Have sex every day to boost pregnancy chances

By Lucy Halfhead  on Wednesday 1 July 2009

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Having sex every day improves sperm quality and could boost the chances of getting pregnant, research suggests.

In a study of men with fertility problems, daily ejaculation for a week cut the amount of DNA damage seen in sperm samples.

Dr David Greening, from Sydney IVF, told delegates at the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology meeting that eight in ten men taking part showed a 12% drop in sperm DNA damage after the seven days.

Although there was a big drop in sperm numbers from 180 million to 70 million over the week, men were still within the normal ‘fertile’ range. Sperm also became more active over the seven days with a small rise in motility, he added.

The theory is the longer sperm hang around in the testes the more likely they are to accumulate DNA damage and the warm environment could also make them more sluggish after a while.

He warns that having daily sex for too long - say a fortnight - would probably cut sperm numbers too much. But recommended ‘lots of sex daily’ around the time the woman is ovulating.

As men age they may not have as much sex as they did when they were younger, adding to the problem of infertility, Dr Greening told delegates. ‘We are designed to breed in our youth’, he said.

‘Perhaps we have been blaming the women as couples get older but perhaps there's a contribution from the male because we're not behaving as we should be.’

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Wednesday 1 July 2009

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