Fertility has become a more and more common struggle for couples. It’s often considered more of a woman’s situation–which makes sense, considering all the different factors that impact a woman’s ability to conceive and maintain a pregnancy. However, the NIH breaks it down as follows:

About 9% of men and about 11% of women of reproductive age in the United States have experienced fertility problems.

• In one-third of infertile couples, the problem is with the man.
• In one-third of infertile couples, the problem can’t be identified or is with both the man and woman.
• In one-third of infertile couples, the problem is with the woman.

Studies suggest that after 1 year of having unprotected sex, 12% to 15% of couples are unable to conceive, and after 2 years, 10% of couples still have not had a live-born baby. (In couples younger than age 30 who are generally healthy, 40% to 60% are able to conceive in the first 3 months of trying.)

Read about women’s fertility here.

Because of this, making sure a man’s fertility is not disrupted is just as important as a woman’s ability to receive and support a fertilized egg through a pregnancy.

What If it Is Something he needs to address?

Low Testosterone

Testosterone isn’t just the man’s sex hormone; it is vital to their health. It impacts everything from their physical to their mental health.

Endocrineweb says that testosterone is responsible for sex drive; production of sperm; facial, pubic, and body hair; muscle mass; and bones. As a result, if a man has low testosterone, you may see signs of decreases of each of those areas, erectile dysfunctions or impotence, enlarged breasts, fatigue, mood swings, irritability, and depression.

Cleveland Clinic reports that:

Low testosterone affects almost 40% of men aged 45 and older.

Common causes for low testosterone in men are statins and sugar. If there’s been any trauma to the testicles, that can also cause low testosterone.

How to Address Low Testosterone

Get off any statins you are on. Cut the sugar from your diet; stop fighting the testosterone your body’s natural production provides. Get a men’s panel done to measure the level of testosterone you are dealing with. If the panel shows you’re not low in testosterone, check to see if your body is appropriately absorbing what it has.

Sometimes, testosterone can be a mind game. LH is released from the pituitary gland in the brain. After the brain produces LH, it gets sent to the testicles to be converted into testosterone, which then proceeds to urge the body to produce sperm. A unique study from Germany shows just how connected testosterone production is to visual stimulation.

The kind and way the visual stimulation happens, too, is important. Pornography has been shown to have devastating effects when it comes to the production of testosterone and a man’s health.

To learn more about low testosterone and how to address it, check out this article in our men’s series.

Inflammation and Male Fertility

If you’ve been around The Wellness Way or reading our articles for any length of time, you know how much inflammation impacts. Hidden inflammation is a common source of health challenges. For men, one of the biggest culprits for inflammation and testosterone struggles is sugar, also called glucose. Not only will sugar turn a man’s testosterone into estrogens as mentioned above, but sugar naturally feeds infections and makes inflammation worse.

There are a few places in the male body that people don’t often think about being inflamed, but that can affect male infertility in a large way.

Testicles

Did you know the tubes in the testicles that produce the sperm are 250-300 feet long? All squeezed into something only a few centimeters in length. That’s a lot of surface area to deal with inflammation. Inflammation is a sign of an immune response in that area. When a part of the body is inflamed, it doesn’t function properly. If the part of the male anatomy that creates sperm isn’t working correctly, fertility is going to be difficult to support.

Prostate

The prostate is important in men of all ages, even if it’s often considered mostly in the cases of middle-aged men with frequent night time urination. The fluid the prostate produces nourishes and protects the sperm, and breaks down the mucous of the cervix allowing to the sperm to get to where it needs to go. Keeping it healthy is an important part of making sure the sperm can get to the egg to fertilize it.

To learn more about decreased or unhealthy sperm and the ways inflammation can impact it, check out this article.

How to Address Inflammation

Inflammation is part of the body’s immune response. There is something in the body that the immune system is reacting to.

Have your allergies assessed and cut back the allergens you’re coming into contact with. Are you eating dairy, soy, or sugar? Cut these inflammatory foods from your diet. Are the cleaning supplies you use toxic? What about your shampoo? Deodorant? Are you eating out of, or coming into contact with hidden sources of plastic? Is there mold in your water bottle?

Cut out these toxins and give your body’s immune system a break.

Visit a chiropractor to get your Swiss watch back into calibration to take some of the physical stress off your body.

Address areas that are causing mental stress.

To get your testosterone and allergies tested, get adjusted, learn more about what toxins to cut from your everyday life—and how—or learn more about how to set yourself up for success when it comes to fertility, contact a Wellness Way clinic, today!