Greg Harris
Researchers may have uncovered an unexpected side effect of regular self-pleasure, and the findings might surprise you.
There’s no shortage of stories when it comes to sperm. From claims that eating pineapple can improve taste to advice about timing sex just right, plenty of ideas about how to improve and maintain the health of sperm come up all the time. And then there's the debate about how often people should masturbate and how much masturbation is too much.
One of the most common beliefs is that men trying to conceive should abstain from sex for several days to “build up” sperm count. While it’s true that short periods of abstinence can increase the number of sperm, that doesn’t necessarily mean better quality, and that’s where things get more interesting.
Advert
Recent research from the University of Oxford suggests that sperm stored for longer periods may actually begin to deteriorate. An analysis of 115 studies involving nearly 55,000 men found that longer gaps between ejaculations were linked to poorer sperm health overall.
Researchers looked at key measures like motility (how well sperm move) and viability (how many are alive). Both tended to decline with longer abstinence, while levels of DNA damage increased.
Scientists point to a couple of possible explanations. One is oxidative stress, often described as a kind of biological 'rust', which can build up over time and damage cells. The other is energy depletion: sperm are highly active cells, and when stored for too long, they may simply lose the energy needed to function properly.
Current guidelines still recommend abstaining for two to seven days before providing a sperm sample for testing or IVF. But these newer findings suggest that shorter abstinence periods could actually support better sperm quality in some cases.
What is the link with masturbation outside of IVF? In other words, more frequent ejaculation, including through masturbation, may help 'refresh' the sperm supply by clearing out older, potentially damaged cells. It’s even been suggested that sperm, in a sense, come with an expiration date.
The study comes, pun not intended, as there is an increased interest in male fertility and infertility.
Writing for the New York Post, the doctor explained that the most common cause of male infertility is a varicocele, which are swollen veins in the scrotum.
The veins can lower sperm production, as well as movement, which can have a direct impact on fertility.