According to a new evidence, couples who are trying to conceive a child, should make love at least once a day on a regular basis. Researchers from Australia say that daily sex improves men's sperm quality by reducing the amount of DNA damage.

Up to this moment, there has been no evidence-based agreement among fertility doctors as to whether or not men should abstain from having sex for a few days before attempting to conceive with their partner, either spontaneously or by means of assisted reproduction. However, in a new Australian report, titled "Keep the River Flowing", a principal author David Greening, MD, an obstetrician and gynecologist with sub specialist training in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Sydney IVF, Wollongong, Australia, stated that "it seems safe to conclude that couples with relatively normal semen parameters should have sex daily for up to a week before the ovulation date."

To come up with this conclusion, Dr. Greening carried out a study with an involvement of 118 male participants. All the men had higher than average sperm DNA damage as indicated by a DNA Fragmentation Index (DFI). At Sydney IVF, sperm with less than 15 per cent DFI is considered just perfect, and with more than 29 per cent DFI is considered poor quality. Furthermore, all men reported a history of recurrent miscarriage, infertility, or repeated IVF (in-vitro fertilization) failure. For the study purposes, the participants were asked to climax on a daily basis for a period of one week in a row, and after that they all needed to provide samples of their sperm.

When the sperm samples were re-assessed on the seventh day, the investigators revealed that 96 men (81 per cent) had an average 12 per cent drop in their sperm DNA damage, whereas 22 participants (19 per cent) showed an average increase in their sperm DNA damage of about 10 per cent. The average for the entire group decreased to 26 per cent DFI. "More men moved into the 'good' range and out of the 'poor' or 'fair' range," Dr. Greening explained.

Dr. Greening said that he assumed the reason why the quality of sperm improved with frequent ejaculation was because the sperm spent less time in the testicular ducts and epididymis where they are exposed to potentially damaging molecules known as reactive oxygen species. He said that the 19 per cent of men who had showed a raise in their percentage of DNA-damaged sperm may have experienced another condition that was "not amenable" to the ejaculation strategy that was tested in the study.

While frequent love making did bring down semen volume, this did not appear to be a problem for the majority of men, and was also associated with a slight increase in sperm motility (motion). According to Dr. Greening, while the optimal number of days of ejaculation might be more or less than seven days, "a week appears manageable and favorable."

However, the researchers say that much more investigaton on the matter in needed in order to see if the couples' pregnancy rates increased and improved as a result of the men's daily ejaculation. Other ways of improving sperm quality include not smoking, drinking in moderation, physical activity, and consuming more antioxidants.

The findings were presented June 30 at the 25th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Amsterdam.

Tags: Fertility, Mental Health, Sex and Romance For Men

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