Exercise ups sperm quality

GOING for a walk three times a week could help boost men’s fertility, research suggests.

Even those who usually do little exercise could improve the quality of their sperm in as little as six months.

Tests showed a range of benefits in men who jogged or walked for 30 minutes three or four times a week, the moderate exercise curbing sperm-damaging oxidative stress.

Researchers used 261 healthy men aged 25 to 40 who had previously done little exercise. One group took part in moderate intensity continuous training over 24 weeks. For the first 12 weeks they walked or jogged on a treadmill for 25 to 30 minutes a day, three or four times a week. For the next 12 weeks, they increased this to 40 to 45 minutes in four to six sessions a week.

They compared this group to two others doing more intensive exercise, and to a group doing none.

The results, published in the journal Reproduction, showed men who exercised had improved sperm regardless of how much they did. But those who took part in the moderate group had the best results.

The researchers, at Urmia University in Iran, found the positive effects on sperm started to tail off within a week of stopping exercise. They concluded exercise helped protect sperm against damage from oxidative stress, which is linked to habits like smoking. – Daily Mail