Biological Clock in Men? True or False

Lately, there has been a lot of controversy whether the quality and quantity of a man’s sperm deteriorate with age. According to the experts at the IVF clinic in Delhi, it may not be the case for everyone, but for most men, it does. As men tend to get older, the possibility of conceiving a healthy child decreases considerably. Generally, after the age of 40, the sperm quality decreases, resulting in a longer time for their partners to conceive or in a miscarriage. Besides the above, children of older fathers are more likely to have genetic disorders. Does a man’s age matter? Although a man can produce sperm throughout his life, the quality of the same will not necessarily be par excellence. Most of the time, changes in the male fertility are due to changes in the quality of the sperm, which can be assessed by semen analysis. While the quantity of the sperm may remain the same, the concentration, volume, motility as well as morphology of the sperm declines with age. This often makes the fertilization of an egg a difficult process. Apart from the above, the testosterone level also decline with age, resulting in a decline in libido, erectile dysfunction and ejaculation, thereby causing infertility. Moreover, diseases that reduce fertility are more common in older men. Furthermore, even the medications for such diseases and illnesses can cause a decline in one’s fertility. While it becomes clear from the above that a man’s age is an important factor affecting his fertility and ability to reproduce, it does not necessarily mean that one would be unable to father a child. The age, in most cases, just makes it a difficult process. Can a man father a healthy child at any age? Increasing parental age elevates the risk of a variety of birth defects and genetic problems in the child. Hence, birth defects and various genetic problems are more common among children born to men beyond the age of 40. A child born to an older man, therefore, is more likely to suffer from birth defects like autism, down syndrome, schizophrenia, epilepsy, bipolar disorder, etc and is twice as likely to die before turning into an adult. Can a man’s age be responsible for miscarriage? An older man’s partner is likely to take a long time to get pregnant. In some cases, there is also a risk of not conceiving at all. Apart from this, the risk of miscarriage is twice as high in case of women whose partner is aged above 40 as compared to those whose partner is below 25. Age, as we understand, plays a pivotal role in reducing the fertility of a man. Increasing age affects the male sexual function and sperm parameters, thereby decreasing fertility of a man, resulting in longer time to conception, increased miscarriage rates and abnormalities in sperm DNA. In any case, eating healthy, not smoking, cutting on or abstaining from consuming alcohol, meditating to reduce stress can help you maintain your fertility for a longer time. Moreover, infertility treatments in Delhi such as IVF can compensate for many problems in sperm, in a way that it cannot with eggs. The Male Biological Clock: Myth or Reality