There are a lot of factors to consider why a woman has a hard time getting pregnant. Although conception is a natural process and is relatively easy, some couples have a hard time conceiving despite trying so hard. More often, when the couple has a hard time forming an offspring it has always been blamed to the woman who may be the cause of infertility. However, males too can be infertile making the couple have difficulties in having an offspring.

Males have a harder time admitting that they are infertile as compared to women. This may be because of the fact that they should be in control and the domineering one in the relationship. That is why submitting to infertility checkups may not be considered by the males to be a good thing especially when their egos may be affected.

Semen analysis is a very helpful tool to assess if the man has infertility issues. It is a procedure that checks on the male’s sperm if it is viable to get the woman pregnant. The male should submit a semen sample after not ejaculating for three days. The sperm sample should be sent to the laboratory not later than one hour so that the results will be accurate.

The male is considered to have a healthy sperm when he has a sperm count equalizing or more than  20 million sperm per cubic centimeter, have 50 % moving sperms in the sample given, at least 30% of the sperm should be normal in shape and appearance, and should be amounting to 2 ml to 5 ml per ejaculation. When the male does not have all these conditions positively in his semen analysis results, he may have a difficult time getting his partner pregnant.

There are a lot of factors why a man has problems with the condition of his sperms. Here are some of them:

• Genetic and hereditary factors- Some men who have problems with fertility has a family member with the same condition. This may be due to genetic abnormalities that may be passed on in the family.
• Physical deviances- Anatomically the male have abnormalities and having perfectly structured reproductive system plays a big role in conception. In rare scenarios, there may be a blockage in the passage of the testes to the urethra making it impassable for the sperm.
• Lifestyle- Men who have very high alcoholic intake, has been using illegal substances like marijuana and cocaine, taking of prescribed or not prescribed medications like anabolic steroids, and males who love smoking have lower sperm counts as compared to others who don’t.
• More often the cause of male infertility is unknown.

As of the moment, semen analysis remains to be the best diagnostic exam to check on male infertility.

Related posts:

1. What You Need To Know About Male Fertility
2. How Do You Know When You Are Infertile?
3. FAQs About IUI
4. At Home IUI
5. What is a Fertell Fertility Test?