Male infertility causes

A number of lifestyle choices, environmental factors and chance events can sabotage sperm: an adolescent groin injury, cigarette smoking, heavy drinking, intense cycling and even using a laptop directly on the lap. Since men contribute to infertility at least half the time, couples investigating why they can't conceive should start with a simple sperm count. About 70% of male infertility is treatable, and in about 25% of cases, it could have been avoided with greater awareness of the lifestyle choices that can harm sperm.

Smoking cigarettes, heavy alcohol drinking and using marijuana, cocaine and opioid painkillers can all lower the level of testosterone needed to make sperm or otherwise cut their quantity and quality. Commonly prescribed medications for high blood pressure, heart disease, stomach acid, gout, inflammatory bowel disease, enlarged prostates and baldness are indicated.

Men trying to conceive should avoid hot baths, hot tubs and tight pants, since heating the testicles by even a few degrees can hamper or stop sperm production. Resting a laptop on the lap can raise temperatures in the scrotum as much as 5 degrees Fahrenheit in an hour. Intense cycling, obesity, sexually transmitted diseases, groin injury, pesticides, and industrial agents round out the most common infertility causes.