Things Men Can Do to Increase Chance of Pregnancy

If do seriously want to have a baby, first you have to clearly understand that both you and your partner must be fertile. To achieve conception and pregnancy, it is not only about female fertility – male fertility also plays a key role. And there are lots of simple and effective things that men can do to increase the chance of pregnancy with their partners. In fact, some lifestyle changes can have profound effects on both male and female reproductive functions.

It is important to keep on healthy weight. Many studies confirmed that overweight is linked with lots of medical health conditions such as high cholesterol, hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes, and heart diseases. But did you know that your weight also can affect your chance of getting conception with your partner. While overweight is often considered as a problem for fertility, underweight may also have an effect on both male and female fertilities.

While exercise is linked directly with the way of how you can control your weight (people with regular exercise are more likely to have normal weight than others who are poor in exercise), it also can have a direct effect on male sperm count.

Nicotine from tobacco can affect the fertility of men and women. It is also linked with the increasing risk of low birth-weight baby, miscarriage, and SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), according to a British research [3]. Moreover, it can be potential to damage DNA.

If you are a smoker, each cigarette you smoke can be bad for your cardiovascular system. It can harm and hurt your blood vessels. It can increase your risk of developing a condition called atherosclerosis which then eventually can affect your blood pressure. Eventually, all of these things are bad for your fertility. See also the correlation between high blood pressure and fertility of men on this section!

Nowadays, the use of steroids for muscle buildings is increasingly popular. In general, there is nothing to worry about it, as long as you use this supplement properly. But if you and your partner are expecting a pregnancy, steroids should be avoided!

While the use of steroids may help boost sexual performance, but actually it can interfere with sperm production which then can affect the chance of getting pregnancy with your partner! The reason is due to it can affect the hormone secretion. This may have an effect in the production of testosterone (hormone that plays a key role in improving the male reproductive organs).

Generally, your body cannot produce antioxidants on its own. Fort this reason, you need to continuously eat foods high in antioxidants through your diet.

The body can get free radicals from bad environment, such as when we are exposed to pollution, smoke of cigarette smoking, radiation, or toxic chemicals. But they also can be naturally produced in the body when it digests and breaks down foods that we eat.

Free radicals can damage the cells of the body which then can be potential to cause abnormal cell growth (a starting point for cancer to occur). And as well we know, actually sperm is also a kind of cell. And it can be affected by free radicals. In other words, the quality of sperm may also be affected by free radicals [4].

Getting plenty of antioxidants can help protect your sperm and may improve its quality. There are lots of antioxidants. But when it comes to boosting fertility in men, some crucial antioxidants you need to concern in your diet are zinc, selenium, folic acid, lycopene, vitamin E, and vitamin C.

In addition, antioxidants also can play a key role in helping the body of men to make appropriate proteins found in sperm [5]. However, though experts believe that antioxidants are important for your sperm quality, but make sure to eat them in moderation. For instance, excessive selenium may be counterproductive. Too much selenium may decrease the movement (motility) of sperm.

Even excessive vitamin can be counterproductive for the body, either for excessive alcohol. A research found that too much alcohol can decrease male fertility [4]. The good news, a few drinks of alcohol doesn’t have an effect.

Therefore, if you drink, drink it moderately. But for best chance of getting pregnancy with your partner, avoid it at least until your partner finds a positive result with her home-pregnancy test.

Soy is loaded with lots of protein. And we know well that protein is important for healthy sperm. However, a study showed that too much consumption of soy may be bad for the quality of sperm, particular for sperm count [4].

But researchers believe that this theory doesn’t affect all men. It is more likely to affect men who are more sensitive to soy or/and with overweight. But even if you are not overweight and don’t have a stronger reaction to soy product, it’s still recommended to consume soy and soy products in moderation!

There are some specific harmful substance may have a direct effect on both male and female fertilities. These substances include [3]:

1. Solvents and dusts. We know well that excessive dust in the air can harm your lungs, but did you know that it may also decrease the fertility? This issue may be still debatable, but to keep safe, it’s much better to protect yourself when you are in the environment with lots of dust in the air.
2. Beware with severe lead intoxication! It can be bad for both female and male reproductive organs. People who work in the lead batter industry are at high risk of getting severe lead intoxication.
3. X-ray radiation. When you want to take any medical X-rays, your doctor usually asks you to wear additional accessories to protect your reproductive organs from the radiation of X-rays.
4. Pesticides. They are commonly used in farm and lawn. Frequent exposure to these chemicals is harmful for your overall health, including for your reproductive system. That’s why, make sure you use appropriate accessories such as mask, non-latex vinyl gloves, and long pants when you need to use any sort of pesticides or fungicides!

While men who get used with outdoor activity tend to have greater concentration of sperm in their semen, but bicycling more than 1 hour each week can decrease sperm concentration [3]. The reason is due to this kind of outdoor-exercise can cause excessive pressure and overheating on the testicles.

We know well that testicles are vital organs to produce sperm. To produce sperm, at least one of your testicles must work correctly! High temperature that affects testicles can affect the way of these male reproductive organs in producing sperm.