You read it right because numerous things can negatively influence male reproductive health and kill sperm. Sperm health and its life span are critical. We have found the top 5 sperm killers, and we think you should be more careful.
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Drugs
Drugs range from cigarettes to narcotics. Unfortunately, all these drugs impact your body’s ability to produce and store sperms. Sperms are versatile, but they thrive in a narrow band of a critical environment. If this is disrupted, then forget about reproducing your future copies.
Without a doubt, taking drugs has its fair share of health concerns. But none has more evidence than its effects on your testicles.
Smoke contains nicotine and tar. But more than a hundred other harmful chemicals are in a stick of cigarette. These compounds transfer their ingredients into the testosterone, forcing the hormone level to plummet.
Besides cigars, the smoking of marijuana releases compounds that mimic testosterone. Thus it signals your body to stop producing the primary male sex cells. As such, it causes a hormonal imbalance that results in sperm count drop.
Drugs also affect sex drive besides altering the natural DNA structure of the sperms. These changes lead to deformities and other complications.
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Cycling
Regular cycling kills your sperms. The intense friction and heat your legs generate during this exercise is the main culprit.
A study of Spanish professional triathletes found that their semen contains significantly less sperm count than their non-cycling counterparts. Another study was done in the Boston area, South Africa, also found a similar outcome on cyclists who spend five hours a week on bicycles.
Why? There are numerous assumptions and theories. One, bicycling involves putting intense pressure on the perineum, causing trauma that prevents efficient blood flow to the testis. Without food and nutrients, sperm production ceases.
Per the Legacy publication website, an article titled “Does cycling lower sperm count?” seem to agree.
Moderate cycling doesn’t impact sperm health. But cycling more than 5 hours a week impacts sperm count, motility ad normal shapes.
Excessive biking increases scrotal heat, saddle also cause mechanical trauma, and increases pressure or compression. Compression affect the blood nerves and hence reduce blood flow to the penis.
Then cycling causes a local impact on the rectum, and testis also translates to nerve damage. Thus urgent cell repairs to the area deplete nutrients available for sperm production. Further, vascular injury and genital numbing harm the health of existing sperms.
Samples from these athletes were taken and compared with those of cyclists using sedentary machines and those taking other sports. The findings revealed a higher percentage of sperm with deformities.
Other defects include lower sperm density. Long-distance cyclists also had even lower active sperms.
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Alcohol
Although drinking continues to rise yearly, its effects on reproductive health are not as rosy. The most significant negative impact has been on sperm production.
Heavy drinking affects men by impacting on sperm health. But you may want to know how this damage occurs. Its details below:
Alcohol lowers testosterone levels. Testosterone is the building block for sperm production. The primary male sex cells need several hormones to assist them in performing their vital function.
These are Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and Luteinizing Hormone (LH).
Unfortunately, alcohol ravages FSH and LH levels, resulting in a lower sperm count and poor sperm quality.
This result is confirmed by a Danish study undertaken on men recruiting for military service between 2008 and 2012. It concluded that men should desist from habitual beer drinking.
Why? Because the study discovered that those who drank moderate alcohol (more than 24 units) per week suffered from low sperm quality.
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Laptops
Laptops have, for long, been suspected of leading to a reduction of sperm count. The more powerful these electronics get, the more heat they produce. Many studies confirm these suspicions.
Using wifi-connected laptops for a long time induces a reduction in sperm levels. Another reason is the heat generated by the laptops.
Sperms are produced at temperatures 93.2oF. This is 5.4oF lower than the average body temperature. However, this electronic device release heat more than 120oF, which inevitably disrupts sperm production mechanics.
An experiment done by the State University of New York at Stony Brook found a direct correlation between laptop and higher scrotum temperature. In some positions, the difference was a whopping 35oF.
This experiment is published on the Guardian website, under an article, titled “Attention all men: using a laptop ahem, heat your testicles and cause infertility.”
The research team leader explains that prolonged laptop usage may cause irreversible or partially reversible changes in male reproductive functions. The heat damages sperm and affects fertility.
High temperature shuts down of spermatogenesis – the sperm development sequence. The stoppage of this process means no new sperm production.
Besides, high temperatures also adversely affect the existing sperm. Since it’s too hot, sperm can’t survive.
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Mobile phones
Men have an infinite connection to their mobile phones. This link deepens as the gadget transcends from a simple communicating device to an indispensable business tool. But is it all that worthy?
No, at least as far as your sperm health is concerned. Why? Because phones generate heat and radiation. Mobiles also emit electromagnetic waves continually. So, cellular placed near the scrotum brings negative impacts on the sperms production.
University of California, Berkeley, analyzed the nine studies related to the impacts of using mobile phones on sperms. Eight of them showed adverse effects on sperm health. Phones placed in trouser pockets causing the most significant damage.
To confirm whether cellular phone does affect sperm quality, a University of Exeter study enrolled 1,492 men. It took their semen samples from a fertility clinic. These samples had up to 80% of normal sperm movement.
The researchers then divided the team into two. One group placed their phones on their trouser pocket, receiving six calls per hour for the next five hours. Later, they collected their semen samples for analysis. It found that only 8% of the sperm exposed to the phone radiation had normal morphology and motility.
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Infections
Sexual and other forms of infection ravage sperm production. A bacterial or viral attack can wipe out the sperm colony entirely.
But if you seek prompt treatment, this situation is reversed. Diseases such as prostatitis, epididymitis, and sperm tract infection are sperm-killing infections caused by chlamydia tracheitis. They may halt sperm production and development.
Still, microorganisms feeding on young sperm cells can kill the sperm. Genital ureaplasma urealyticum and mycoplasmas may infect the urethra and contaminate the semen.
Another virus that lowers sperm count is the herpes simplex virus. Both HSV-1 and HSV-2 variants are known to penetrate sperm cells.
It achieves this by infecting the penis mucosa and spreading from there, attaching itself to sperm cells and killing the sperm production mechanism.
Escherichia coli (E.Coli) is a virulent bacteria that contaminates and depletes sperm cells. It forms in the genital tract and is transmitted via unprotected sex.
One of the most vicious STI on sperm, according to an article appearing on the Fertility and Gynaecology Academy website, is Chlamydia.
The article, titled “7 STIs that affects Male Fertility,” mentions that this infection, which is difficult to detect without tests, can wipe the sperm and ravage its motility and count.
You can prevent infections by using condoms and frequent checks.
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Unhealthy diet
Food is essential for sperm health. So when you eat nutritious meals, your sperm count multiplies. Similarly, when you indulge in a junk and unhealthy diet, the volume drops.
Highly processed foods, the use of transfats, and refined sugar are potent sperm killers. Avoid these products to grow healthy sperm.
Processed meat from fattened livestock links to all sorts of illnesses. Unfortunately, the meal is popular.
They include hotdogs, salami, beef jerky, and bacon, just to mention a few. They are delicious to the tongue. But once these enter the digestive system, they create problems for the circulatory, digestive, and reproductive systems.
Fast foods stymy the secretion of nutrients necessary for proper sperm development. Thus, diminishing sperm health and growth.
The use of transfat is also bad for sperm development. A 2011 Spanish report detailed the harmful effects of trans fat on sperm health.
Refined sugar also brings similar effects by blocking the blood paths leading to the penis.
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Smoking
Cigarette sales continue to increase worldwide. But smoking is linked to a myriad of health issues.
One of the most significant impacts of smoking is the extinction of sperm colonies. Cigarette contents in the bloodstream are associated with lower sperm quality and count.
It also reduces the semen volume. Men who smoke show decreased fertility levels. The low sperm usually feature a high percentage of DNA fragmentation and more deformed sperm.
Cigarettes contain heavy metals and other toxic chemicals. Where you inhale the smoke, these harsh compounds settle along the veins and in some organs.
As such, the smoke residues prevent the kidney from sieving body wastes well. Again, they deplete the oxygen levels in the bloodstream.
Still, they also forestall the body’s nutrient absorption mechanism. This results in a lack of proper nutrition for cell development and proper sexual organ function.
All these culminate in hostile conditions inhospitable for proper sperm development.
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Stress
You encounter stress throughout your life. A little tinge of stress improves your mental and physical astuteness.
But too much stress is dangerous. Your body has to create calming effects to work better.
In so doing, other negative issues arise. They mostly affect your heart and the reproductive system.
The chemical that the body releases to stymy stress is cortisol. Unfortunately, elevated levels of cortisol result in lower secretion of testosterone.
Actively coping with stress such as being assertive or confrontational, also affects your fertility level. Increased cortisol results in intense vasoconstriction in the testes.
This means that the veins within your testicles narrow significantly, preventing blood from flowing inside. Still, with a lack of nutrients such as zinc, the male sex hormone level declines, and so the sperm production.
What’s more, stress deforms sperm resulting in poor quality. Again, excessive anxiety causes a dip in a man’s libido and can even cause erectile dysfunction.
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Overheating testes
The sperm bank is located within your balls inside the scrotum. The filaments that help in spermatogenesis are called the epididymis.
It’s here that the sperm cells germinate and are then nurtured to grow into sperm ready for ejaculation. The production process involves a lot of hormones, enzymes, and steps.
But the most important parameter here is the temperature. Semen requires cool temperatures to help secrete healthy sperm.
This is why nature has bestowed the balls to self-regulate its cooling mechanism. And so any tinkering with the delicate balance renders the whole process void.
Thus habits that cause an increase in the temperature around the groins are bad. They result in sperm death and eradication of the sperm population.
Sitting in a hot sauna, or on a chair for an extended duration without stretching is unhealthy. Wearing tight inner wears increases constriction of the balls that causes testicular hyperthermia, and hence reduces sperm integrity.
Using a laptop and biking for a long is also detrimental to your sperm colony.
In conclusion, we discussed the top five sperm kills we knew. We hope that the provided information can help you understand more about them and that you can make better health-related decisions to reduce the chances of getting your sperm killed.
SIMILAR QUESTION
What Medications Kill Sperm?
Introduction
Sperm are the male reproductive cells that are responsible for fertilizing the female egg. In some cases, it may be necessary to take medications that interfere with the production or function of sperm in order to prevent pregnancy or treat a medical condition. In this paper, we will discuss what medications can kill sperm and their potential side effects.
Medications That Can Kill Sperm
There are several medications that can kill sperm, including:
1. Oral Contraceptives: Oral contraceptives, also known as “the pill,” contain hormones (estrogen and progestin) that prevent pregnancy by stopping ovulation and making the uterus less hospitable for a fertilized egg. They also thin the cervical mucus, making it more difficult for sperm to reach and fertilize the egg.
2. Intrauterine Devices (IUDs): IUDs are small devices inserted into the uterus to prevent pregnancy. They work by releasing hormones that thicken the cervical mucus, making it difficult for sperm to enter the uterus.
3. Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone (GnRH) Agonists: GnRH agonists are a type of medication that can be used to treat hormone-related conditions such as endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, and precocious puberty. They work by decreasing the body’s production of hormones that are necessary for sperm production.
4. Anti-Androgen Medications: Anti-androgen medications are used to treat conditions such as prostate cancer and acne. They work by blocking testosterone receptors, which can lead to a decrease in sperm production.
5. Anti-Estrogens: Anti-estrogens can be used to treat certain types of breast cancer. They work by blocking estrogen receptors, which can lead to a decrease in sperm production.
Side Effects of Medications That Kill Sperm
While medications that kill sperm can be effective at preventing pregnancy or treating a medical condition, they can also cause a range of side effects. Common side effects of these medications include nausea, headaches, weight gain, mood swings, and decreased libido. In some cases, these medications may also cause infertility or birth defects if taken during pregnancy.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are several medications that can kill sperm, including oral contraceptives, IUDs, GnRH agonists, anti-androgen medications, and anti-estrogens. While these medications can be effective at preventing pregnancy or treating a medical condition, they can also cause a range of side effects, including nausea, headaches, weight gain, mood swings, and decreased libido. For this reason, it is important to consult a doctor before taking any medication that could potentially kill sperm.
