Exercise is a physical activity performed to maintain or improve health and fitness. As you know, physical activity has a long list of health benefits, both physical and mental.
In this article we will look at the impact of exercise on male fertility.
Exercising, whether one-time or short-term (e.g. exercising for about 30 minutes) or regularly (exercising every day for an extended period), has a major impact on our health, weight maintenance, mood and brain health. It reduces cardiovascular risks and affects overall health.
Exercise can be a simple, inexpensive and effective strategy to improve sperm quality of inactive men.
The positive impact of moderate exercise on the overall health of a man should be emphasized, while excessive exercise (extremely long and strenuous) has very often the opposite effect. Excessive exercise in women can cause a loss of menstruation and ovulation.
Many studies on professional athletes have revealed a smaller number of mobile sperm and a greater amount of oxidative stress suggesting the harmfulness to fertility of professionally engaging in some sports.
Accordingly, moderate exercise is good for sperm while exaggeration reduces testosterone levels and sperm production. Regular high intensity exercises with minimal time for recovery can reduce sperm quality.
Scientific studies link moderate exercise with improved sperm quality and reduced DNA damage, less inflammation and oxidative stress. Plus, exercise can combat the negative effects of inadequate nutrition on sperm, improving it’s quality by about 68%.
If you are a man and you practice cycling, reduce it to up to five hours a week to avoid the negative affects on sperm concentration. If you are frequently in the gym, train at moderate levels and avoid dietary supplements, which can be contaminated with steroids and similar substances. Be sure to avoid the use of anabolic steroids, since they frequently cause testicle atrophy and decrease in the sperm count and motility.
Moderate exercise in the gym or cardiovascular exercise (running, fast walking, rowing, swimming,…) are most recommended to maintain a healthy lifestyle and boost fertility. Exercises such as competitive cycling and triathlons should be exercised moderately to avoid prostate irritation, lower testosterone production and physical stress on the body.
According to one study, watching TV for more than 5 hours a day is associated with a decrease in total sperm count and the total number of progressively mobile sperm cells.
How to exercise?
If you have not exercised for a long time, we recommend contacting your doctor, especially if you have chronic health problems, like heart disease, diabetes or arthritis.
A series of studies link the 12 to 24 weeks exercise programs to improvement of the seminal fluid quality.
Exercising from three times a week for 45 minutes (either aerobic – running or anaerobic exercise – lifting weights in the gym) has a positive effect on sperm quality and reproductive hormones. There is additionally a certain reduction in oxidative stress. Please note, heavy, prolonged and exhausting training adversely affects sperm count, motility and morphology (sperm form and appearance).
