How To Check Male Fertility Naturally: Expert’s Guide
The current article makes an effort to check male fertility by natural means. It also delves into factors responsible for infertility in men and suggests ways to minimize them through medications and lifestyle changes.
Male Fertility
The Follicle-Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and Luteinizing Hormone (LH) assisting with, or stimulating ovarian follicle maturation and ovulation in women are also responsible for producing testosterone in men. Testosterone enhances sperm production, which in turn makes a man fertile and prepares him for reproduction. Stating all of these, a man’s fertility could indeed demonstrate his capacity to impregnate his partner without medical or pharmacologic intervention or supervision. Additionally, male fertility depends on a man’s capability to raise sperm count to levels sufficient for fertilizing a woman’s egg through sexual activity. Again, it is a healthy sperm that can actively make its way to the egg to fertilize it, resulting in the formation of an embryo.
To this end, it, therefore, sounds important for a man to ensure that he is fertile enough to bear children down the road. This statement also indicates that men need to undertake fertility tests every now and then. The next section of this article thus seeks to understand how men can check their fertility and that too through adopting natural methods.
Checking Male Fertility Naturally
When it concerns checking (and ensuring) male fertility, the one thing that highly strikes is how this can be carried out through natural means. These typically include the following:
Monitoring General Health: A man should primarily consider monitoring his general health. His overall health doubtlessly has an impact on his reproductive and sperm health, and addressing this effectively involves consuming proper nutrients in sufficient quantities.
Checking Libido: The sex drive that a male exhibits does determine his libido. In other words, a man’s libido signifies his desire to engage in sexual activity.
Examining Semen Quality: Given that fertility in man is directly linked to his libido, this also relates to the quality of his semen, which gets released through ejaculation during acts of sex.
Tracking Testicle Size: The size of the testicles is critical to determining fertility in men. It is needless to explain that while the larger size increases/enhances a man’s fertility by a decent percentage, the smaller or shrunken testicles will drastically reduce his fertility potential.
Factors Affecting Male Fertility
The following factors were identified to affect male fertility.
| Factors | Explanation |
| Libido | A lack of sex drive diminishes a man’s capability to indulge in sexual activities. |
| Erectile dysfunction | The other name for impotence, erectile dysfunction is characterized by the inability to develop and maintain an erection. |
| Sperm count | Sperm count is determined by semen quality, where the latter signifies the concentration of sperm within. If semen does not contain adequate sperm count or concentration, this indicates infertility in men, as well as poor-quality semen. |
| Sperm motility | Since the sperm’s ability to swim suggests its good health and motility, the opposite of this genuinely suggests its lack of capacity to swim (move) within a semen sample. |
| Testosterone levels | Low testosterone levels are the prime culprit behind male infertility. Produced by the FSH and LH, it is the testosterone levels that stimulate sperm production in males to make them fertile. |
Measures to Minimise Male Infertility
Inclusion of dietary supplements, such as D-aspartic acid (DAA), regular exercises, intaking vitamins (C, D, and E), relaxation and recreational activities for minimizing stress, taking medications with minimal-to-zero side effects (for example, Tribulus terrestris), zinc, and reducing alcohol intake can help improve fertility in men. A look into each of these measures will help explain how these work.
DAA
With existing studies conveying the effectiveness of DAA supplements in improving testosterone levels (through synthesis), these doubtlessly play a key role in minimizing issues related to male infertility.
Regular Exercises
It is no doubt that regular exercises help in improving a man’s libido, thereby increasing his sexual desires. These include weight resistance (cardiovascular exercises), yoga, walking, gentle bike rides, swimming, Tai Chi, moderate cardio exercises (such as light jogging, swimming, and yoga), hiking, and resistance training.
Vitamins C, D., and E
Vitamin C presents as an abundant antioxidant in a normally fertile man’s semen. Whereas, vitamin D improves overall health by regulating the immune system, improving/enhancing muscular function, and protecting one from various health conditions. While these features of vitamin D are enough to promote male fertility by assisting in the production of androgen (testosterone) and improving reproductive function, this significantly implies the role of this mineral (micronutrient) in improving male fertility.
Vitamin E helps in dissolving essential fats to protect the cell membrane of the sperm from any kind of damage. Additionally, vitamin E helps improve sperm motility, which is critical to solving fertility-related issues in men. Notably speaking, including these vitamins together is utterly mandatory when it concerns improving each other’s functions to facilitate male fertility improvement.
Relaxation and Recreational Activities to Minimise Stress
Men at the workplace face too much stress due to excessive workloads mounted on them. No doubt, this casts a negative impact on their sperm health, resulting in decreased sperm count. While this consequently affects their female partner’s sexual health, it indeed implies the need to take time off from the busy schedule and engage in recreational activities like going on long drives with one’s partner, where all these activities will help de-stress one’s mind and body.
Medications
Researchers have known that extracts from Tribulus terrestris demonstrate significant benefits in enhancing male fertility, especially in connection with specific sperm parameters like sperm count and motility. They verified this by examining sperm specimens from 40 healthy men who received three different administrations of the Tribulus terrestris extract: 20, 40, and 50 ug/mL respectively.
Results came out indicating that those receiving 40 and 50 ug/mL of the extract displayed a significant increase in sperm count, motility, and viability.
Zinc
Intaking supplements or foods rich in zinc do help maintain normal testosterone levels.
Reducing Alcohol Intake
It is needless to explain here that reducing the level of alcohol intake will be useful in wading off fertility issues in men.
Note that all the aforementioned methods here categorize as home remedies with minimal to no risks or fear of side effects. However, some cases demand medical interventions if those stated here do not provide the needed results. Nevertheless, and for the most part, these steps or measures tried at home are likely to solve issues related to male fertility.
Tests for Male Fertility
In addition to the information provided earlier about natural methods for testing fertility in men, experts also conduct specific laboratory tests to eliminate any potential underlying illnesses or inherited causes. Note that a physician consultation is the one applicable method in this regard because he/she can be able to effectively and professionally guide on what tests to undergo as deemed best by industrial practice, validated by a third party, and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Having stated so, these have included:
- Sperm Concentration
- Sperm Motility
- Sperm Morphology
- Semen Factors
Sperm Concentration
Measures the amount of sperm present per milliliter of semen. Lab tests determine sperm concentration by calculating the number of sperm in 1 mL of semen. It should be learned here that the WHO-set sperm concentration for 1 mL of semen is 1.5 million sperm.
Sperm Motility
Understanding that sperm is propelled forward by tail flagellations alongside support from the female reproductive system, these tend to move either in straight lines or large, sweeping circles. Sperm motility is, therefore, measured by the percentage of sperm moving in a sample of semen with progressive motility signifying the percentage of sperm moving in a forwardly propelled fashion. Again, it is 40% of motile sperm, with 32% moving progressively, as deemed appropriate by WHO.
Sperm Morphology
As per the male fertility clinic, Legacy, the sperm comprises a tail, a midpiece, a head, and an acrosomal vesicle, where each of these carries individual purposes of swimming towards the egg, mitochondria to assist with sperm movement, containing the nucleus that houses the genetic material for the offspring, and enzymes to help the sperm penetrate the egg.
Semen Factor
Indicates the amount of semen ejected, which should not be below 1.5 mL.
Also Read: Male Fertility Foods To Avoid For Optimal Reproductive Health
Conclusion
You can naturally perform male fertility checks at home, primarily involving monitoring your general health, checking your libido, examining the quality of semen, and tracking testicle size. The cause of male fertility issues is generally multifactorial, and there exist various in-home remedies for the same, such as the ones stated above. In case these issues cannot be resolved by the stated home remedies, lab tests are sought to rule out any underlying issue as deemed appropriate by the FDA and related third-party validation.
