Wearing loose underwear improves the number of sperm and other truths about semen.
Although it is hard to believe, there is still a lot to discover about semen and sperm.
But it is also true that much progress has been made since the beginning of his study, a few centuries ago, when the mere idea of interest in the subject was considered indecent.
But you, How much do you know about this viscous fluid that is fundamental to our reproduction?
BBC Mundo told five aspects that you might find curious about sperm and the substance it contains: sperm.
- It was thought that it carried miniature adults
In his fascinating report, the long, fascinating story of the sperm science … and why it finally goes in the right direction. & # 39; (& # 39; The long and tortuous history of sperm science and why it eventually went the right way & # 39;), Laura Poppick enters the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to learn the first theories about sperm.
In the article, published on the website of the Smithsonian Institute of the United States, Poppick says that thanks to the then revolutionary microscope, biologists could see the sperm "in all its glory".
"These first sperm scientists had the task of answering the most basic questions, for example: are sperm live animals, are they parasites and does each sperm contain a small, pre-formed adult human that is nestled inside?", Says the author.
According to Poppick's research,The first scientist who concentrated on studying sperm was the Dutch Anton van Leeuwenhoek, who went down in history as the father of microbiology because of his groundbreaking work in that field.
Van Leeuwenhoek developed the first composite microscope and used it to analyze lice and water samples from lakes in the mid-1670s. His friends, however, urged him to concentrate his instrument on something else.
"But worried because writing about sperm and coitus could be indecent, he did not progress." Eventually, in 1677, he admitted. In examining his own ejaculation, he was immediately startled from the small & # 39; animals & # 39; that he struck inside", the author indicates.
He did not want to share what he discovered with his colleagues. But he decided to inform the Royal Society of London (the most important scientific institute in England) about his findings.
"If the honorable Member believes that these comments can irritate or scandalize scholars, I urge the honorable Member to regard them as private and to publish or destroy them as the honorable Member deems appropriate," wrote the scientist. .
The chairman of that body published them and in this way a new study area for biology was born.
Previously there were many theories about reproduction.
As the biologist Bob Montgomerie of Queen & # 39; s University in Canada – quoted by Poppick – suggests: "the steam emitted by the male ejaculate has stimulated somehow to give birth to babies. to make, while others believed that men actually manufactured the babies and transferred them to the females for incubation. "
After van Leeuwenhoek's findings, "it took about 200 years before scientists agreed on how people were formed."
Some believed that each sperm had a small human that was completely pre-formed.
- Underwear affects the quality
If you want to improve the quality of your semen, consider using more boxers.
And a study from the School of Public Health at Harvard University, published on August 8, seems to confirm that the use of baggy briefs could be a simple way for men to improve their sperm count and the hormones that control them.
656 men participated in the study and those who wore short boxers had a concentration of sperm 25% higher than men with tight underwear.
It is assumed that this is due to the cold temperatures around the testicles.
And experts say that this simple change in lifestyle could improve the fertility of men.
Sperm production is influenced by temperatures above 34 ° C, which is why the testicles hang on the body.
Some styles of underpants, the tightest, bring the scrotum close to the body, causing the testicles to warm up, while others, such as boxers, are looser and colder.
In the largest study of its kind to date, the researchers discovered that men who followed a fertility clinic with baggy briefs had a 17% higher sperm concentration, and that they were 33% more agile (ability to swim) than those of men who were tight underwear.
- What you eat has an influence on its quality
Nuts can help to have healthy semenaccording to a study by the Rovira i Virgili University of Tarragano, in Spain.
The men who ate about two hands full of almonds, hazelnuts and mixed nuts every day for 14 weeks improved their sperm count and had more viable "swimmers," according to the researchers.
The study, which was published in July, came in the midst of what scientific sources have called a decline in the number of sperm cells in the western world, partly as a result of pollution, smoking and nutrition.
The researchers said there was growing evidence that a healthy diet would increase the chance of becoming pregnant.
The scientists randomly divided 119 healthy men between the ages of 18 and 35 into two groups:
- 60 grams of nuts per day were added to a group for the normal diet
- The other person has not changed anything about what they usually eat
Those in the group who ate walnuts improved the sperm:
- The count of 14%
- The vitality with 4%
- Mobility with 6%
- The morphology (shape and size) in 1%
These are all the parameters that the World Health Organization names as criteria for semen quality and that are related to male fertility.
Experts said the study supported others who showed a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and folic acid B-vitamin that improved fertility.
"The evidence is gathered in the literature that changes in a healthy lifestyle, such as following a healthy diet, can help with fertilization," said Dr. Albert Salas-Huetos, who led the study.
- It does not always have the same amount of semen
The amount of semen that men produce varies greatly.
"It is generally said that men can produce 2 to 5 milliliters of sperm each time they ejaculate," explains biologist Mike Leahy and Hilary MacQueen, a professor in the Life, Health and Chemical Sciences at the Open University of England.
"And every milliliter can contain 20 million to 300 million semen", add in the article "The science of sperm" ("The science of sperm"), available on the website of the Open University.
According to the researchers, this means that a fertile man can produce a total of between 40 million and 1800 million semen, although most produce between 40 and 60 million semen per milliliter, with an average total of 80 to 300 million semen per ejaculation. "
- You were not born to produce it
Men are not born with the ability to produce sperm.
This ability develops when puberty begins when the sperm is produced in small vessels in the testes, known as tubules of seminiferi.
When the semen is produced, they begin to ripen in the epididymis, a narrow, elongated tube at the back of the testicle and the vas deferens. From there they transfer to the urethra.
"The entire process of production and maturation in the male body lasts for a maximum of 74 daysbut the usual average is about nine weeks ", the researchers from the Open University indicate.
SOURCE: BBC WORLD
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