Peer-reviewed research concerning sperm health, summarized and appraised in plain language with every source cited.
This study set out to understand how lifestyle factors relate to semen abnormalities in men undergoing fertility evaluation in Ghana. It analyzed medical records of 221 men at a Ghanaian…
This study looked at whether eating ultra-processed food around the time of conception affects fertility and early embryo development in couples. It followed 831 women and 651 men from before…
This study set out to see if sperm quality changes with the seasons in Denmark and Florida, and whether outdoor temperatures play a role. It looked at semen samples from…
This study measured how outdoor temperature tracks with semen quality, using records from 5,114 men attending a reproductive medicine centre in Wenzhou, on China's east coast. The measure it used…
This study looked at whether the intensity of physical activity affects semen quality in men who already have impaired sperm health. It followed over 1,300 men undergoing fertility evaluations, each…
This study set out to examine how exposure to fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) and its components affects semen quality, and whether living near green spaces might help protect against…
This study asked whether the pandemic changed how sensitive sperm production is to weather. It took 2,672 semen analyses from 1,287 Korean men collected between 2018 and 2024 and matched…
This study asked whether a man's heat exposures affect how quickly his partner conceives, which is a harder and more useful question than whether they affect a semen sample. It…
This study set out to see whether N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC, an antioxidant supplement, taken here at 600 mg a day) improves sperm quality in infertile men. Fifty infertile men with poor…
This study looked at how sleep duration relates to semen quality and reproductive hormones in young men. It recruited 796 male college students in Chongqing, China and followed up 656…
This study set out to see how regular sauna use affects sperm health in men whose sperm counts were normal to begin with. Ten men used a Finnish sauna twice…
This study looked at whether stopping hot tubs, hot baths and whirlpools improves semen quality in infertile men. Eleven men with a regular wet heat habit were assessed before and…
This study looked at what a fever does to semen quality in healthy men. Twenty-seven men with a median age of 24.4 years gave a semen sample every month and…
This study asked whether the ordinary, everyday variation in scrotal temperature is enough to matter for sperm. Sixty men from a group of couples planning their first pregnancy wore a…
This study looked at whether cooling the testicles every day helps men whose couples had been unable to conceive. It followed 64 men who had subfertile semen and a raised…