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Can Losing Weight Increase Sperm Count?

It’s no secret that excess weight is a contributing factor to many chronic illnesses. Studies show that even a 5% to 10% decrease in excess weight can vastly improve your health. Therefore, losing weight is undeniably good for you. This makes sense, but what about your reproductive health? Can losing weight increase, sperm count?

We researched to learn the benefits of weight loss for your fertility and sexual functioning and put together some tips for you to maximize the benefits of our weight loss plan. So, read on to discover the facts about weight loss and fertility. 

What this article covers:

Health Benefits of Weight Loss

Before we get to all the things weight loss can do for your reproductive health, let’s look at other health benefits that you will enjoy. 

They’re all related anyway because losing weight will reduce your risk of illnesses that impact your fertility, and this impact can be experienced directly, or indirectly.  

Decreased Risk of Chronic Illnesses That Cause Infertility

First, let’s take a closer look at the leading chronic illnesses that affect your fertility indirectly and learn how weight loss reduces the risk of these debilitating conditions.

Cancer

Bariatric surgery studies find that sustained weight loss reduces one’s cancer risk. This is good to know, for two important reasons. 

Firstly, no one ever wants to get cancer, so anything that reduces that risk is worth pursuing. Secondly, conventional cancer treatments like chemotherapy have been known to reduce and even halt sperm production. This is why men are encouraged to freeze sperm samples prior to having chemotherapy if they still want to conceive children. 

If you lose weight, you can preserve your health and your fertility.

Heart Disease

Losing excess weight will also reduce your risk of heart disease. Once again, the benefits are twofold. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men in the United States and, like cancer, the medications for this condition can affect our fertility. 

You can lower your risk of heart disease, and fertility issues, by shedding those excess pounds. You’ll increase your chances of becoming a dad, and live longer to see them grow up.

Diabetes

According to the CDC, losing weight also reduces your risk of late-onset diabetes, known as diabetes type 2. Each year in the US, approximately 200 000 new cases of type 2 diabetes are diagnosed. 

Diabetes is thought to be one of the causes of unexplained infertility in men, and it also often leads to erectile dysfunction. When you lose weight, you’ll be healthier, have better sex, and boost your fertility at the same time.

Stroke

When you shed those extra pounds, you’re not just reducing your weight. You’re also reducing your risk of suffering a stroke. Many of the other health risks mentioned here increase the odds of a stroke. 

A stroke can lead to erectile and ejaculatory dysfunction in men, and that’s no good if you and your partner want to have a family, but weight loss reduces your stroke risk, and hence reduces those other problems.

Hypertension 

An estimated 43 million adults in the US suffer from hypertension, which is the medical term for elevated blood pressure. If left untreated, it can harm your blood vessels and even lead to a heart attack. Many people have hypertension and are not even aware of it.

But you can reduce your risk of this silent killer, by losing the extra weight you’re carrying around. And that’s a really good idea because studies have shown that hypertension medications can reduce fertility.

How Does Weight Loss Improve Sperm Production?

We’ve examined the benefits of weight loss for your general health, and how that affects your reproductive health. But how does weight loss improve sperm production more directly? 

To answer that, we need to look at what research has discovered about obesity’s direct negative effects on testosterone and sperm.

Obesity Throws Reproductive Hormones Into Disarray

Men produce estrogen and progesterone, which are known as female hormones. Also, women produce the ‘male hormone, testosterone. As strange as this sounds, both men and women produce these sex hormones. However, in the case of men, testosterone levels are higher, and in women, estrogen and progesterone levels are higher. 

At least, that’s how it should be in healthy people, but when a man is obese, his hormones go out of whack. The same thing happens to women when they’re obese, or going through hormonal fluctuations leading up to menopause.

So, why does this matter? Obesity causes your testosterone levels to decline and your estradiol (female hormone) levels to increase. This greatly affects your fertility, as testosterone is necessary for reproduction. This hormone is critical in the development of sperm. 

However, you don’t have to take testosterone supplements for your sperm count. Losing the extra weight will help your hormones balance themselves out.

Research Shows Males Become Infertile When Obese

Research has also been done into the effects of obesity and related health issues, on reproductive health in animals. A scientific study published in 2017 reported that animals that were obese were found to be infertile.

When changes were made to their diet, the spermatogenesis (formation of sperm), as well as the motility (movement) of the sperm, improved.

What’s BMI Got to Do With It?

The BMI (Body Mass Index), is an indicator of obesity that most of us are familiar with. A BMI of 25-29 indicates that you are overweight, and a BMI of over 30 is considered a sign of obesity. As a man’s BMI increases, his fertility decreases. Both sperm volume and concentration decrease. 

Infertile men may be suffering from one of two conditions, azoospermia or oligozoospermia. Azoospermia is a condition where a man is unable to produce sperm, and men suffering from oligozoospermia have minimal sperm concentration in their seminal fluid.

The men who suffer from these conditions are often overweight or obese. What’s more, obese men often have sperm with damaged DNA and a low total sperm count compared to men with a healthy weight and BMI.

Tips to Lose Weight and Boost Your Fertility

There are several ways in which you can lose weight and also boost your fertility, but a multi-pronged approach is best. So try more than one of the following tips. If you can, you should try them all, for guaranteed weight loss and better sperm production.

Exercise

There’s no need to take strange, unpronounceable herbs to increase sperm count. Regular exercise offers many benefits to men, including a raised sperm count. It can reduce stress, help with weight loss, improve your fitness and stamina and raise your testosterone levels. 

Testosterone plays a crucial role in sperm production, so exercising will help you lose weight and increase your sperm. There’s never been a better reason to work out, but if you’re very overweight, don’t overdo it. You don’t have to start pushing weights like crazy to lose weight, don’t worry. 

And if you’re currently overweight, you won’t be too enthusiastic about the treadmill, either. So start slowly, with regular walks around the block. Take the dog for a walk, or take your feet instead of the car to go to that corner store.

Lower Your Stress Levels

You may be wondering what stress has to do with weight loss and fertility. The answer is, everything! Stress, anxiety, and depression are all possible consequences of constant, unresolved stress, and what do people do when they’re feeling stressed? 

They eat ‘comfort food’, lie on the couch, and maybe reach for a bottle to deal with their stress. The thing is, all of that leads to weight gain, and excess weight impacts your fertility. See where this is going?

Lower your stress more healthily, through sports or exercise. By the way, sex is great exercise and helps lower stress levels, too. The important thing to remember is that reducing your stress will prevent it from getting out of control and causing further unhappiness. 

Cut Out, Or Reduce, Your Alcohol Intake

You may not want to hear this, but the fact is, those beers aren’t doing you any favors. Beer can make you fat. Worse still, excessive alcohol consumption can reduce your fertility. Alcohol travels through your bloodstream to your liver, where it’s broken down into other components. 

Two of these are waste products called acetate and acetaldehyde. Stronger beers produce more of these waste products. Why is that a problem? Your brain prioritizes dealing with acetate and acetaldehyde, signaling your body to stop burning fat! 

But it also starts producing fat from yet another alcohol waste product, acetyl CoA. It’s a vicious cycle, but one that you can put a stop to by reducing alcohol intake. So, if you’re trying to start a family, cut back on the alcohol. You’ll lose weight, and raise your baby-making odds.

Hydrate

Before you resort to medication to increase sperm count, check if you’re drinking enough water. 

Increasing your water consumption will help you feel full and avoid overeating. 

It also helps your reproductive organs, as your semen is made mostly of water, and the better condition your semen is in, the better your sperm count will be.

Consume enough fluid throughout the day for your health, including your sperm health. If you don’t want to stick to water all the time, change things up with juice to increase sperm count. Pineapple juice has potent sexual and reproductive benefits for men, and it tastes great too!

Change Your Eating Habits

Switch from unhealthy junk foods that offer no nutrition, to healthy fruits and vegetables, and lean meats. Cutting calories (fast foods are very high in those!) only does so much, though. You also need to include foods that increase your sperm count.

What are those? Spinach, carrots, garlic, oyster, bananas, and dark chocolate are just a few examples. Many foods can improve your fertility, which can also be a part of a healthy eating plan. Nuts are especially good for increasing your sperm quantity and quality. 

Also include some nuts, like walnuts and almonds. Both walnuts and almonds increase sperm count and are excellent protein-packed snacks, much healthier than crisps or sweets. So you can snack your way to a healthy weight and better sperm levels.

Pineapple is a good fruit to include in your diet. Many men eat pineapple to increase sperm count.

Try a Natural Supplement for Reproductive Health

Can losing weight increase sperm count? Yes, it can, and it’ll improve your health all around. However, if you and your partner are trying to conceive, you need to do all you can to improve your sexual and reproductive health. 

While you’re on your weight loss journey, get some extra help for your fertility from a supplement to increase sperm. No, we’re not talking about any strange potions or strong chemicals, either. Semenax pills are all-natural and guaranteed to produce results.

Containing 18 ingredients known to improve men’s sexual functioning, semen volume, and sperm health, Semenax will give you the edge you need. So trust nature for the answer to a better sex life and improved fertility.

Conclusion

Obesity has been shown to negatively impact health, and decrease fertility. These effects aren’t necessarily permanent, though. Most of the time, they can be reversed.

Can losing weight increase, sperm count? It sure can, according to the experts. Therefore, if you’re overweight or obese, weight loss can vastly improve your fertility.

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About Thomas Arkenis

Avatar photoThomas is a natural health enthusiast and our resident journalist. He's an avid contributor to various traditional medicine conferences and forums, Thomas stays on top of the latest industry trends to bring you the latest product and ingredient innovations.

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