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| Human Spermatozoa fertilizing an egg |
Ok boys the data is finally out about the
quality of men’s sperm. The truth is male factor infertility is on the rise and
the quality of men’s sperm is on the decline. I wanted to raise awareness around this topic as it has
affected many of my male clients recently.
In 2010, the World Health Organization
published and revised their reference values for semen analysis, in fact they
lowered their reference values, determining that the quality of men’s sperm is
decreasing. What’s more concerning is the value for determining sperm
morphology has changed rather substantially. This is definitely not a good
thing when it comes to fertilizing an egg.
It takes around 70 days for sperm
(spermatozoa) to develop. The good news is that men are constantly producing
new sperm. The not so good new is that because of the long development and
maturation time of sperm cells, events in a man’s life such as binge drinking
can have a far-reaching effect on the quality of his sperm. To be realistic you need to give
yourself three months of clean living to produce what I call “healthy or
improved sperm”.
What happens in the magical testes
is really quite amazing. Men produce individual sperm from a cell called
spermatogonium. The spermatogonium then divides to produce spermatocytes, which
then develop into spermatids. The next process is really important when it
comes to having good swimmers! Take note. The spermatids then develop their
tail and then gradually acquire the ability to move by beating its tail. The
spermatid then eventually develops in mature spermatozoa otherwise known as
sperm. This maturation process takes a whooping 60 days and the sperm another
10-14 days to pass through the ducts of each testicle, and it’s sperm-maturing
tube, the epididymis before it can leave the body in the semen during
ejaculation. You can see just how long it takes for new sperm to produce. It is
a lengthy process almost 3 months in fact.
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