How Sperm Count is Evaluated

The timeline for a complete cycle of sperm production is around two months, as long as you are in good health both physically and mentally. A male at his ideal health will fall within the normal BMI for his height and weight, exercise regularly, and eat a diet low in saturated fats and high in fruits and vegetables.

However, more than just the physical elements go into good health and optimal sperm count. Consistently getting around eight hours of sleep, managing stress and anxiety, and abstaining from mind-altering substances plays just as significant a role in a man’s overall health.

When measuring the quality of your sperm and your sperm count, the doctor will look for three things:

• Quantity
• Motility
• Morphology

Morphology refers to the shape of your sperm. In a healthy semen specimen, the sperm will have a roundish head with a long tail. This is how the sperm can travel to meet the egg upon ejaculation. Defects and significant variations to the shape will make conception difficult. The doctor will include the amount of normally shaped sperm in your overall sperm count.

The ability to move is your sperm’s motility. In order to have viability, the sperm needs to be able to move. The sperm count will measure how many of your sperm have motility. You need to have at least 50% of your sperm moving to be in the normal range.

Finally, there’s the quantity. This is going to refer to the number of sperm per millimetre of semen. You want to have at least 15 million sperm per millimetre to be considered at a fertile level. Anything below this will result in difficulties conceiving.

If you have been having trouble conceiving or have been alerted that your sperm count is not where it should be, there are two main reasons as to why: medical and lifestyle.

In the rest of the article, I will identify some of the main factors within these categories so that you can start the process of getting your sperm count up to its full potential!

How to Get Your Sperm Evaluated

There are a few different avenues for getting an analysis of your sperm, depending on how worried you are and what you are comfortable with.

To start with you can test your sperm count at home using water. This approach won’t tell you the exact quality or quantity of sperm however will serve as an initial indicator of sperm quality.

Of course, you can always visit a fertility clinic and have the medical staff do a comprehensive analysis of your sperm. This is recommended if you have been trying to conceive without success for a long time or if you have underlying medical conditions that might affect your fertility.

Another method, if you want to avoid going into a clinic but still want a full analysis conducted, is a mail-in service, such as Meet Fellow. Here are the steps to follow if you plan on going this route:

1. First, you would pay for a test kit online.
2. The company mails you your kit straight to your doorstep.
3. You follow the instructions in the kit to provide a sample of your semen.
4. Then, mail the sample back to their lab.
5. You should get your results back, usually online via a secure portal, within a few days.

If you are just looking for quick reassurance or are curious, there are also over-the-counter tests available at most local pharmacies. These tests won’t give you the details of everything going on with your sperm, but they will alert you if there is something abnormal.

Medical Reasons for Low Sperm Count

In the event that you are trying to determine why your sperm count is low, it is a good idea to eliminate some of the medical reasons that could be at play.

There are some health conditions, medications, and deficiencies that can be contributing to your low sperm count, including:

• Varicocele veins: These are veins in your scrotum that have become dilated and swollen. They are almost always completely harmless but can sometimes cause issues with sperm count.
• Diabetes: If you are pre-diabetic or diabetic, you might have a lower quantity of sperm per millimeter.
• Hypothyroidism: An underactive thyroid can lead to erectile dysfunction and low sperm count. Upon receiving treatment, men see a return to normal erectile function and sperm count after some time.
• Hormone imbalances: Our hormones can get out of whack without us even realizing it. If you have lower than normal testosterone or higher levels of prolactin or estrogen, this might disrupt your sperm production.
• Celiac disease: Undiagnosed celiac disease can lead to issues with the morphology of your sperm, limiting the number of swimmers that are viable for conception. Upon switching to a gluten-free diet, this condition improved.
• Medications: Some medications, such as some antibiotics and antifungals, can disrupt sperm production and cause low sperm counts. If you are trying to conceive without success, a good place to start is a conversation with your doctor about your medications.
• Vitamin D deficiency: A study on infertile males showed that those with a vitamin D deficiency also had lower sperm counts.
• Chemicals in your environment: A lot of plastics are made with endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which will throw testosterone out of balance with the rest of your hormones. Once testosterone is out of balance, sperm count often lowers.

If any of these do or could apply to you, then the first step in raising your sperm count will be visiting your doctor. They will be able to start a medical plan to try and combat the symptoms of your medical issue to get your sperm count up to normal production.

Lifestyle Reasons for Low Sperm Count

The lifestyle factors are the reasons for a low sperm count that you have the most control over and the ability to change. If you are leading an unhealthy lifestyle or even just have a few bad habits, making some changes will do wonders for the quality of your sperm.

Being Overweight or Underweight

Your body functions best when your weight falls in a certain range relative to your height. If you are under six feet (1.82 m) tall, the ideal range will be different from someone who is approaching a height of seven feet (2.13 m), for instance.

A tool for measuring whether you fall at a healthy weight is a Body Mass Index (BMI) chart. The chart will give you a number depending on your height and weight, and that number will tell you if you are over or underweight.

The numbers that indicate you are underweight is a BMI of anything less than 18.5. If you fall under this number, you will want to put on weight to raise your sperm count.

Basically, your body is starving!!!

Instead of using energy for sperm production, it redirects it to keep your more basic functions going, like body temperature and staying awake throughout the day. Once your BMI is up and your body is no longer in survival mode, then you will see your sperm count rise in two or three months.

The total amount of time it takes to get your sperm count back up will depend on the initial period of gaining weight. The way to gain weight safely is at a slow and steady pace, fueled by lots of healthy fats, protein, and complex carbohydrates.

Stuffing yourself full of fried chicken, buttered white bread, and milkshakes will only take one problem for your sperm count and replace it with another. So, to gain weight for better sperm count, combine good nutrition and strength-building exercise instead of cardio.

On the flip side, a BMI value of 25 will mean you are overweight, and a BMI of over 30 will mean that you are obese. A lot of the same information will apply to you if you need to lose weight for your sperm count — a balanced diet and daily exercise.

Choose a diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables, complex carbohydrates, and low or saturated animal fats. Pair your diet with some daily cardio to keep the calories going out higher than the calories going in!

Once your weight gets down to a BMI value of less than 25, you will likely see your sperm count return to normal levels in about 60 days. Possibly, you will reach a normal sperm count earlier because your sperm count continues to improve as your body sheds the extra fat.

The ideal BMI range is anywhere between these two extremes, somewhere between 18-25. Your body will be able to function much better, resulting in healthy sperm production.

Fad Diets are Bad for Sperm Production

I know that keto and low-carb diets are all the rage right now, but their effects on your sperm count won’t have you rushing to fry up bacon every morning.

Numerous studies have shown a direct correlation between diets high in trans and saturated fats playing a large role in plummeting your sperm count. While trans fats have been recently banned by the FDA, food companies still find loopholes to sneak trans fats into your food.

Your body needs healthy, complex carbohydrates for energy, which it then uses in order to produce sperm. Without enough of that energy, your body will produce less or lower quality sperm than if your diet has a healthy balance of macronutrients.

Don’t drink the keto kool-aid. Your body functions at its best when it is getting complex carbs for energy, lean animal or plant protein for strength, and healthy fats for brain and joint function.

Try pairing healthy fats like avocados or salmon with complex carbohydrates like wholegrain rice for a delicious sandwich or banana and peanut butter on multigrain toast for breakfast. Your waistline will not suffer, and your sperm count will start to rise.

Smoking Tobacco Products

If you are a smoker, this is your official sign that it is time to throw out your cigarettes. Smoking has been shown to lower every aspect of sperm quality. One study cited that the sperm quantity per milliliter of semen was 20% less for smokers than nonsmokers.

However, this isn’t even the biggest reason to ditch cigarettes. Presumably, you are concerned about sperm count because you are actively trying to conceive or plan to in the future. Cigarette smoke has no place anywhere near a pregnant woman or a newborn baby.

A pregnant woman exposed to secondhand smoke has a much higher risk of miscarrying than those who are not. The eventual newborn baby will be at risk for:

• Low birth weight
• Premature birth
• Cognitive deficiencies
• Sudden Infant Death syndrome (SIDs)

If you are having trouble quitting smoking, talk to your doctor about tobacco cessation options available to you. Once you have kicked the habit, your sperm count will get back to normal in a few months, and you will be ready for the next steps!

Moderate to Heavy Alcohol Use

It can be easy to think that this doesn’t apply to you, but the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 25.8% of people 18 and over had recently engaged in binge drinking. So, just take a second to reflect on your drinking habits before scrolling to the next section.

Social drinking and a glass of wine with dinner are not going to be detrimental to your sperm count. However, consistent alcohol use can quickly start to make its effects known.

Alcohol can lower your testosterone and raise your estrogen, which then disrupts sperm production.

Here is the good news if you have been drinking a bit too much and are concerned about your sperm count – a study that followed very heavy drinkers’ sperm production found that after three months of sobriety, even the heaviest drinkers had a marked improvement in their swimmers. So, even if you’ve really been hitting it hard, nothing is permanent.

While some of the other aspects of getting off the booze may take a little bit longer, restoring the quality of your sperm should be fairly simple.

Poor Stress Management

This might be the most important item on the list because we live in a time that being overworked and overtired is the norm.

However, if one of the things you are stressed about is your sperm, then it is time to dip into that vacation time and find some time to relax.

In the studies that have looked into psychological stress and sperm count, all were able to find direct correlations between negative stress and lower sperm count. Stress can create an imbalance between testosterone and other hormones, causing low sperm count.

Additionally, stress can wreak havoc on your sex life more generally. Stress is a libido killer and can even cause erectile dysfunction.

There are lots of ways to go about managing your stress in a way that helps restore your fertility to an optimal level.

First, it is important to determine what the main stressors in your life are. Some things are more acute, like moving or an unexpected expense coming up. If these are the things causing your stress, then it is temporary, and time will move things along as long as you are aware of it.

It is when the stressors in your life are chronic that they can be more difficult to manage. Things like work or the loss of a loved one can be much more complicated to address. The best route is usually to determine the source of stress and make a plan to make changes where you can.

If it is work stress, as it often is, taking some time off or finding ways to delegate to others are often good options. The right plan for you will depend on your work and your responsibilities there.

Final Thoughts

If you are living a healthy lifestyle and have no medical problems, there is a good chance your sperm count is fine. Even if one of the above applies to you, a few unhealthy choices here and there won’t cause your sperm to suffer.

Use common sense about the choices involving your health and make prudent lifestyle changes where your health and wellbeing is concerned. The fact that you’re trying to improve your sperm quality is a great indication that you will see improvement. Keep in contact with your doctor if you are still concerned or are having difficulties conceiving even after making changes.