Sperm Donors - Weak Sperm Will Affect Conception

Sperm is like so many other living organisms and deteriorates with age, and neglect. There is nothing a man can do about becoming older, however he can watch out for the rigours of life and limit the damage to his sperm quality by eliminating or cutting back on the usual vices; smoking, drinking, drugs, diet, stress and exercise. This is vital if he is going to father his own children and not have to call in the services of a sperm donor.

The factors which together make up good sperm quality include concentration, speed, morphology and motility. Should there be a problem with sperm in any one of these areas then the sperm quality will be affected. As a result there may be a possibility that conception proves difficult or impossible.

In order for sperm to fertilise an egg in order to conceive, the sperm has to travel a very long way. It therefore stands to reason that sperm have to be strong swimmers. Normal healthy sperm contains at least fifty percent of active sperm and more than half of these can powerfully travel in one direction. This is called sperm motility. Hence quality sperm needs great motility.

Sperm speed is important in the animal kingdom – where many males mate with one female, it is the rush to fertilise the egg which becomes the key factor. So speed is all important, for males to continue their blood line. Healthy human male sperm demonstrates in excess of twenty five percent forward movements, any less than this and the sperm will have trouble fertilising the egg.

The concentration of sperm is a measure of how many sperm cells are contained within one millilitre of semen. For concentration to be considered as normal in a healthy male, the reading has to be around twenty million sperm cells in one millilitre. Low sperm counts can be caused by many things including; an imbalance of hormones, infections or testicle damage.

Sperm normally has the shape of a tadpole with an oval head which contains the genetic material and a long tail used to propel the sperm onwards. However several different shapes of human sperm have been identified. Some sperm has head abnormalities in shape, size and even quantity. Double heads have been reported, along with coiled bent and broken tails, and even double and trouble tails have been observed.

In order to have the best chance of conceiving a child, a good normal sperm quality is needed. However an abnormality in one area does not necessarily rule out the male being able to father children. Just as perfect sperm quality does not guarantee no fertility male issue.