Daily Mirror

BUST THOSE MYTHS

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‘Sperm swim like Olympic athletes’

The common tale is that millions — anywhere from 20 to 300 million — of sperm swim in competitio­n with each other to be the lucky one that penetrates the egg. Well, not quite. Sperm don’t really swim straight, they require a boost from the womb muscle to coax the sperm to enter the fallopian tubes and find the egg. ‘Thicker semen is more fertile’

Thicker semen doesn’t necessaril­y mean stronger sperm. Usually it means there’s a high number of sperm that a man hasn’t ejaculated for some time. No. Sperm that make it into the vagina after ejaculatio­n can live up to several days. Male sperm can live up to 36 hours and female sperm for longer, up to three days.

 ??  ?? ‘Sperm only live for a short time after ejaculatio­n’
‘Sperm only live for a short time after ejaculatio­n’

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