For a long time, and probably still the case for many people – where there’s been fertility problems everyone has assumed it’s because of the woman in the relationship.
Most people assumed that since the female was the one who actually got pregnant, then it was obvious that she was the one responsible for “providing” the couple a baby. Additionally, because it took medical science that a while to properly catch up with the technology that allowed doctors to adequately investigate a patient’s physical makeup, it has taken a lengthy period of time for this assumption to be corrected.
So then, it’s obvious that the man can be the cause of a couple’s fertility problems, the question is, “how often it typically is the man’s reproductive system that is at fault?”.
How Male Fertility Can Be Affected
First, let’s get an understanding of the different problems that can arise with a man’s overall fertility, so that we can then have a better grasp of the different problems he may be facing along the way.
Low sperm count is a not uncommon problem. A typical man may well have millions of sperm produced at any one time, but the sperm itself is actually very fragile, and only a very small number of these survive the emmense journey necessary to successfully fertilize a woman’s egg(ovum).
Because of this, it’s necessary for him to have a sufficient number of sperm to increase the odds that one will successfully make the journey. It follows then that when his count is low, it greatly decreases his chances of fertilizing an egg.
Issues with sperm motility is another common problem. Although it’s not a long journey by human standards for the sperm to reach its intended target, for the microscopic sperm, it is truly a marathon. Sperm that arn’t able to make this journey or that die off before they do are useless in terms of conception. This problem is also sometimes referred to as “lazy” or “slow” sperm.
Sperm that is malformed or otherwise defective is another common reason. Defective sperm not only has a problem making the journey towards fertilization, it also has a problem with the fertilization process as well. Even once the sperm has made it to the egg, the chances of successful fertilization are markedly reduced if the sperm in malformed.
How These Problems Arise
The reasons for these problems with male infertility are sometimes genetic; in which case usually isn’t something one can do to improve these factors outside of medical intervention.
Sperm count however as well as the number of live sperm in any given ‘sample’ is certainly something that can be improved naturally, using a range of methods that I won’t go into here.
Of course there are other reasons why a man might have problems with fertility, including blocked sperm ducts or a temporary drop in sperm production due to injury, illness, or something else.
This video goes into several more causes of male infertility…
How Often It’s Due To Male Issues
So with those thoughts in mind, the question again is, how often is infertility the result of a problem on the man’s part?
In truth, the real scientific answer is that it’s about 50/50, or an equal chance that it could be his problem rather than simply her problem. Again, while pregnancy may be all up to the woman to handle, conception is an equal responsibility between both, and most couples experiencing problems in this regard are finding that the man needs assistance just as often as the woman does.
