Male fertility: The best age to become a father, as per studies | The Times of India (2024)

Men often think that their age doesn’t matter when it comes to having a child and the biological clock is important only for the child-bearing mother. However, the number and quality of the sperm declines with your age. From a biological standpoint, experts recommend a man is best suited to fatherhood from his late 20s to early 30s.

It is still possible for men to father a child in their 50s and older. According to Guinness World Records, the oldest man to father a child was 92 years old at the time of the birth. Still, researchers have found that a man’s age can affect a couple’s chances of becoming pregnant. Males over 40 years of age have a lower likelihood of success.

Men typically never stop producing sperm but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a ‘biological clock’ like women. As a man ages, his sperm undergoes genetic mutations which increases the likelihood that the DNA of his sperm may be damaged. This can influence fertility and also create potential impacts on the health of his future children.

Studies have shown that fathers of an ‘advanced paternal age’ may be more likely to have children with neurodevelopmental disorders. A study done in 2010 observed the offspring of men over 40 had a five-fold risk of developing Autism Spectrum Disorder compared to the general population.

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Men typically never stop producing sperm, but there is a decline in sperm quality with age. The World Health Organization has set sem*n parameters which are benchmarks for healthy sperm. These include count, morphology (shape), and motility (movement). Starting around the age of 35, men may see their sem*n parameters getting worse.

Sperm health can depend on various factors which influence chances of fertility. In terms of quantity, fertility is most likely if the sem*n discharged in a single ejacul*tion contains at least 15 million sperm per milliliter. Too little sperm in an ejacul*tion might make it more difficult to get pregnant. When it comes to sperm motility, pregnancy is possible with less than 40% of the sperm in ejacul*te moving, with 40% being the threshold since the more the better chances of fertility.

The age where a man is most fertile is between 22 and 25 years. It is suggested to have children before the age of 35. After this age, the male fertility begins to worsen. After 35, the sperm might result in pregnancies where mutations can occur. Going further, if the age of the man is above 45 years, then the chances of having a miscarriage are much higher, irrespective of the age of the pregnant woman.

What age is too young too young to become a father? A research published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health found that becoming a father before the age of 25 could lead to serious health consequences and may even lead to untimely death in middle age. The study found that men who became fathers earlier in life were more likely to have poor health and die younger than those who delayed fatherhood until they were 30 to 44. Apart from this, there is a considerable amount of psychological and financial stress that can come with having a child in your early adulthood when you are not fully prepared for it.

There are many lifestyle factors that can hamper your sperm quality. These include a poor diet, smoking, drinking alcohol, taking recreational drugs and obesity. Sperm motility is the ability of sperm to move efficiently through the woman’s reproductive tract to reach and fertilise the egg. Smoking has been associated not just with a decrease in the sperm quality, but also their amount and motility.

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If you and your partner have been trying to conceive for a while to no avail, then you must visit a doctor. For men, there are a wide range of tests to find out whether or not you're infertile.

Start with getting an evaluation by a urologist. You'll have to undergo a physical exam and the doctor will ask you of your medical history and lifetsyle habits.

A physical exam will include examining your testicl*s, where the doctor will look for varicoceles, abnormal formations of veins above the testicl*.

You can also get a sperm and sem*n analysis, wherein the expert will check your sperm count, their shape, movement, and other characteristics.

In addition, one can also opt for hormone evaluation, in which the doctor will assess the level of testosterone and other hormones in the body.

Other tests include, genetic testing, anti-sperm antibodies, retrograde ejacul*tion, etc.

In order to produce optimum sperm, it is essential to eat healthy foods. If you’re overweight, losing a few kilos will make it easier for you to conceive. Some studies suggest that a diet rich in antioxidants can also help. Cut back on alcohol and smoking to improve your sperm quality. Quitting both gradually is the best option. Keep your groin cool as your testicl*s make the best sperm when they’re slightly cooler than the rest of your body. To do this, avoid wearing too tight clothes, resting a laptop in your lap for long, spending a lot of time in a hot environment, or sitting for long periods of time.

A healthy lifestyle is a great way for improving your overall sperm health. However, there is no guarantee that it will prevent the effects of your old age on your fertility. If you want to protect your fertility, you can consider freezing your sperm while it's at its youngest and healthiest quality. Sperm freezing is the process of collecting, analyzing, freezing and storing a man’s sperm. This can provide you with more flexibility when it comes to when you want to have children.

Sperm freezing is a highly effective process and has been done successfully since 1953. The thaw survival of sperm is over 50 percent, so some sperm don’t survive the freezing process. However, if the sample is of high quality then this reduction isn’t an issue for conceiving a healthy baby. There is no evidence that using frozen sperm can increase the risk of health issues in the baby.