Gynaecologist and Obstetrician Specialist, Dr Promise Sefogah, has cautioned that male fertility declines with age, a factor that can significantly prolong the time it takes for couples to conceive.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Dr Sefogah challenged common misconceptions surrounding male infertility, explaining that age affects sperm quality in ways many people often overlook.
He said, “We have grown feeling that men, they cannot, they cannot, they cannot suffer infertility with age. And then people refer to Abraham in the Bible. The older a man gets, particularly after age 40, what we call the time to conception increases. Because the egg and sperm quality is also reducing. Unlike women, men are always producing new sperm every three months. Okay.”
He highlighted the biological differences between male and female fertility, noting that while men continue to produce sperm throughout their lives, the quality is not guaranteed.
“Unlike women, like we said yesterday, they are born with a pre-packed set number of eggs. And so there are major concerns about the eggs ageing as a woman is growing. In the case of men, they are making new sperm. But then, as you are growing, the ability to make better quality sperm also reduces,” he explained.
Dr Sefogah further pointed out that lifestyle and health conditions commonly associated with men over 40 can further compromise fertility.
“Also, things like uncontrolled or poorly controlled blood pressure, high blood pressure, and diabetes, which tend to happen when you are in your 40s and going, also affect the quality of the sperm. And so men also have the tendency to suffer some decrease in sperm quality and then the concentration of the sperm with age. And that affects the time to conception, the older a man gets. Okay,” he said.
He advised men to adopt healthier lifestyles, properly manage chronic medical conditions and seek early medical advice as part of efforts to preserve fertility and improve conception outcomes.
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