Get yourself a handyman! Blue-collar jobs that involve heavy lifting increase men’s sperm count and testosterone levels by up to 50%, Harvard study suggests
Blue-collar jobs that involve heavy lifting actually make men more manly, a study suggests.
Those with physically demanding jobs had nearly 50 percent higher sperm concentration and total sperm count than white-collar workers.
They also had higher levels of testosterone, the sex hormone that gives men large testicles and aids in sperm production.
Heavy lifting, and exercise in general, has been shown to reduce inflammation in the body, which is linked to better sexual health.
Men’s sperm rates have more than halved since the 1970s, blamed on sedentary lifestyles and poor diets.
The researchers did not speculate why the correlation might have occurred, but previous studies suggest that exercise, such as heavy lifting, promotes healthy levels of hormones that create a better environment in the testicles for sperm production.
Men who said they lifted objects often had nearly twice the sperm concentration of those who said they never lifted heavy objects at work
The study, published in human reproductionanalyzed 377 men in couples seeking treatment at a fertility center.
The men, who were an average age of 36 and primarily white, completed a questionnaire about how often they lifted or moved heavy objects, their typical shift pattern and their level of physical exertion at work.
Samples of his semen were analyzed to analyze his sperm and the concentration of different reproductive hormones.
Of the men who completed the survey, 12 percent indicated that they often lift or move heavy objects at work.
Those men had a 46 percent higher sperm concentration and 44 percent higher total sperm count compared with men who reported never shifting heavy objects at work.
Sperm concentration is the number of sperm per unit volume (milliliter) of semen and total sperm count is the total number of sperm in the ejaculate.
The researchers did not speculate why the correlation might have occurred, but previous studies suggest that exercise, such as heavy lifting, promotes healthy levels of hormones that create a better environment in the testicles for sperm production.
Experts have said that even moderate exercise curbs oxidative stress, which damages sperm.
Men who said their work was heavy or moderately physically demanding were also found to have higher testosterone concentrations, compared to those involved in light-level exertion.
Those who worked nights or rotating shifts had 24 percent more testosterone than men on day shifts.
Men who often did a lot of physical labor at work also had higher levels of estrogen, the female sex hormone.
The researchers hypothesized that this is because the body converts excess testosterone to estrogen to ensure a balance of the two.
Because the participants were men from couples seeking fertility treatment, the results may not hold for men in the general population.
However, other studies have confirmed that men with a sedentary lifestyle fare worse on multiple semen parameters, including volume, viability, and motility.
Other research published in the journal Human Reproduction Update illustrated the plummeting sperm rates of men.
It included data from 57,000 men in 53 countries, the largest study ever conducted.
The article showed that the sperm count, or the number of sperm in an ejaculation, fell from 101 million to 49 million sperm per millimeter of semen between 1973 and 2018.
