13/09/2010 by admin.

Its funny how often the simple changes can bring the biggest rewards.

1) Make sure you have sex at your most fertile time .

Now this is not to say that you should only have sex at your fertile time, in fact there is lots of evidence to show the opposite. To keep the sperm supply at its best, you should have regular sex throughout the month but it is pretty crucial that you have intercourse during your fertile time (around ovulation)

How do you know when its your fertile time ? That the subject of a whole other blog post on ovulation predictor tests & methods

2) Replace your usual personal lubricant with a sperm friendly lubricant

These days many couples use intimate lubricants either for foreplay, intercourse or both. Many intimate lubricants (including saliva) in common useage are not sperm friendly ie this means the lubricant can actually impair or damage sperm-not good news when you are trying to conceive.

In the UK there are currently 3 personal lubricants on the market that have been designed especially for couples trying to conceive and are clinically proven to be sperm friendly. They are Pre-Seed, Conceive Plus and Zestica Fertility.

To find out more about fertility friendly personal lubricants click here

3) Stop your man using his laptop on his lap

It is amazing how many men spend most evenings with a laptop on their laps while watching television or travelling on a train. Laptops heat up very quickly and generate large amounts of heat that can be detrimental to sperm. The testicles, which is where the sperm are produced and stored, are outside the body because if they were inside the body the heat from the body cavity would impair & damage the sperm. When a man has a laptop on his lap it is right over his testicles and this is likely to cause overheating.

I recently came a cross a couple where the man’s sperm count had come back with a low motility count, and he was using a laptop on his lap for extended periods most nights. He changed this laptop behaviour & the sperm count and motility has improved.

4) Keep your weight at a healthy level.

There has long been  anecdotal eveidence to suggest that weight is important but now this has been backed up by clinical evidence to suggest that fertility is reduced in both overweight women & underweight women.

5) Relax-

I know its easier said than done, but more and more studies are confirming that stress can be a big factor in unexplained infertility. Sometimes the stress of trying to conceive itself can actually hamper your attempts.

Look at other areas of stress in your life and see if you can reduce or alleviate them. Consider alternative therapies which are often excellent at helping to alleviate or manage stress. Yoga and Pilates for example are great at teaching you to relax. Make a list of things that you can do to help you relax each day and make sure you do one of them each day. It can be as simple as taking a lovely bubble bath or taking a walk outside in the sunshine. You know the things that help you to relax-so make time to do them

Posted in Sperm Friendly Lubricants, Male Fertility, doing things differently, lifestyle and fertility, Zestica, Fertility & stress, Infertility & Stress, Preseed personal lubricant, Lubricants and conception, PreSeed, Zestica fertility, Fertility & weight, Stress relief, female fertility, Stress, Womens Health, Fertility, Fertility Advice, Trying to Conceive, Pre-Seed Lubricant, Ovulation, Heat stress infertility, Obesity, Sperm Motility, Sperm, Fertile Time, Male Fertility Issues | Print | 1 Comment »

25/11/2008 by admin.

 This is an excellent question and answer session on this very subject that I read online last year, and wanted to share with you.

SEX ADVICE :CAN A HOT KITCHEN MAKE ME INFERTILE? From The Times February 9, 2008

Q My son works in a commercial kitchen. I’ve heard the chef Gordon Ramsay talking about “heat stress infertility” – but is this a real danger to my boy?

DR THOMAS STUTTAFORD

A Gordon Ramsay’s phrase “heat stress infertility” encapsulates two factors that might make it difficult for your son to impregnate a woman. Either the stress of being shouted at and harried from morning to night could be dampening his sexual desire, or the heat in the kitchen may be toasting his testes.

Any exhausting and stressful job – and there is no better example of this than a professional kitchen – will shrivel libido. Physically tiring or emotionally draining work leaves a man longing for peace and quiet, a pillow and sleep, rather than the embrace of a woman.

It was always believed that recruits when first joining the Army had bromide added to their tea to remove their libido. Not so. The true reason for their loss of interest in sex was that they were shouted at all day as they worked hard from 5am to midnight.

Most men’s libido would also suffer from life in a hot kitchen. The effects of heat on the physiology of the testis will become more pronounced the longer the exposure to high temperatures. And the harmful effect on sperm production may take up to three months to disappear. Testes need to be kept at a temperature that favours spermatogenesis, the manufacture of sperm. This process is not at its best if the heat is persistently abnormally high. High temperatures will affect the results of a standard comprehensive semen analysis, the sperm count, and the more detailed sperm DNA fragmentation tests.

Although men with poor-quality semen and low sperm counts are more likely to have sperm that show DNA fragmentation (abnormalities that can also affect fertility) the relationship is not consistent. Men with normal sperm counts may have DNA abnormalities. Research shows that many things can affect the ability of sperm to fertilise eggs: too few sperm, too many abnormal sperm, too little semen; or laggardly sperm which, instead of swimming purposely towards the ovum like greyhounds after a hare, stroll like shoppers down Bond Street. Conversely, excessive sperm fragmentation and DNA abnormalities reduce the chance that the ovum will develop normally.

The factors that affect male fertility in one way or the other are poor diet, smoking, environmental pollutants, drugs – including so-called recreational drugs – and excessive alcohol. Other causes of reduced fertility are: chronic infection, varicose veins in the scrotum, tight trousers, so that the testes can’t hang loosely but are held firmly against the crotch, or working in a sweaty, busy kitchen.

If your son is infertile, the first step is for him to have a comprehensive sperm assessment. When the results are known you and your son will know whether some change in lifestyle is going to be necessary if you are to have grandchildren to play with in old age.

If your son only has to give up drinking half a bottle of whisky a day, forswear cigarettes, refuse recreational drugs, and buy boxer shorts rather than Y-fronts, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. It may be rather more difficult if he has to change his career. If he can’t face life without having a celebrity chef swearing at him like a drill sergeant, and the rest of his lifestyle is sound, there may be little that you can do.

Dr Thomas Stuttaford, The Times doctor, spent many years working in a genitourinary clinic

Read the fulll article here
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/body_and_soul/article3334560.ece

Posted in Heat stress infertility, Sperm, Male Fertility Issues | Print | 1 Comment »