Difficulty getting pregnant is a serious problem, but knowledge of the causes of this phenomenon is embarrassingly low. Often you will hear claims that have nothing to do with the truth. Here are the most common ones.
If there are difficulties conceiving, the "fault" usually lies with the woman.
NOT TRUE.The latest research and data from the World He alth Organization show that infertility caused by the male factor currently accounts for approx. 40% of diagnosed cases of infertility, and according to some specialists, they are still underestimated. In individual pairs, the cause of infertility may lie only with the woman, only with the man, or both - which is not so rare. Thus, men are "responsible" for the difficulties of having a descendant into the world as often as women. And they should also visit their doctor (andrologist or urologist) for preventive examinations from time to time.
If the couple has no children, it means that one of the partners is incapable of procreating.
WRONG.It may happen that both members of the couple are perfectly he althy - and therefore fertile - but they cannot have children with them. The cause is usually the so-called hostility of cervical mucus - sperm cannot penetrate the cervical mucus because it contains antibodies that immobilize or destroy it. However, most often such a "semen allergy" concerns one specific male, so both partners could have offspring with someone else.
Vegetarianism can cause infertility.
NOT TRUE.Adequate diet can actually promote fertility, but that does not mean that a meatless diet causes infertility. Even if both partners are vegetarians, but they make sure that their menu is rich and varied - they provide the body with all the ingredients it needs to function well. By eating fruits, vegetables, dairy products and legumes, they will also provide themselves with the right amount of vitamins and microelements (eventually they can help with supplementation).
There is nothing in meat that cannot be replaced with other products, and when it comes to iron, for example, some American research shows that only iron in fruits and vegetables is conducive to getting pregnant - iron of origin animal has no such properties.
The use of birth control pills often leads to infertility.
NOT TRUE . Of course, it may sometimes be the case that a woman using contraception later has difficulty conceiving, but that does not mean that these are a consequence of hormone therapy and that every woman is at risk. Scientific studies do not confirm this. The anti-concept pills can even help you get pregnant, because shortly after their weaning, the ovaries - as if wanting to make up for the idle time - work intensively, releasing eggs. As a result, fertilization often occurs in the first or second cycle after discontinuation of the pills.
Testicular cooling improves sperm quality.
NOT TRUE.The fact that overheating the testicles negatively affects male fertility does not mean that cooling them will be the opposite. Therefore, it is not worth taking an example from a couple who came up with the idea that before each intercourse, a man will stand several minutes in front of an open refrigerator, because this will effectively speed up the breeding of a descendant.
A man's weekly sexual abstinence strengthens his sperm.
NOT TRUE.With poor semen quality, sexual abstinence can indeed help (there is more of it, sperm is more mobile), but you can't overdo it. Semen is harmed both by too frequent intercourse (more often than every 3 days) and too long abstinence (14 days). The best parameters for fertilization have sperm obtained after 3-4 days of abstaining from sex - and such recommendations are given by doctors trying to conceive a child. Longer abstinence is not necessary.
Drinking Coca-Cola before intercourse promotes conception.
NOT TRUE . Probably this myth is the result of the following line of thinking: since caffeine has a stimulating effect, it can also stimulate sperm to act, and since Coca-Cola contains caffeine, drinking it will give sperm energy more energy. Belief in such a beneficial influence of Coca-Cola has no justification and is only a manifestation of wishful thinking.
A man should not overdo his hygiene, because soaps and cleaning agents weaken sperm.
NOT TRUE.Perhaps this belief stems from the fact that certain chemicals are detrimental to male fertility if a man comes into frequent contact with them. However, this applies to such strong substances as pesticides, formaldehyde, solvents (gasoline, toluene, xylene) or heavy metals (mercury, cadmium, lithium). On the other hand, the "chemicals" in ordinary soaps and bath gels can only be harmful to dirt. They certainly do not pose a threat to sperm.
Worth knowingThe womanis not more responsible for the difficulty of getting pregnant than the man. But a woman's build promotes frequent intimate infections that can make conception very difficult.
Worth knowingMalecontemporary has much worse semen than his grandfather. Currently, 1 ml of semen has an average of 66 million sperm, while 70 years ago it was almost twice as much!
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