Many representatives of the stronger sex believe that planning for pregnancy is not a masculine affair, and only a woman should deal with it. They are not right.
To a child born healthy, take care of your health should not be one mom. After all, the child has two parents, and each contributes to his genetics. And heredity lays not only the color of the eyes and the propensity for this or that occupation, as many people think. It determines the development of the child literally from the very first hours of its existence. Therefore, how to prepare for pregnancy, you should think about both future parents - and mother and father. And the role of the future father is no less important than the role of the future mother.
Statistics show that in almost half of cases, non-occurrence of pregnancy is associated with a "male factor" - insufficient fertility and poor quality of the spouse's semen. Modern men are less fertile than our grandfathers and great-grandfathers. Although only 3% of men suffer congenital infertility, a decrease in the concentration and motility of spermatozoa has become a global trend in recent decades. Over the past 50 years, the concentration of spermatozoa in the ejaculate of healthy men has decreased almost 2-fold, and the average volume of sperm has decreased 1.5-fold. 1 2 Previously, the norm was 100 million sperm per 1 milliliter. Today, the rate has been reduced to 20 million. And all right, it would be only in quantity! Every year, men reduce the percentage of mobile and morphologically correct forms of germ cells. 3
As a result, sperm quality deteriorates, sperm cells that are responsible for the transfer of genetic information from father to child become inactive and unable to fertilize the egg.
Therefore, conscious planning of conception for a man is just as important as for a woman. It should be started 3 months before the expected date, because it is the time the spermatozoa mature.
Where to start planning for pregnancy? What tests and examinations are required for the future father?
It is advisable for both a woman and a man to begin planning pregnancy with tests for sexually transmitted infections. Some of these infections can be asymptomatic, and a man may not even suspect that he is sick. This, however, does not mean that they do not need to be treated, because the infection can be transmitted to a woman, cause a non-pregnancy, or jeopardize the life and health of your unborn child.
Also the future father needs to pass the following tests: general and biochemical blood test, general urine analysis, hepatitis B and C, HIV.
A blood test for the Rh factor is mandatory in the case of a negative Rh woman. If the partners of the Rh factor are different, the doctor should be informed in order to avoid problems in bearing a child.
If you suspect a prostatitis, you need an analysis of the secretion of the prostate.
It is advisable to visit a urologist and pass a spermogram - microscopic examination of sperm, which allows you to evaluate the structure, motility and concentration of sperm.
It must be borne in mind that the low quality of sperm can be associated with bad habits, in particular, with smoking and drinking alcohol.
If a man regularly consumes alcoholic beverages, the risk that the egg will be fertilized by a spermatozoon with morphological disorders increases many times. And this, in turn, is fraught with miscarriage or development of abnormalities in the unborn child.
Bad for male fertility and smoking. Nicotine narrows the vessels - including in the small pelvis, which leads to a violation of erectile function and increases the risk of impotence. In addition, nicotine destroys spermatozoa, which reduces the chances of conception many times over.
Therefore, 3-4 months before conception, the future father should quit smoking and give up alcohol, at least temporarily.
What frequency of sexual intercourse is optimal for pregnancy?
Although the quality of sperm is not directly related to sexual activity, the concentration and mobility of sperm in the ejaculate can fluctuate depending on sexual abstinence, intensity of physical activity or stress. Optimal for conception is the interval of 2-3 days between sexual acts. This time is ideal for "maturing" spermatozoa, improving mobility. With a longer period of sexual abstinence, the concentration of spermatozoa increases, but their mobility worsens.
What should be the food of the future pope?
The more fully the diet of a man, the better the quality of sperm. The future father is recommended to exclude from his diet all fast food, products with preservatives and dyes, too fatty, spicy food, smoked meat. The menu should contain as many fresh vegetables, fruits, greens, lean meat, sea fish, dairy products. Sprouted wheat grains, seeds, nuts, seafood are useful. These products help increase testosterone levels.
Particular attention to food should be paid to men with excess weight. The fact that the fat tissue produces female sex hormones, blocking the synthesis of masculine, necessary for the development and normal maturation of spermatozoa. In full men, the volume of sperm and the concentration of spermatozoa in it are lower, and the number of pathological sex cells is higher.
What vitamins are needed for men when planning pregnancy?
In the diet of the future father should be enough substances such as folic acid, vitamins C, E, selenium and zinc. To improve fertility, amino acid L-carnitine is also recommended.
It is a mistake to think that the necessary doses of vitamins and minerals can be obtained with food, it is enough just to eat right. Alas, in our time, products contain very few micronutrients. So, in order to get the necessary amount of vitamin E, every day one should eat 100 g of almonds or 150 ml of corn oil. If a man watches a figure, then such a diet is unlikely to please him.
Amino acid L-carnitine helps increase the number of spermatozoa, increase their mobility, stimulates spermatogenesis, promotes the formation of spermatozoa of the correct structure.
The microelement of zinc provides the synthesis of testosterone and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), with the deficit of which the processes of sperm production are disrupted.
Selenium is an active antioxidant that protects the emerging spermatozoa from damage, increases sperm motility and increases their concentration. Low quality of sperm and weak libido is very often associated with a lack of selenium in the body of a man. The biological activity of selenium is enhanced if it enters the body together with vitamin E.
Vitamin E increases the concentration, viability and mobility of germ cells, it is effective in such disorders of spermatogenesis as asthenozoospermia and oligoastenozoospermia.
Vitamin B9 (folic acid) is very important for spermatogenesis. Introduction to the diet of folic acid at a dosage of 400 mcg per day helps to reduce the number of morphologically incorrect spermatozoa in the ejaculate, and, consequently, reduces the risk that the baby will be born with gene anomalies.
But, perhaps, the most indispensable vitamin for conceiving a child is love. Love each other, take care of each other. And then your baby will answer you the same. After all, if parents care about the health and good heredity of a child even before conception, it means that they already love him, they want to provide him with the best future and he will receive a "vitamin of love" from the first days of his existence.
- E. Carlsen, A. Giwercman, N. Keiding, and NE Skakkebaek. Evidence for decreasing quality of semen during the past 50 years. - BMJ. 1992 Sep 12; 305 (6854): 609-613.
- Cendrine Geoffroy-Siraudin, Anderson Dieudonné Loundou, Fanny Romain, Vincent Achard, Blandine Courbière, Marie-Hélène Perrard, Philippe Durand and Marie-Roberte Guichaoua. Decline of semen quality among 10 932 males consulting for couple infertility over a 20-year period in Marseille, France. - Asian J Androl. 2012 Jul; 14 (4): 584-590. Published online 2012 Apr 23. doi: 10.1038 / aja.2011.173
- Artiefeksov S.B. Male infertility: the principles of diagnosis, treatment and prevention / / First All-Russia. An educational course: Men's health is an interdisciplinary problem. Lectures. - Kislovodsk, 2007. - P. 102-108.