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New research from the American Brigham and Women’s Hospital shows that men who do heavy work produce much more sperm than men who do little exercise. It mainly concerns work in which muscle power is used to lift or move things, which appears to have an impact on fertility.
Almost half of the increasing infertility in humans can be attributed to the reduced sperm quality and sexual functioning of men. Previous research showed that sperm count and sperm quality in men experiencing fertility problems declined by as much as 42 percent between 2000 and 2017.
The new study looked at data from 1,500 men and women and specifically 377 male partners of couples who entered fertility treatment. It showed that men who perform physical occupations that regularly involve moving heavy objects had a 44 percent higher sperm count than men who did not exercise.
The men with heavy occupations also have higher levels of testosterone and, to the researchers’ surprise, also more of the female hormone estrogen. More research needs to be done to find out the relationship between the factors, writes the Greek Reporter.