Latest news with #GermaineBuckLouis
Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Sex File: Sex while trying to conceive is becoming a chore rather than pleasure
My wife and I are trying to have a second child, but more than a year in, sex has become a chore rather than a pleasure. How can we make things fun again? Especially with a toddler on the loose. There is a ton of information online about how much sex you ought to have to get pregnant but a lot of it merits a pinch of salt. The HSE advises sex every two to three days, but that's a lot of sex. Results from the most recent National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) in 2019 show that the median number of times couples in Britain have sex a month is three. The median is not to be confused with the mean, which is an average including people having no sex and those who are at it five times a night. The median is less susceptible to outliers, making it a more accurate reflection of what most people are doing. Natsal data suggests that couples have sex about 36 times a year, which seems very low. In contrast, the HSE suggests upping that figure to a minimum of 104 times if you want to conceive. No wonder you are finding it all a chore. A year is a long time, and I can understand why you might be concerned, but you've got a toddler, so you've got enough on your plate already without putting extra pressure on yourselves. I know many parents want their children to be close in age, but medical advice is that women should wait at least 18 months between giving birth and getting pregnant. Most couples (about 84%) will conceive naturally within a year if they have regular unprotected sex, and the HSE advises those who don't to consult their GP. However, unless your wife's age is an issue, I suspect your GP would simply tell you both to relax. Although that might sound patronising, there is a lot of research to support the fact that chilling out is beneficial for human fertility. In 2011 the statistician and epidemiologist Germaine Buck Louis tested the saliva of 274 women aged 18 to 40 for biomarkers of stress across six menstrual cycles. The study showed that stress significantly reduces the probability of conception on each and every day during the fertile window. In 2014, the results of a similar experiment, which followed 501 couples for up to a year as they tried to conceive, showed that the most stressed women had a 29% reduction in fertility. I won't bore you with the studies that have shown male stress can impair libido and reduce fertility, sperm count and sperm mobility, but the point is, you have had 12 months of hope, anxiety, disappointment and disillusionment, on top of the exhaustion of parenting, so it is time you and your wife had some fun. I suggest getting away without your toddler. Enlist the help of grandparents and tell them that if they want more grandchildren, they need to step up and give you a break. A study of 2,800 women by BabyCenter in the US said that nearly 50% of those who took so-called conception-moons got pregnant. While no one can guarantee that being able to stay up late, having fun, then lying in the next morning, having sex will lead to pregnancy, I do know that it will reset the dial by reducing stress levels, and that's got to be a good thing. Send your queries to
Euronews
08-03-2025
- Health
- Euronews
Men with better quality sperm may live longer, study finds
The quality of semen could be an indicator of overall health for men, experts told Euronews Health. ADVERTISEMENT Men with better sperm quality may live longer lives, according to a new study. Researchers analysed data from nearly 80,000 Danish men with a follow-up of up to 50 years. The men had had their semen quality assessed in the laboratory due to couple infertility. The analysis looked at semen volume, sperm concentration, and the proportion of motile sperm - meaning sperm that moved efficiently - and had a normal shape. Those with a higher number of motile sperm had a life expectancy that was two to three years longer than men with the lowest number of motile sperm, according to the findings published in the journal Human Reproduction. 'In absolute terms, men with a total motile count of more than 120 million lived 2.7 years longer than men with a total motile count of between zero and five million,' Dr Lærke Priskorn, a senior researcher at Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark and the study's lead author, said in a statement. 'The lower the semen quality, the lower the life expectancy. This association was not explained by any diseases in the ten years before semen quality assessment or the men's educational level,' she added. A potential health indicator for men One hypothesis to explain the link is that semen quality could work as an indicator of men's overall health. Previous research cited by the team found that men with a lower sperm concentration were also hospitalised seven years earlier on average, 'underlining that men with impaired semen quality as a group not only can expect to die earlier but also to live fewer healthy years'. 'The current findings corroborate and add to the limited albeit growing body of research showing that semen quality is an important marker of current health and likely predictive of future health across the lifespan,' Dr Germaine Buck Louis, dean of the College of Health at George Mason University in the US, told Euronews Health in an email. 'Greater clinical awareness is evolving and has prompted some authors to call for semen quality being considered the 6th vital sign,' the expert, who was not involved in the study, added. The typical vital signs measuring the body's basic functions are temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation. The study does not identify the underlying causes of the difference in life expectancy, but Louis said that 'environmental exposures may be responsible, possibly through oxidative stress pathways, as they affect both reproductive health and health, more globally'. 'Without knowing the exact causes of the infertility and the cell functions affected, it is difficult to develop medical interventions or new drugs to treat the problem(s),' Dolores Lamb, co-director of the research learning centre at Children's Mercy Kansas City, a hospital in the US, told Euronews Health. 'The common link between infertility and the increased health risks of men with infertility is currently under active research investigation,' Lamb added.
