All About Male Fertility

Conception isn’t easy! It’s crucial to understand that the causes of infertility vary and inability to conceive can be caused by either or both partners. A lot goes into creating life — both the male’s sperm and female egg need to be healthy and the sperm needs to be able to fertilize an egg once it reaches it. And sometimes, it can be very tricky to discover a cause for struggles to conceive.

At Chosen Egg Bank, we’re here to give you all of the information and resources you need to discover the perfect path to parenthood for you. Often both male and female fertility can be the cause of difficulties getting pregnant. So, to help you learn more, we have created this quick guide to understanding male fertility. Keep reading to learn the potential next steps in your family building journey.

What is male fertility?

While a biological male might seem to be in good health and have no unusual related symptoms, male fertility can often be the result of low sperm count, abnormal sperm, or poor sperm quality. However, in the most basic sense, male fertility is the ability for a person with a biologically male reproductive system to get a person with a biologically female reproductive system pregnant.

Male infertility is generally defined as an inability to conceive after trying for over one year – without a known cause for a woman’s infertility. That means having unprotected sex continuously during the fertile window of a woman’s cycle without pregnancy. In about half of the cases of couples unable to get pregnant, male infertility is the cause.

How to check for male infertility

If you or your partner would like to test male fertility, the best course of action is to work with a male infertility specialist. Ask them if taking a male fertility test would be a good idea for your family. You can expect them to go over medical history and conduct a physical exam as well as a semen analysis.

In this case, semen will be sent to a lab where the number of sperm will be measured and the shape and movement of the sperm will be analyzed for any abnormalities – along with any signs of infection. It’s very normal to have multiple semen analyses conducted over time as sperm counts can vary between specimens. If the cause of infertility is not clear, there are a number of other tests that specialists can conduct to look further into potential causes.

How to increase male fertility

The best way to increase fertility is to work with a male infertility specialist to identify the cause of infertility and find a treatment or alternative means of conception that works for your family. In simple cases, certain lifestyle choices might help improve male fertility. For example, regular exercise, eating a balanced diet, maintaining a healthy weight, taking recommended male fertility supplements, reducing stress, quitting smoking, and limiting alcohol consumption might help improve male fertility.

If everything seems normal according to a male infertility specialist, the next step would be to look into the partner’s fertility. For many couples, both partners can be the cause of struggles to conceive. Talk to your fertility specialist about alternatives like IUI, IVF, sperm donation, or egg donation to see if one of these options might align with your family planning goals.

At Chosen Egg Bank, we’re here for you in every step of your journey to building the family of your dreams. If you are interested in learning more about whether egg donation is right for you, please do not hesitate to reach out to our expert team – we are here to help! Feel free to get started right away by browsing our website to learn more and taking a look at our extensive donor database.