Guys must get good sleep for healthy sperm

LONDON: Not enough sleep can reduce a man’s fertility, according to researchers. Less than six hours of sleep a night reduces a man’s chances of getting a woman pregnant by 43 percent, they found.

However, the Boston University study of 695 couples also found getting too much sleep was almost as bad for fertility.

The study looked at men aged 21 or older and women aged between 21 and 45 who were undergoing IVF treatment. The researchers assessed how much sleep the men got.

Lead author Dr Lauren Wise said: “Those men who sleep seven to nine hours a night have the lowest risk of adverse health outcomes.

“There has been a growing body of literature of the relationship between sleep quality and testosterone which is critical for male sexual behaviour reproduction.

“Sleep problems specifically have been associated with lower sperm concentrations, total sperm count and percent of normal sperm morphology (shape), as well as decreased testosterone levels, but no studies have looked at sleep and male fertility.”

Wise said sleep disruption affected the production of testosterone, the key hormone that caused sperm to grow. – Daily Mail