Out With the Old Sperm, in With the New

Want to make a baby? Have lots of sex!

This may seem like a no-brainer, but it actually turns out that having more sex before ovulation increases the likelihood of pregnancy. In fact, a new study suggests that you should have sex daily for a week before ovulation for best results.

This new finding is not only good news for couples. It also marks a change in doctors' beliefs about conception. Until now, some doctors have recommended abstinence prior to ovulation, since frequent intercourse lowers sperm count. It turns out that those doctors were wrong. According to a Reuters article:

... a new study by Dr David Greening of Sydney IVF, an Australian center for infertility and in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, suggests abstinence is not the right approach. He studied 118 men with above-average sperm DNA damage and found the quality of their sperm increased significantly after they were told to ejaculate daily for seven days. On average, their DNA fragmentation index — a measure of sperm damage — fell to 26 percent from 34 percent ...

Why is frequent ejaculation a good thing for conception? Greening's theory is that newer sperm are less likely to be exposed to damaging molecules in the testicular ducts. Brand new sperm, generated just hours before ovulation, are likely to be healthier than older sperm that have been hanging around for days.