Watching Too Much TV Harms Male Fertility

The latest issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine has witnessed the publication of a new study stating that men who watch too much TV are likely to have their fertility significantly affected by this presumably relaxing habit.

More precisely, the researchers who looked into this issue explain that, all things considered, just 20 hours of TV per week are more than enough for a man to witness his fertility being cut in half.

Apparently, this drop in male fertility associated with watching too much TV on a regular basis actually stems from the fact that such individuals tend to live a rather sedentary life, meaning that they do not exercise enough and more often than not make unfortunate dietary choices.

Despite the fact that this drop in fertility does not necessarily impair a man's ability to father children, the fact remains that those who take the time to exercise at least several times per week and pay closer attention to the things they eat are likely to find it significantly easier to start a family.

EurekAlert! informs us that, prior to their reaching these conclusions regarding the links between male fertility and sedentary lifestyle involving way too much TV watching, the researchers investigated the fertility of 189 men who volunteered to take part in this study.

These individuals were all from Rochester in New York State, USA, and their ages were between 18 and 22.

Besides analyzing these men's natural ability to father children, the researchers asked them to share information concerning how often and how intense they exercised, and how many hours they spent watching TV, DVDs and other videos throughout the course of a week.

Thus, they found that those who were physically active had a male gametes count roughly 73% higher than that recorded in the case of men who shied away from exercising.

Furthermore, those who spent 20 hours or more per week in front of their TV set had a male gametes count about 44% lower than that of men who only watched about 4 hours of TV weekly.

This is not the first time when concerns are raised with respect to how our modern lifestyles impact on men's ability to father children.

Thus, it was not very long ago when a study published in the Oxford journal Human Reproduction argued that poor dietary choices, together with increased environmental chemical exposure, had seriously taken their toll on French men's fertility.