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Research reveal that not getting good sleep can reduce a man’s fertility. Sleeping less than six hours decreases the chance of man getting a woman pregnant by 43 percent.
Researchers at the Boston University, USA, took an experiment on men and women aged between 21 to 45 going through IVF treatment. Scientists evaluated how much sleep the men had every night for eight weeks before the couple became pregnant.
In their findings, lead author of the study, Dr. Lauren Wise said, ‘Those men who sleep seven to nine hours a night have the lowest risk of adverse health outcomes. There has been a growing body of literature of the relationship between sleep quality and testosterone which is critical for male sexual behaviour reproduction.
‘Sleep problems specifically have been associated with lower sperm concentrations, total sperm count and percent of normal sperm morphology, as well as decreased testosterone levels, but no studies have looked at sleep and male fertility.’
A large percentage of testosterone released in the body happen during sleep which gives the idea that there may be a hormonal mechanism happening to the body system. Couples have also been warned that the use of personal lubricants during sex could harm sperm.
According to President of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, ‘The popularity of personal lubricants is increasing and there are significant numbers of women using them who are actively trying to conceive. We need to make patients aware that their choice may affect their chances of becoming pregnant.
‘While the study clearly shows that some lubricants are extremely toxic to sperm, more research is needed to see whether they affect sperm function before we can say that any of these products are fertility friendly,’ he concluded.
