Frequent Ejaculation May Boost Men's Fertility, Research Suggests

A recent study has found that sperm deteriorates over time as it remains in the body, leading researchers to suggest that men who ejaculate more frequently may have better sperm quality.

The study, which combined 115 human studies involving nearly 55,000 men and 56 studies on non-human species, found that the longer men went without sex, the more their sperm showed signs of DNA damage and oxidative stress, and the more tests rated the sperm as less viable and poorer swimmers.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends men abstain from ejaculating for two to seven days before giving sperm for fertility tests or IVF, but the guidelines were designed to obtain the highest sperm count rather than prioritizing the best quality sperm.

Dr. Krish Sanghvi, lead author of the study, said: "In men, the negative effects we found on sperm DNA damage and oxidative damage were large-ish, so we are confident that this is a biologically meaningful and important effect."

The study's findings suggest that clinicians and couples should reconsider whether long abstinence is always good, as abstinence leads to deterioration in sperm quality.

For couples trying to conceive naturally, a balance between quantity and quality needs to be struck, with abstaining for too long or too little potentially affecting sperm quality and quantity.

Experts say that for assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatments, it's having the freshest, most healthy sperm that is probably more important, and that the two to seven days abstinence rule may not be as crucial when IVF treatment is taking place.