake (e.g. in tablet form).

Overheating of the scrotum – one of the common causes of low sperm count. Hot baths, saunas, and electric blankets can overheat sperm producing cells in the testicles. Exposure to heat in the work environment. Using a laptop on your knees (heat produced by battery) has been proved to increase scrotal temperature. Long hours driving or sitting. Tight underwear or trousers, or constantly keeping legs crossed/pressed together can trap heat.

Sleep deprivation – an array of health complaints and illnesses including fertility problems.

Lack of exercise – too little physical activity can lead to sluggish circulation and poor health, which can become causes of low sperm count.

Overexertion - some men go to the extreme and overexert themselves, which risks sperm supply by overheating. Prevalent in endurance athletes.

Regular bike riding - poses a risk because of pressure and friction against the seat restricting blood flow to the testicles.

Obesity – fat cells secrete estrogen. The consequence is a diminished testosterone level (hormone needed for sperm production). Skin folds covering the genital may also be a problem for obese men, as the testicles can overheat effecting sperm count.

Underweight - hormonal imbalance is a possibility. Lack of essential nutrients required for sperm production.

Smoking cigarettes – major cause of poor sperm quality. Known to cause agglutination (sperm cells clumping together). Can damage genetic material within the sperm cells.

Abuse of anabolic steroids - suppresses the testes ability to produce testosterone.

Marijuana use – includes sperm motility problems which make it harder to reach the female egg.

Other recreational drugs, substance abuse – can cause DNA damage, therefore putting future offspring at risk.

EMF exposure (electromagnetic field) – cell phones in pockets near the crotch, laptops placed on knees, and electric blankets.

X-rays – any rapidly dividing cells are affected, including sperm cells. The genital area should have a protective shield whenever possible. Higher doses of x-ray radiation have more severe effects on sperm production.

Hidden environmental toxins and hormone disruptors (xenoestrogens) – one of the not so obvious causes of low sperm count! Found all around us in a variety of unsuspecting places, such as cleaning products in the home, plastic food packaging, and the personal care products that we use on a daily basis.

Hazards in the workplace - many men work with and around toxic substances, chemicals, and heavy metals, which can be damaging to sperm cells. Precautionary measures should always be enforced and practiced.

Extra considerations

Recent sickness – illness, infections, and fever can result in temporary sperm depletion for up to three – four months after the ailment has passed.

Frequent ejaculation – can lower sperm count.

Lubricants – There’s specifically designed lube for couples trying to conceive. Only use sperm friendly lubricants as other brands are inhospitable to sperm cells and can damage or kill them.

Help with the above common causes of low sperm count!

Sperm cells are constantly being produced, although they take around three – four months to mature enough for ejaculation. Certain lifestyle adjustments can make a difference! By addressing any factors that can decrease sperm count (given time) you can help replenish your “swimmers” and improve their quality.

Article Extracted from: 

http://www.fertility-health.com/causes-of-low-sperm-count.html

Courtesy of www.fertility-health.com

NaturesPlatform- Man, like his fellow primates, has always used the squatting position for elimination. Infants of every culture instinctively adopt this posture to relieve themselves. Although it may seem strange to someone who has spent his entire life deprived of the experience, this is the way the human body was designed to function..

And this is the way our ancestors performed their bodily functions until the middle of the 19th century. Before that time, chair-like toilets had only been used by royalty and the disabled. But with the advent of indoor plumbing in the 1800’s, the throne-like water closet was invented 22 to give ordinary people the same “dignity” previously reserved for kings and queens. The plumber and cabinet maker who designed it had no knowledge of human physiology – and sincerely believed that they were improving people’s lives..

Seven Advantages of Squatting

The new device symbolized the “progress” and “creativity” of western civilization. It showed that Man could “improve” on Nature and transcend the primitive cultural practices followed by the poor “benighted” natives in the colonies. The “White Man’s Burden” typified the condescending Victorian attitude toward other races and cultures.

Squat appendages to home toilets are being reintroduced on recommendation of medical personnel.

The British plumbing industry moved quickly to install indoor plumbing and water closets throughout the country. The great benefits of improved sanitation caused people to overlook a major ergonomic blunder: The sitting position makes elimination difficult and incomplete, and forces one to strain.

Those who could not overlook this drawback had to keep silent, because the subject was considered unmentionable. Furthermore, how could they criticize the “necessary” used by Queen Victoria herself? (Hers was gold-plated, befitting the self-styled “Empress of India.”)

Sitting vs squatting {naturesplatform}

So, like the Emperor’s New Clothes, the water closet was tacitly accepted. It was a grudging acceptance, as evidenced by the popularity of “squatting stools” sold in the famous department store, Harrods of London. As shown below on the left, these footstools merely elevated one’s feet in a crude attempt to imitate squatting.

The rest of Western Europe, as well as Australia and North America, did not want to appear less civilized than Great Britain, whose vast empire at the time made it the most powerful country on Earth. So, within a few decades, most of the industrialized world had adopted “The Emperor’s New Throne.”

150 years ago, no one could have predicted how this change would affect the health of the population. But today, many physicians blame the modern toilet for the high incidence of a number of serious ailments. Westernized countries have much higher rates of colon and pelvic disease, as illustrated by this report in the Israel Journal of Medical Science:

The prevalences of bowel diseases (hemorrhoids, appendicitis, polyps, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, diverticular disease, and colon cancer) are similar in South African whites and in populations of prosperous western countries. Among rural South African blacks with a traditional life style, these diseases are very uncommon or almost unknown.

Scientists found no signs of cancer in their extensive study of mummies apart from one isolated case

Michael Zimmerman, a visiting professor at Manchester University, said: 'In an ancient society lacking surgical intervention, evidence of cancer should remain in all cases.

'The virtual absence of malignancies in mummies must be interpreted as indicating their rarity in antiquity, indicating that cancer-causing factors are limited to societies affected by modern industrialisation.'

To trace cancer's roots, Professor Zimmerman and colleague Rosalie David analysed possible references to the disease in classical literature and scrutinised signs in the fossil record and in mummified bodies.

Despite slivers of tissue from hundreds of Egyptian mummies being rehydrated and placed under the microscope, only one case of cancer has been confirmed.

This is despite experiments showing that tumours should be even better preserved by mummification than healthy tissues.

Dismissing the argument that the ancient Egyptians didn't live long enough to develop cancer, the researchers pointed out that other age-related disease such as hardening of the arteries and brittle bones died occur.

Fossil evidence of cancer is also sparse, with scientific literature providing a few dozen, mostly disputed, examples in animal fossil, the journal Nature Reviews Cancer reports.

Even the study of thousands of Neanderthal bones has provided only one example of a possible cancer.

Caricaturist James Gillray illustrated the taking of snuff, which appears in first reports in scientific literature of distinctive tumours of nasal cancer in snuff users in 1761

Evidence of cancer in ancient Egyptian texts is also 'tenuous' with cancer-like problems more likely to have been caused by leprosy or even varicose veins.

The ancient Greeks were probably the first to define cancer as a specific disease and to distinguish between benign and malignant tumours.

But Manchester professors said it was unclear if this signalled a real rise in the disease, or just a greater medical knowledge.

The 17th century provides the first descriptions of operations for breast and other cancers.

And the first reports in scientific literature of distinctive tumours only occurred in the past 200 years or so, including scrotal cancer in chimney sweeps in 1775 and nasal cancer in snuff users in 1761.

Professor David, who presented the findings to Professor Mike Richards, the UK's cancer tsar and other oncologists at a conference earlier this year, said: 'In industrialised societies, cancer is second only to cardiovascular disease as a cause of death. But in ancient times, it was extremely rare.

'There is nothing in the natural environment that can cause cancer. So it has to be a man-made disease, down to pollution and changes to our diet and lifestyle.

'The important thing about our study is that it gives a historical perspective to this disease. We can make very clear statements on the cancer rates in societies because we have a full overview. We have looked at millennia, not one hundred years, and have masses of data.

'Yet again extensive ancient Egyptian data, along with other data from across the millennia, has given modern society a clear message – cancer is man-made and something that we can and should address.

Dr Rachel Thompson, of World Cancer Research Fund, said: 'This research makes for very interesting reading.

'About one in three people in the UK will get cancer so it is fairly commonplace in the modern world.

Scientists now say a healthy diet, regular physical activity and maintaining a healthy weight can prevent about a third of the most common cancers so perhaps our ancestors’ lifestyle reduced their risk from cancer.'