Research Reveals the Relationship of the Intensity of Exercise to Men’s Sperm Quality
Reuters

In the past years up to the present, articles are claiming that a good amount of exercise helps with sperm health. This increases the chances for a couple to conceive.

A recent study revealed that exercise is one of the cheapest and simplest ways to improve sperm health.

According to research by Sperm Donors Suggests, young men who are fond of doing regular exercises have better semen quality compared to those who don't.

Obesity and inactivity had been connected with a lower level of sexual drive and a heightened threat of infertility. The research aimed to determine the effect of exercise on the sperm quality of those men with no issues with fertility.

In the research, the team had studied multiple samples of sperm from different men who had been approved to donate sperm basing from their history of health and the health of their semen. The qualified donors possess good concentration of sperm, good number of sperm after ejaculation, the morphology of sperm, the motility of the sperm, and the strength of the sperm to travel through the reproductive tract of a female.

The participants to the study who got a good number of exercise including intense physical workouts obtained better motility of sperm compared to those who did not perform the same intensity of exercise compared to the others.

According to Dr. Yi-Xin Wang, a co-author of the research, frequent exercise tends to improve the sperm quality for healthy and fertile men. However, it is difficult to identify the needed exercise to attain such results. Also, it is not known which type of physical activity can maximize the effects on men's reproductive health.

The 746 participants of the study had volunteered to become sperm donors for the Human Sperm Bank in the province of Hubei in China. The average age of the donors was 28 years old. The average of the participants was of healthy weight, with at least a high school diploma, no STDs, and have not been exposed to radiation.

The participants were asked by the research team the number of times they exercise and the intensity of their exercise. They were also asked for the other activities they do.

The team had scored each participant with the level of intensity of their exercise basing on their metabolic equivalent of task or MET minutes per week.

Light exercise such as walking and doing household chores attained lower points compared to those who perform intense physical activities such as cycling and running.

Half of the total participants garnered a score of more or less 2,245.5 MET min. per week. Those who performed light exercise attained approximately 526.5 MET min. while those who performed intense exercise got at least 7,082.3 MET min. per week.

A higher number of MET level was closely related to higher levels of the motility of sperm. However, the effect on the concentration of sperm and its morphology varies depending on the volume and the intensity of exercise a person performs.

The amount of time the participant spent during inactivity hours such as working in front of a computer and watching shows on the TV did not show any effects on the quality of semen.

One of the negative aspects of the study is that activities that were observed were only performed on a single time. Another, the focus of the research was on the participant who was healthy and is qualified to donate sperm.

According to Doctor Muhammad Imran Omar of the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom, some research in the past had also revealed that too much exercise may lead to infertility. This means that exercise should only be performed in moderation for good sperm quality.