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Male Infertility – Keeping those little swimmers happy & healthy…

| By: Dr Robert Stevens

WARNING – Stay away from shower curtains, car dashboards and non-stick frying pans!

Research is invaluable, it facilitates progress through expanding knowledge and discoveries.  It is important to recognise that it also has to be relevant and should be able to be contextualised.

Bearing this in mind, should we all panic that there is a link between exposure to phthalates that are found in shower curtains, car dashboards and non-stick frying pans and male infertility?  Of course not.  As with everything, we need a sense of perspective.

News should be informative, but information is not always sexy.  Media is big business, so it’s not uncommon for news to be sensationalised and information manipulated to gain our attention.

The ideology behind preventative health is quite simple.  Lifestyle, nutrition and exercise are the cornerstones of health.  Modern medicine should be used to help facilitate these, not replace them.

So what should you do?

Lifestyle

Adopt a healthy sleep pattern to help minimise stress and improve recovery.

Minimise caffeine & alcohol intake, stop smoking.

Minimise exposure to environmental chemicals, get some fresh air!

Exercise

Engage in regular physical exercise to help maintain a healthy weight, reduce stress and anxiety.

Nutrition

Eat a healthy balanced diet:-

  • Fresh vegetables and fruit (high in antioxidants & vitamin C)
  • Meat from pastured animals
  • Nuts & Seeds (zinc improves testosterone levels and sperm production & motility)
  • Water
  • Avoid processed food / artificial preservatives and sweeteners
  • Avoid refined sugar to help maintain testosterone levels and weight

What not to do?

Panic, throw away your shower curtain, take a deep breath when you get in your car (and hope you can hold it long enough) or clock the Mrs over the head for buying a non-stick frying pan!

If you have any concerns regarding your fertility, we can arrange for you to have a semen analysis, please book a Men’s Health Consultation quoting ‘fertility test’

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/mens-health/11685568/Male-fertility-hard-facts-vs-flaccid-myths.html