The Habits That Undoubtedly Harm Male Fertility

I was tempted to call this step: Stop Fun. For a lot of you, the shifts here will be challenging to implement. Maybe you’ve already been making some lifestyle changes for your fertility’s sake. Maybe you’ve been eating healthier, exercising, or even taking supplements. But what about alcohol, smoking, vaping, and those suddenly ubiquitous gummies? At least some of those habits may seem harmless to you, but there is no doubt that all of them have a serious impact on your fertility.

 

That’s the bad news. Is there good news? Well…. You’re not going to be trying to conceive forever, right?

 

So let’s go ahead and rip off that bandage.

 

Smoking

We’ll get smoking out of the way first. If you’re a smoker, you’ve gotten countless lectures about how smoking is bad for you. You know this. Nor is there any doubt that nicotine is one of the most addictive substances on the planet. It’s very hard to quit. But if there was one good time to quit, it’s right now. 

 

I’ll list a few facts. Cigarette smoke contains over 7000 chemicals, many toxic to sperm. Smokers have a 22% lower sperm concentration than non-smokers. Nicotine disrupts production of healthy sperm and testosterone. Smoking has been shown to damage sperm membranes. It’s a main cause of oxidative stress and damages sperm DNA. The damage may be impossible to reverse without quitting smoking completely. Smoking depletes antioxidants like Vitamin C and Vitamin E, leaving sperm vulnerable to even more damage. Nicotine constricts blood vessels, reducing blood flow to the penis, significantly increasing the risk of erectile dysfunction. Smoking alters sperm epigenetics, increasing the risk of birth defects. Smokers can increase their child's risk of asthma, cardiovascular disease, and even lower sperm quality in their sons. All of this has been shown repeatedly in multiple studies.

 

But what if you replace cigarettes with a vape pen? That’s healthier, right? Nope. For men trying to conceive, studies show that vaping may be even unhealthier than firing up a dart. So here’s another list. Nicotine disrupts production of healthy sperm and testosterone (see above). E-cigarettes also contain formaldehyde and heavy metals, both notorious for harming sperm. Men who vape have lower sperm concentration, reduced motility, and abnormal morphology. Vaping increases oxidative stress, leading to higher levels of free radicals that damage sperm DNA. This damage can cause miscarriages and an increased risk of developmental issues in offspring. Like smoking, vaping alters sperm epigenetics. Animals exposed to e-cigarette vapor before conception birthed offspring with metabolic and developmental disorders.

 

You get the picture. Obviously even a nicotine patch still contains nicotine, although their topical application may make patches moderately less harmful. But you do get the picture, right? You can game this out a hundred different ways in your head, but there’s no way around it: you’re going to have to stop smoking, and that includes all forms of nicotine. If it makes quitting easier, you can tell yourself you’ll start smoking again once you’re a father. I can’t imagine that after being nicotine-free for a few months, you’ll want to light up again, much less with a baby smelling your smoke. But you can if you want.

 

Quitting is hard. You’ve probably tried. The difference now is that you have the best reason to finally leave the habit behind. Quitting now will likely do more for your fertility than anything else. Hypnosis works for a lot of people. Schedule a session if you haven’t tried it. Others swear by the book Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking. It’s short, and you can read it in a couple of hours.

 

Whatever it takes.

 

THC and Gummies

I’ll skip over THC vape pens, since the previous section should make it clear that vaping itself is undeniably harmful. In other words, if you’re vaping THC, you’re inhaling a lot of harmful substances besides THC (the active ingredient in cannabis, and if that’s news to you, you can probably skip this section).

 

What about THC itself? Maybe you enjoy an evening gummy to wind down. Unfortunately, I’ve got more bad news. THC has been shown to lower sperm count significantly. Men who use cannabis frequently have sperm concentrations up to 29% lower than non-users. THC also affects sperm motility by changing how sperm cells interact with the body's endocannabinoid system (endocannabinoids are neurotransmitters that appear to regulate physiological and cognitive processes, including fertility). Sperm exposed to THC tend to hyperactivate prematurely, meaning they burn out before reaching the egg. THC has also been linked to higher levels of DNA fragmentation in sperm. It affects the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis, reducing testosterone levels and disrupting other key hormones necessary for sperm production. Over time it’s been shown to decrease those key hormones we discussed in Step 2, LH and FSH. Research also suggests that THC may harm sperm epigenetics, which can impact your children’s future health. Regular use can lead to erectile dysfunction and reduced libido.

 

“Okay! Okay!” I can hear you saying. “Then what about CBD? Can’t I at least keep using that?” Research is still in its early stages, but some already suggests that CBD may also impact sperm function. There’s not yet enough data to say for sure, but honestly, at this point, if you’re struggling with infertility, why risk it?

 

Again, the good news is that if you enjoy THC, you can look forward to that next gummy…after you have a family.

 

Alcohol

I’m starting to feel like the guy you don’t want to find yourself standing next to at a party. You ready for this one? Okay. Take a deep breath. Here we go….

 

Alcohol (wine, beer, whiskey, vodka, seltzer, all of it, everything) lowers testosterone levels and sperm production while increasing oxidative stress. Especially for heavier drinkers (defined as more than a few drinks a week, whether or not that seems reasonable to you and me), alcohol is particularly hard on testosterone. It interferes with the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis, which regulates testosterone production. It also reduces our hormone friends, LH and FSH, leading to suboptimal fertility. It increases estrogen levels in men, further disrupting the hormonal balance needed for sperm production. It can lead to testicular atrophy (yep, shrinkage), which unsurprisingly harms sperm production. It increases oxidative stress, harming sperm DNA, leading to increased risk of congenital defects in offspring.

 

Did I mention morphology? Excessive alcohol consumption harms that too. Also motility, perhaps even at moderate levels of consumption. It disrupts the gut microbiome, leading to increased inflammation, and we’ve already seen the damage heat can do. And finally, heavy drinking depletes levels of antioxidants like zinc, folate, and Vitamin C.

 

Many, many studies have been done, and some show that moderate drinking (again, no more than a few drinks per week) causes little to no harm, but at least one study found that the risk of not achieving a live birth more than doubled for men who drank one additional drink per day (mostly due to a higher rate of miscarriages). It’s only one study, but if you go through all the clinical research, it’s clear that excessive alcohol consumption harms fertility.

 

It’s up to you to decide what’s worth the risk. The odds are good that a glass of wine here and there will do no harm. But for some people, having just one glass of wine feels like missing the whole point of drinking. If that’s you, it might be easier just to take the next months off. Your friends will understand. It’s for a good cause.

 

 

These milder addictions in this section may be relatively harmless in the grand scheme of things, but in your particular case, over these next months, they are unquestionably harmful to your fertility. These are the facts. There’s no point in lecturing anyone about it. It’s up to you now to figure out what it’s going to take to change your habits over this next phase of your life.

 

Keep in mind that sperm regenerates every 72 days, so making positive changes today are very likely to improve sperm quality in just a few months. That’s the good news to finish out this wholly fun-less step.