Are you part of the growing population of men that could use a boost to their sperm count? Well one researcher has come up with a solution in the most unlikely of places. His advice? Just wear a kilt.

Erwin Kompanje of the Department of Intensive Care at Erasmus MC University Medical Centre in the Netherlands has an article in this week's Scottish Medical Journal suggesting that a kilt with no underwear is the ideal clothing selection for increased sperm counts. It's effectiveness is derived mainly from it's ability to lower a man's body temperature in his testicular region.

"Based on literature on scrotal temperature, spermatogenesis and fertility ... men who regularly wear a kilt during the years in which they wish to procreate will, as a group, have significantly better rates of sperm quality and higher fertility," the study finds.

This new study corroborates the information gathered from previous research suggesting that heat-inducing activities such as the use of hot saunas and laptops (on the lap of course) have a negative impact on sperm production. Kompanje also notes that the use of kilts may have some unexpected benefits.

"Wearing a kilt has strong psychological benefits. A kilt will get you noticed no matter where you are. Research indicates that men wearing a kilt experience a strong sense of freedom and masculinity and that many women are attracted to men in kilts."

He continues his defense of the oft-ridiculed (at least in America) garment:

"Because the kilt is a purely masculine garment, men need not be ashamed of or reticent about the therapeutic wearing of a kilt for a certain period of time to possibly improve sperm quantity and quality."

While the kilt being a purely masculine garment is not in question, one's ability to confidently pull one off, and assuredly a female's attraction to such an ensemble, is certainly still in question. Kompanje notes that further research will have to be performed to verify those points, so you might not want to break out that spring-time kilt just yet.