In today’s age of modern science and technology-based medicine, many couples are thankful that there are many, many options open them if they need help with conception and reproductive issues.  However, before they go the route of prescriptions and shots and invasive surgeries, most would prefer to try a natural fertility treatment first, if at all possible.  If this sounds like you and your partner, what are some of those options?  Do any of these natural fertility treatments actually work, and if so, how?  Let’s explore some of your choices here.

Diet and Exercise

Some people don’t like hearing it, but obesity is more and more often being tied to infertility.  The same practices that keep a person severely overweight also interfere with his or her abilities to conceive.  One of the best natural fertility treatments that you can give to yourself is to stay on a healthy diet and get regular exercise.

In a new study cited in OBGYN News, a group of Harvard researchers found that 79% of infertile couples had a lower-than-average intake of foods high in antioxidants – like fruits and vegetables.  In one study published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Medicine, doctors found that after one week of daily doses of 1,000 milligrams of vitamin C, sperm counts rose by some 140%.  Obviously, when dealing with reproductive issues, a natural fertility treatment should include getting enough of the right vitamins, as this has proven to be helpful to some.

More recently, a study published in the Archives of Andrology showed the antioxidants vitamin E and selenium improved the ability of sperm to swim – a skill necessary to reach the egg.

Smoking Cessation

Smoking is one of the worst things a person can do to their body.  The toxins from cigarette smoke get absorbed into the bloodstream, and through the blood, they travel to every cell in the body, including the reproductive system.  Most natural fertility treatment programs recommend that both the man and the woman stop smoking immediately if they are looking to conceive.  For men, smoking will kill what sperm they have, and sometimes cause defects in the remaining sperm.  For women, smoking interferes with the body’s natural abilities to ovulate, or release an egg from the fallopian tubes.

Yes, it is true that many smokers have been able to conceive without stopping, but if you’re looking for the best, healthiest, most natural fertility treatment available, you do need to consider what you’re doing to yourself when you smoke.  Chances are you’re interfering with your body’s abilities to heal itself and to do what’s necessary for conception.

Relieving Stress as a Natural Fertility Treatment

Stress robs your body of natural vitamins, minerals, healthy oxygen, and many other necessary parts of your reproductive system.  While it’s not true that your problems with conceiving are necessarily “all in your head,” a natural fertility treatment of any sort should include stress reduction whenever and wherever possible.

Natural Fertility Treatment

It’s a common myth these days that infertility is simply a woman’s problem.  Because the woman is responsible for pregnancy, people often think that conception is completely her project as well.  However, nothing could be further from the truth, and if you are a couple experiencing problems while trying to get pregnant, you owe it to yourselves to understand the truth about male infertility.  After all, to ignore this issue is to waste valuable time that could be spent correcting it and addressing it properly.

How common is male infertility?

When a couple is having problems conceiving, it’s believed that the problem is usually 50/50, in other words, it’s equally likely that the problem is male infertility as it is the woman’s infertility.  About 1 in 10 couples that try to conceive have difficulty, so you can understand just how common this issue is with men.

What are the common causes of male infertility?

Most people have heard that low sperm count is one of the common reasons for male infertility, but there are others; additionally, there are reasons why a man’s sperm count may be low.  For example, smoking causes much damage to the reproductive system in a man, and can interfere with his sperm production.  Trauma to the genital region or testicles, such as an injury or accident, can also interfere with his sperm productions.

Other common causes for male infertility include malformed sperm.  In order to fertilize an egg, a sperm must be healthy, otherwise it will simply die before it even reaches the egg in the first place.  Another common cause is low sperm motility.  This is also called “lazy” or “slow” sperm.  From a human point of view, the distance that sperm need to travel in order to fertilize a woman’s egg is not that much – only a matter of inches, really – but to the microscopic sperm, it may as well be miles.  And sperm are very fragile to begin with, so if they are not active and mobile, again, there is the chance that they will die in the woman’s system before they can reach that egg.

Blocked sperm ducts are another common cause of male infertility.  When a man ejaculates, only about 1% of that fluid is actually sperm; if his sperm ducts are blocked, this means there will be even less sperm, if any at all.

A high sperm count and healthy sperm themselves are of course crucial for a man to be able to impregnate a woman.  The more healthy sperm he has, the greater the chance of at least one of those sperm reaching that egg.

Male infertility can be treated!

The good news is that many of these conditions can be reversed, or helped along by your doctor; even if it means a medical intervention, most men with low sperm counts or malformed sperm can still help to conceive a healthy child.  So if you’re experiencing problems conceiving, don’t waste another minute assuming that it’s just the woman.  See your doctor today!

Fertility Treatment for Men

When talking about reproductive issues, a couple does well to consider some male infertility treatments that they can easily try at home.  This is because in most cases of reproductive issues, infertility can equally be caused by the man’s reproductive system as it can be the woman’s.  It is a common misconception (no pun intended) that all reproductive issues are strictly the woman’s problem.  In reality, most couples being treated for this by medical doctors are finding this it’s a 50/50 chance that the man may need treatment, or it’s a combination of problems with both the man and the woman.  In any case, someone may immediately wonder about male infertility treatments that you can try at home, first, before looking into medical intervention, expensive drugs, invasive surgeries, and the like.  The good news is that there are some such treatments that men can try that may very well increase his abilities to impregnate.

Diet May be the Best Male Infertility Treatment

In a new study cited in OBGYN News, a group of Harvard researchers found that 79% of infertile couples had a lower-than-average intake of foods high in antioxidants – like fruits and vegetables.  In one study published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Medicine, doctors found that after one week of daily doses of 1,000 milligrams of vitamin C, sperm counts rose by some 140%.  So, a multivitamin or a vitamin C supplement may be the first male infertility treatment that you would want to try.

More recently, a study published in the Archives of Andrology showed the antioxidants vitamin E and selenium improved the ability of sperm to swim – a skill necessary to reach the egg.

Exercise also improves muscle tone and good muscle tone helps every aspect of your system as well.  Excessive body weight also puts undue pressure on the reproductive organs and doesn’t allow them to function optimally; obese persons often suffer from reproductive issues.  Any male infertility treatment that you try at home should include regular physical activity and exercise.

Drugs and Smoking – A Barrier to Any Effective Male Infertility Treatment

Some medications can interfere with a woman’s and a man’s reproductive systems.  If you are taking any prescription drugs, be mindful of the side effects.  Ask your doctor if you’re not sure.  And this includes illegal drugs as well.  Many narcotics interfere with the body’s fertility, as does tobacco.  Excessive drinking (more than three alcoholic beverages per day) can too.

If you or your partner smoke, it’s time to quit.  Smokers have been shown to have 17% less sperm count on average, not to mention that it disrupts the health of remaining sperm.  If you’re taking illicit drugs, it’s time to quit those as well.  And if necessary, make note of your drinking levels and cut back if needed.

So there you have it – some natural, healthy male infertility treatments that any man or couple can try at home, before undergoing invasive surgery or doling out thousands on tests and medicines.

Fertility Treatment for Men

Couples who are dealing with the problem of infertility can often think that they are very alone in their concerns.  Most believe that pregnancy is easy, and may look around at the other couples with their bouncing bundles of joy as proof positive of this fact.  They may also have many friends and family members who announce one day that they are planning on starting a family, and who are seemingly pregnant immediately after.

But believe it or not, infertility is much more common than you might think.  It’s estimated that about 1 in every 10 couples that are attempting to have a baby, have some type of problem with infertility.  Imagine ten other couples that you know who have children, and you can make a safe bet that at least one of them faced some difficulty when it came to conceiving.  And when you think about this on a national scale, 1 in 10 couples means 5 to 6 million couples in the U.S. every year have some difficulty getting pregnant.

But what exactly defines the concept of infertility?  Simply put, this is when a couple is having regular (twice per week on average) unprotected sex and are still not pregnant after a year of trying.

This may be surprising news to some couples, who often assume that a month or so of trying is all that’s needed to signal a problem with infertility.  Not so, say doctors.  Because of the many details that need to align perfectly for a woman to conceive, it can actually take that many times trying before there is any need for concern.

Obviously it’s true that there are some who have a much more difficult time with conception than others; and of course there are many factors that will contribute to this problem.  Some couples seem to be much more fertile than others, and this may very well be the case.  Some men simply have a higher sperm count than average, and of course the more sperm he had, the greater his chance of having one reach a woman’s egg to fertilize it.  Additionally, some women have problems with ovulation and do not release a healthy, viable egg every month, so there may need to be a few months worth of attempts in order for her to conceive.

But while infertility is something that is more common than you might think, it is also a very personal issue.  You should never make the mistake of comparing your abilities to conceive to anyone else’s, even those in your own family.  Again, you may know of a couple who seem to be able to get pregnant just by talking about it, while you and your partner have been trying for weeks and months, but this isn’t necessarily a cause for concern.  Everyone’s body is different, everyone’s reproductive abilities are different as well.  If you are really concerned about whether or not you will need medical intervention or another way of helping you with your supposed infertility, then be sure to speak to your doctor, as only he or she will be able to know for sure.

Fertility Treatment

The Common Causes for Infertility in Men

When a couple are facing problems with reproduction and conception, it’s very shortsighted and medically inaccurate to assume that it must always be the woman’s problem.  Infertility in men is the cause of reproductive issues in about half of the cases reported, so if you and your partner are having problems conceiving, you do well to investigate the common causes for infertility in men so as to handle these issues promptly and completely.  Here are the most common causes:

Low sperm count – the most common reason for infertility in men.

Yes, men typically have millions of sperm that they produce during each sexual encounter, however, these sperm are very fragile and very few actually survive the journey through a woman’s system to reach an egg to fertilize.  This is why it’s necessary to produce those millions!  But in reality, any one sperm reaching an egg to fertilize it is like winning the lottery – there are millions of tickets sold, but it’s unlikely that any one is the winner.  So, having a lower than normal sperm count makes it that much more difficult for conception to take place.  Since this is the most common reason for infertility in men, chances are that a doctor would want to take a sample of a man’s semen to test the sperm count before doing any other tests.

Low sperm motility.

To a human, the journey through a woman’s system to reach the egg dropped by the fallopian tubes is miniscule.  But to the tiny microscopic sperm, it may as well be miles long!  Any sperm that are not able to push themselves to get through that journey are going to die off before they make it, and again, sperm are very fragile to begin with.  Low sperm motility may not be the most common reason for infertility in men, but it is common enough that again, doctors will want to check the abilities of your “little swimmers” to make sure they can make it through their long journey.  If not, alternative means of conception may need to be explored.

Malformed sperm.

If the sperm are not formed properly, they will not be able to propel themselves along to make that arduous journey.  Malformed sperm is a common reason for infertility in men, and may also be one of the more common reasons for low sperm motility.  However, it’s important to remember that malformed sperm doesn’t mean that a child conceived with it is going to somehow be malformed or that this is a cause for birth defects; it simply means that again, there may need to be an alternative form of conception that is explored rather than relying on the natural course of action.

Blocked sperm ducts.

Many people mistakenly assume that every time a man ejaculates during sexual activity, that this contains sperm.  This is not necessarily true; only about 1-2% of a man’s semen is actually sperm.  Blocked sperm ducts are another common reason for infertility in men; he has no sperm at all in the ejaculate in these cases.

Fertility Treatment