June 23, 2025 • 23 mins
When it comes to fertility, male health is half the equation - yet it’s rarely talked about.
In today’s episode, I’m joined by couples fertility nutritionist Grace to explore the often-overlooked world of male
fertility and sperm health. Whether you're thinking about starting a family, actively trying, or simply want to better understand a males role in the process - this conversation is packed with helpful insights.
We cover everything from the impact of lifestyle and stress on sperm quality to when men should start preparing for conception, what a basic semen analysis involves, and how to support sperm health through food, supplements, and everyday habits.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Why sperm quality matters for conception and long-term baby health
- When men should start preparing for conception
- What lifestyle factors can impact male fertility
- Key foods and nutrients that support sperm health
- The truth about exercise, alcohol, smoking, and supplements
- How to start the fertility conversation with your partner
Whether you're solo listening or planning to send this episode to your partner - this one’s for anyone who believes fertility is a shared journey.
Watch Grace's Previous Episode on Female Fertility:
YouTube: https://youtu.be/N48xcRUDBVk?si=u4x3hDF4NayiVF4E
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5i3h4VNgRCMMsjfqs7Ylby?si=zVVie6FzQ-asfdfb1rxL0w&preview=video
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/reset/id1777232501?i=1000695604292
Resources & Links:
Follow Grace on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_fertilitynutritionist/
Grace’s Male Fertility Freebie: https://east-to-west-nutrition.mykajabi.com/male-fertility-freebie
Follow Ash on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashcam____/
Follow Ash on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ashcam____
Follow Reset Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reset___podcast/
Follow Reset Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@resetpodcastchannel
🎧 New episodes drop every Tuesday at 6am AEST. Don’t forget to hit follow, share with a friend, and leave a review if this episode helped you!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Hello and welcome back to Reset.As you guys know, this is a
podcast that takes all of the topics that are currently
swirling around our group chats and brings in experts to get
official opinions on them. This is a topic that I didn't
think we were going to be discussing on Reset, but it just
seems to be coming up a lot at the moment.
(00:25):
We are going to be talking aboutmale fertility, sperm health,
and all of the things that you can proactively do as a male
before trying to conceive. I couldn't think of anyone
better to bring back into the studio to discuss this.
Then my lovely friend Grace. Grace, welcome back.
Thank you. I'm so excited to be there.
(00:47):
Thanks. Thanks again for having me.
Yeah, I'm gonna link Grace's previous episode.
In the show notes, we talked about fertility on a whole and
mainly female skewed, but this episode is for the guys.
So Grace, for anyone who didn't get to meet her in our last
episode is a fertility nutritionist that specializes in
(01:07):
helping couples create life. And her client results are just
so beautiful. I love watching your Insta
stories every week. There's just all these positive
pregnancy tests coming through. And I know that typically the
clients that come and work with you, maybe they've been trying
to have a baby for a while or like things haven't been kind of
quote UN quote smooth and perfect.
(01:28):
So to get all of those positive results is just such a win.
So I know that you're going to have plenty of helpful tips for
us today. Grace, if someone has just tuned
in and they're not sure if they should bother listening and
learning about male fertility, can you tell me?
Just like, can you tell me why it's so important to care about
(01:51):
male sperm health? What does it actually do to your
baby, to your partner? Like why should people listen?
Yeah, really, really good question.
If you are wanting to conceive and you want that pregnancy to
be happy and healthy and you want to impact the baby's life,
then you should definitely listen to it.
We know obviously male factor isgoing to play a huge role on the
(02:12):
ability to conceive, but poor male factor fertility does
increase the risk of miscarriage.
It is the man's genes that helpsto build the placenta and also
helps facilitate how that placenta will function, which is
critical for how the the pregnancy will develop.
(02:33):
Things like preeclampsia are linked to male fertility too.
And then you can even look at the health of the baby through
their lifestyle through their life as well.
So and then you can even look atthings like the baby's health
through through their lifespan. And we know that the father's
epigenetic factors in the monthsleading up to conception will
(02:54):
impact their potential risk to developing diseases within their
life as well. OK, so anyone who's wanting to
show up as a great dad and a great partner should really be
listening to this and taking this beautiful, proactive
approach. OK, let's dive into it.
Let's start from the beginning though.
(03:16):
Is sperm quality, sperm health essential for making a healthy
baby? Can a guy just show up and do
his thing? Like, why?
Why should we be caring about this?
It is absolutely, absolutely essential.
I mean when you look at the statistics around infertility
(03:38):
cases, you know 30% is going to be down to male factor alone,
which is the same representationas female factor alone and 50%
is a combined female male factor.
So it is as important that we look at male fertility as female
fertility. Obviously, it just doesn't get
the same light as female fertility does, which obviously
(03:59):
we're going to dive into today. If you look at the trajectory in
which male fertility is declining, it is declining at an
alarming rate. For the past 20 years, it's
steadily declining. And so that's also A cause for
concern of why potentially we'reseeing more infertility cases
compared to previously what we were seeing.
(04:20):
And I think the second part to the conversation is that, you
know, so much focus is obviouslyon the ability to conceive, but
we we want the pregnancy to be viable.
We want it to be healthy. We want the baby's life to be
healthy. And that all plays a role, like
male fertility all plays a role in those factors too.
(04:40):
So it extends so much just beyond that conception phase.
Yeah, that's so interesting. How far in advance should we be
preparing to have a baby in an ideal world?
In an ideal world it would look like three to six months, maybe
that six month period. When you start thinking about
it, you know, you start making the initial changes and then as
(05:03):
you get closer to actively trying to conceive, it looks
like it's a very well thought out plan of what you're trying
to do, what you're trying to address, and really getting to
those optimal levels of health to better support the fertility
process and then obviously the outcome too.
If you had like a dream client glide path sort of thing, what
(05:25):
would you recommend guys to be doing in that preparation?
Like are there some tests they should be doing to see what
they're health benchmark is? And then like what are the
lifestyle habits? Like what should we be doing
best case scenario? Yeah, 100%.
So a good blood check, which is not too far away from just like
(05:46):
a yearly blood check that most people should be doing anyway.
So really just taking those baseline health measures, really
looking at their micronutrient levels, if there's anything
going on within their body that they would need to specifically
address within that time. And then really looking at their
relationship with exercising andsupporting that to support
(06:06):
testosterone health. Really leaning into that
fertility based diet, which we can dive into as well.
But you know, really just looking at are we getting those
key nutrients that then going tosupport male fertility, support
testosterone health, And then maybe in the three months prior
you would start taking your malefertility supplements.
(06:26):
So you're in the best position to be able to kind of have a
head start on it. Sperm regenerates every 72 to 80
days. So that period beforehand
represents a really critical time that you can make these
changes to better support the sperm that's going to be
produced a couple of months later.
Interesting. How big of an impact is our
(06:49):
lifestyle and nutrition have AndI say we, I mean for guys, how
much of an impact does that haveon fertility?
It has a huge impact, right? Like, you know, what if you
think about sperm, it's, it's the production of what's going
in on within your body. And so all of your micronutrient
levels, what your inflammatory markers are, what your
(07:13):
testosterone health is, it's allgoing to have a really big
impact on to then the quality ofthe sperm that's being produced.
And absolutely, there are other factors that can go into
someone's journey, especially ifthey're going through male
infertility. There could be potentially, you
know, genetic reasons or chromosome abnormalities why
fertility is taking longer. There could be hormonal issues.
(07:37):
But if it is a hormonal issue, if it is a testosterone issue,
it is just the quality of sperm,your diet, your lifestyle, what
supplements you're going to takeis has a direct and a profound
impact on on the quality of sperm that's been produced.
Interesting, and I'm sure depending on that starting point
the kind of activities and food and nutrients that guys would
(08:01):
need would vary. But are there a few key things
that maybe all males should think about?
Eating, exercising, moving? Like are there a few kind of non
negotiables that everyone shouldconsider?
There is, and I think for me a large fact drawn what that is
determined to be is by looking at testosterone health and
(08:22):
supporting that. We want to make sure that, you
know, sleep is a conversation. A lot of men don't typically
have enough sleep or enough goodquality sleep.
And you know, I think in today'sworld, it's kind of put off as
this like luxury almost where itis a necessity.
And when you're looking at testosterone, we do want to make
sure that we've got adequate sleep and quality sleep within
(08:45):
that, which looks between like say 7 and 9 hours a night, you
know, person dependent. It is going to be supporting
that micronutrient load to be able to support the production
of sperm, of good quality sperm and of testosterone as well.
So making sure that we've got good quality zinc in the diet,
(09:07):
we've got good quality proteins,we've got good quality fats to
help make testosterone, we're having lots of anti-inflammatory
foods. We know that a major cause of
sub malfertility is down to inflammation, oxidative stress.
So part of the way to kind of support that is through having a
inflammatory, anti-inflammatory like a high antioxidant diet to
(09:29):
be able to support those areas. And then looking at adequate
exercise, which you know is really a combination of walking
or kind of not super intensive cardio workout, along with like
weight training, weight lifting,weight bearing exercise or
resistance training, getting adequate sunlight so vitamin D
(09:52):
levels are optimal, looking at exposure to environmental
toxins. All of these are going to play a
role. And I know we've spoken about
female fertility in the past. Stress can really impact from a
female perspective. Does it impact guys as well?
Yeah, 100 percent, 100%. And you're kind of looking at
for the same reasons, right? Like when we're going through
(10:14):
higher periods of stress, typically going to see that
elevated cortisol and cortisol, testosterone, they're all made
from the same building block. So your body's always going to
prioritize making cortisol. It keeps us running and alive,
but usually it has a knock on effect onto testosterone health.
And obviously we know as well when we're in our more stressful
times. It's also not when we're able to
(10:36):
look after ourselves to the samedegree.
And you start to see a lot of these other things that can
impact male fertility, such as exercise, such as diet, such as
sleep being impacted as well. Yeah, I know most people that
listen to Reset are really high achievers and when they set
themselves a goal that whether it's career or fitness or
(10:56):
whatever it might be, they'll run 1,000,000 miles an hour
towards it and they'll smash that goal.
So I think fertility should be treated in the same way.
I don't know if it always is from a male perspective.
So I think this conversation is really important to have.
But why do you think as a society we're still putting so
(11:16):
much pressure on ourselves as women?
And I think even the traditionalhealthcare system is also
putting that pressure on women to look at, well, why can't we
conceive yet? Or what supplements are you
taking? Or how do you sort of set
yourself up for success to be the best potential, like
(11:37):
breeding ground for a baby? Why are men still getting
missed? That's such a good question, and
it's honestly something that I think about quite a lot because
I'm constantly thinking, how canwe change this narrative, right?
I think it stems from many different factors.
I think it stems from the fact that, you know, up until Sammy
(11:58):
recently, even within the medical world, you know, female
sub fertility or infertility or sorry, infertility, sub
fertility was always put down tothe female side of it where it's
only kind of semi in the last, you know, decade, 2 decades,
that there's more and more research around the true impact
(12:18):
that male fertility does have onthe whole fertility journey.
Obviously then that is more at amedical level.
I think in a societal level, up until probably recently, there
was also this kind of narrative that if a man was struggling to
conceive that it was a, because you know, that their manhood and
their testosterone, it was this and this.
(12:40):
And there was so much, I guess ego wrapped up in that
conversation as well. And I think the way that this is
kind of stemming through to where we are today is that the
pitfalls that I find that most people are falling through is
that one male fertility is just tested too late.
So it's not until a couple has been trying to conceive for 12
(13:01):
months that they will even run asemen analysis, where I prefer
to do it much earlier than that because we always take a
preventative approach and a proactive approach, but it isn't
run until later. And typically even within that
conversation, it's like, let's look at what's going on with the
female 1st and if we can't find anything, then we'll look at the
(13:21):
male side where we know that's obviously not the right approach
to be able to support success within the journey or the health
of the baby anyway. And then once the levels of
testing do come back, they are incredibly low.
What is deemed normal? You know, without getting into
it too much, essentially these normal ranges change over time
(13:42):
and they reflect the health of the population over time.
They're not to say that this is a good level for fertility or a
good level that is going to helpyou make a beautiful baby.
They're saying actually you're within 95% of the population,
which we know that there's a bigdifference between that and
optimal health. And then even if something is
kind of brought up as being on the lower side, which is very
(14:05):
low, very little of the conversation is stemmed around,
OK, well, how can someone support that improving?
What are the next steps? What are the potential reasons
why it could be lower? And what do we do about this
number? It's almost like this is what it
is. So you're either in this
category of it's low, which is very low and this is what it is,
(14:26):
or it's low but you're inside the normal realm and then this
hallway pass is given where it'sOK.
Well, let's let's chat around the female again and what's
going on with them. So I think that is the main
pitfalls that I see. Yeah, that's so interesting and
makes total sense when you explain it like that.
(14:46):
And I think none of us would want to settle for being average
in other areas of our lives. So it makes, yeah, it's kind of
confusing why there's still so much complacency with wanting to
show up and create life and not put your best foot forward.
It is interesting and I would say that it's it's not just the
(15:09):
fact that maybe this is the man's position on it.
I would say that sometimes it islike this is the level of
information that they're being given and therefore they're
being told to be complacent. Like they're told that it's OK
where a lot of the men that I work with with, you know, that
they are in it with their partners.
They, they, they want it to happen.
(15:29):
And also they're watching their partner go through incredibly
invasive tests, you know, a lot of a lot of heartache along that
journey. And they did do want to be more
involved. It's almost like they're not
being supported to be able to dothat.
What advice would you give to someone who's listening in as a
male or as a female who has a partner that's a male?
(15:51):
And they do want to take that really proactive team approach
from the start. I know you said start planning
maybe six months in advance, three months in advance at a
minimum. If they're going to their GP and
asking for certain tests and they're saying don't worry about
it, we don't test guys for 12 months.
That's sort of very traditional backwards approach.
(16:13):
Should they be looking for additional support?
Should they be speaking to someone else?
How do they go about that ratherthan just accepting that is the
norm? I mean to be to begin with that
is the same approach that females have to go through.
So it is that push of you know you.
It has to be very self LED like the same way a woman would have
(16:37):
to approach this as well. But it is running the same
baseline testing which you know everyone should be getting at a
yearly basis anyway. Like maybe not the hormone a
panel, maybe not your semen analysis, but just your baseline
health. Everyone should be checking on a
yearly basis and then it is being there through the entire
(16:57):
process, you know, making the dietary changes like walking
into it with the right attitude of I want to optimize my health
as much as possible. Like looking at the ways that
you can support your lifetime to, to be able to facilitate
this. You know, looking at
implementing exercise, like getting good quality sleep, like
working on your health. And then if you are, I mean, as
(17:20):
I said, I prefer to test throughstatement analysis after around
six months of trying to conceive.
And if your doctor isn't willingto do that, which often there
can be flexibility around that, it's potentially looking at
doing it privately as well. But taking the same approach
that women do where it is about like optimizing your health.
And to a degree, there's no end step to that, right?
(17:42):
Like we're constantly striving to be the best.
We was constantly striving to bethe the healthiest and the
happiest versions of ours. And so we take the same approach
with male fertility too. Yeah, I love that.
What role do drugs and alcohol play on male fertility?
Yeah, they do play a big role onit.
I mean, obviously, right, Like they do, they are detrimental to
(18:03):
our health. They do impact many different
factors and it's the same with male fertility as well.
So they can drive inflammation, they can impact or increase
oxidative stress and damage, which as we kind of spoke about
isn't a major factor for sub male fertility.
And obviously if someone's kind of partaking in those
activities, again, the other ways in which they care for
(18:26):
themselves is generally reduced as well.
So generally, you see, like dietchange is happening, you know,
sleep quality going down, exercise going down, all of
these different things. Yeah, if anyone is looking for
just like a quick take away checklist of what to do.
I want to have a baby in the future.
(18:47):
How can I be the best version ofmyself?
What kind of takeaways do you want to leave them with today?
Yeah, I mean, I actually have a checklist that I can share with
you that they can download just.For free.
OK, we'll put that in the show. That's.
Step through it, but it is goingto be making sure that you're
getting enough good quality proteins and fat so you can
(19:07):
actually support testosterone being made.
It is trying to do a couple of walks a couple of times a week
combined with some weight training, weightlifting,
exercise, getting good quality sleep, making sure that you're
making your micronutrient needs really decreasing to minimal
(19:27):
alcohol and obviously no kind ofsmoking or drug use within that.
And then just trying to reduce exposure to endocrine disrupting
chemicals as well. And you mentioned right at the
start that male fertility on a total population level is kind
of decreasing over time. Do we know why?
(19:48):
Oh, there's so many different factors that would play into
this. I think the just the change in
lifestyle that we see or have seen in the last 20 years.
So obviously lifestyle now is more sedentary where before, you
know, men were getting out and it was more physical forms of
work, I guess would be increasedalcohol, drug use, steroid use
(20:11):
as well, overheating of the testicles.
So even like underwear choices? And how they've changed over the
last however long, just a decrease in overall health.
Yes, Saunas. Many, many different factors,
yeah. Yeah, so interesting.
And so I think for anyone who does go through the tests and
does find that maybe their spermhealth is not optimal, I think
(20:37):
that's a nice thing to kind of close this out with that it's
okay. Like it doesn't demasculate in
you. It is something that
unfortunately is becoming more and more common.
But there are things that we cando about it, which is really the
key message, right? Yeah, 100% anything.
(20:57):
Sometimes it's just like switching the narrative a little
bit from into like this is a problem and more of around that
proactive approach of actually this is something that I can
really make changes to better support.
And as I said, because firm regenerates every 72 to 80 days,
like that is a beautiful window of opportunity to change and
(21:19):
say, I'm going to be a little bit more committed to my health.
I'm going to go back to those foundations and if you've run a
semen and test before and it wasn't great, you get to run
another one in four months time and you can see those numbers
increase. And that is so motivating.
Yeah. So like, you get to see that
change and it's really tangible.And to be honest, if you are
(21:43):
consciously wanting to bring a baby into the world to show up
as your best self for four months, like you can do that.
100 percent, 100%. And I guess then we go back to
the very start of the conversation of it's not just
about conceiving. Like I get that that is the
forefront of the conversation ineveryone's mind.
(22:05):
But male fertility has the male fertility genes help to grow the
placenta, which will then impactespecially that first trimester
development as well. And there is an increased risk
of miscarriage which comes from male factor.
Things like preclamps, yeah, also impacted by male fertility.
(22:28):
And then the child's health through their life, their risk
factor for developing diseases as well through their life,
especially lifestyle impacted diseases will be increased
depending on male factor too. Grace, thank you.
It's always so insightful havingyou here on the couch with me
(22:48):
and I think people are going to go away learning a lot today.
If anyone's looking for tailoredadvice and wants to work with
you on their fertility journey, how can they get in touch?
Yeah, definitely. So best place to reach me is
probably just through Instagram,which I'm sure you can share
that as well, but just reach out.
I love a conversation, but just let me know where you're at with
(23:09):
everything and then we can chat through what those next steps
could look like. Beautiful Grace.
Thank you again. Perfect.
Thank you so much.
Hello and welcome back to Reset.As you guys know, this is a
podcast that takes all of the topics that are currently
swirling around our group chats and brings in experts to get
official opinions on them. This is a topic that I didn't
think we were going to be discussing on Reset, but it just
seems to be coming up a lot at the moment.
(00:25):
We are going to be talking aboutmale fertility, sperm health,
and all of the things that you can proactively do as a male
before trying to conceive. I couldn't think of anyone
better to bring back into the studio to discuss this.
Then my lovely friend Grace. Grace, welcome back.
Thank you. I'm so excited to be there.
(00:47):
Thanks. Thanks again for having me.
Yeah, I'm gonna link Grace's previous episode.
In the show notes, we talked about fertility on a whole and
mainly female skewed, but this episode is for the guys.
So Grace, for anyone who didn't get to meet her in our last
episode is a fertility nutritionist that specializes in
(01:07):
helping couples create life. And her client results are just
so beautiful. I love watching your Insta
stories every week. There's just all these positive
pregnancy tests coming through. And I know that typically the
clients that come and work with you, maybe they've been trying
to have a baby for a while or like things haven't been kind of
quote UN quote smooth and perfect.
(01:28):
So to get all of those positive results is just such a win.
So I know that you're going to have plenty of helpful tips for
us today. Grace, if someone has just tuned
in and they're not sure if they should bother listening and
learning about male fertility, can you tell me?
Just like, can you tell me why it's so important to care about
(01:51):
male sperm health? What does it actually do to your
baby, to your partner? Like why should people listen?
Yeah, really, really good question.
If you are wanting to conceive and you want that pregnancy to
be happy and healthy and you want to impact the baby's life,
then you should definitely listen to it.
We know obviously male factor isgoing to play a huge role on the
(02:12):
ability to conceive, but poor male factor fertility does
increase the risk of miscarriage.
It is the man's genes that helpsto build the placenta and also
helps facilitate how that placenta will function, which is
critical for how the the pregnancy will develop.
(02:33):
Things like preeclampsia are linked to male fertility too.
And then you can even look at the health of the baby through
their lifestyle through their life as well.
So and then you can even look atthings like the baby's health
through through their lifespan. And we know that the father's
epigenetic factors in the monthsleading up to conception will
(02:54):
impact their potential risk to developing diseases within their
life as well. OK, so anyone who's wanting to
show up as a great dad and a great partner should really be
listening to this and taking this beautiful, proactive
approach. OK, let's dive into it.
Let's start from the beginning though.
(03:16):
Is sperm quality, sperm health essential for making a healthy
baby? Can a guy just show up and do
his thing? Like, why?
Why should we be caring about this?
It is absolutely, absolutely essential.
I mean when you look at the statistics around infertility
(03:38):
cases, you know 30% is going to be down to male factor alone,
which is the same representationas female factor alone and 50%
is a combined female male factor.
So it is as important that we look at male fertility as female
fertility. Obviously, it just doesn't get
the same light as female fertility does, which obviously
(03:59):
we're going to dive into today. If you look at the trajectory in
which male fertility is declining, it is declining at an
alarming rate. For the past 20 years, it's
steadily declining. And so that's also A cause for
concern of why potentially we'reseeing more infertility cases
compared to previously what we were seeing.
(04:20):
And I think the second part to the conversation is that, you
know, so much focus is obviouslyon the ability to conceive, but
we we want the pregnancy to be viable.
We want it to be healthy. We want the baby's life to be
healthy. And that all plays a role, like
male fertility all plays a role in those factors too.
(04:40):
So it extends so much just beyond that conception phase.
Yeah, that's so interesting. How far in advance should we be
preparing to have a baby in an ideal world?
In an ideal world it would look like three to six months, maybe
that six month period. When you start thinking about
it, you know, you start making the initial changes and then as
(05:03):
you get closer to actively trying to conceive, it looks
like it's a very well thought out plan of what you're trying
to do, what you're trying to address, and really getting to
those optimal levels of health to better support the fertility
process and then obviously the outcome too.
If you had like a dream client glide path sort of thing, what
(05:25):
would you recommend guys to be doing in that preparation?
Like are there some tests they should be doing to see what
they're health benchmark is? And then like what are the
lifestyle habits? Like what should we be doing
best case scenario? Yeah, 100%.
So a good blood check, which is not too far away from just like
(05:46):
a yearly blood check that most people should be doing anyway.
So really just taking those baseline health measures, really
looking at their micronutrient levels, if there's anything
going on within their body that they would need to specifically
address within that time. And then really looking at their
relationship with exercising andsupporting that to support
(06:06):
testosterone health. Really leaning into that
fertility based diet, which we can dive into as well.
But you know, really just looking at are we getting those
key nutrients that then going tosupport male fertility, support
testosterone health, And then maybe in the three months prior
you would start taking your malefertility supplements.
(06:26):
So you're in the best position to be able to kind of have a
head start on it. Sperm regenerates every 72 to 80
days. So that period beforehand
represents a really critical time that you can make these
changes to better support the sperm that's going to be
produced a couple of months later.
Interesting. How big of an impact is our
(06:49):
lifestyle and nutrition have AndI say we, I mean for guys, how
much of an impact does that haveon fertility?
It has a huge impact, right? Like, you know, what if you
think about sperm, it's, it's the production of what's going
in on within your body. And so all of your micronutrient
levels, what your inflammatory markers are, what your
(07:13):
testosterone health is, it's allgoing to have a really big
impact on to then the quality ofthe sperm that's being produced.
And absolutely, there are other factors that can go into
someone's journey, especially ifthey're going through male
infertility. There could be potentially, you
know, genetic reasons or chromosome abnormalities why
fertility is taking longer. There could be hormonal issues.
(07:37):
But if it is a hormonal issue, if it is a testosterone issue,
it is just the quality of sperm,your diet, your lifestyle, what
supplements you're going to takeis has a direct and a profound
impact on on the quality of sperm that's been produced.
Interesting, and I'm sure depending on that starting point
the kind of activities and food and nutrients that guys would
(08:01):
need would vary. But are there a few key things
that maybe all males should think about?
Eating, exercising, moving? Like are there a few kind of non
negotiables that everyone shouldconsider?
There is, and I think for me a large fact drawn what that is
determined to be is by looking at testosterone health and
(08:22):
supporting that. We want to make sure that, you
know, sleep is a conversation. A lot of men don't typically
have enough sleep or enough goodquality sleep.
And you know, I think in today'sworld, it's kind of put off as
this like luxury almost where itis a necessity.
And when you're looking at testosterone, we do want to make
sure that we've got adequate sleep and quality sleep within
(08:45):
that, which looks between like say 7 and 9 hours a night, you
know, person dependent. It is going to be supporting
that micronutrient load to be able to support the production
of sperm, of good quality sperm and of testosterone as well.
So making sure that we've got good quality zinc in the diet,
(09:07):
we've got good quality proteins,we've got good quality fats to
help make testosterone, we're having lots of anti-inflammatory
foods. We know that a major cause of
sub malfertility is down to inflammation, oxidative stress.
So part of the way to kind of support that is through having a
inflammatory, anti-inflammatory like a high antioxidant diet to
(09:29):
be able to support those areas. And then looking at adequate
exercise, which you know is really a combination of walking
or kind of not super intensive cardio workout, along with like
weight training, weight lifting,weight bearing exercise or
resistance training, getting adequate sunlight so vitamin D
(09:52):
levels are optimal, looking at exposure to environmental
toxins. All of these are going to play a
role. And I know we've spoken about
female fertility in the past. Stress can really impact from a
female perspective. Does it impact guys as well?
Yeah, 100 percent, 100%. And you're kind of looking at
for the same reasons, right? Like when we're going through
(10:14):
higher periods of stress, typically going to see that
elevated cortisol and cortisol, testosterone, they're all made
from the same building block. So your body's always going to
prioritize making cortisol. It keeps us running and alive,
but usually it has a knock on effect onto testosterone health.
And obviously we know as well when we're in our more stressful
times. It's also not when we're able to
(10:36):
look after ourselves to the samedegree.
And you start to see a lot of these other things that can
impact male fertility, such as exercise, such as diet, such as
sleep being impacted as well. Yeah, I know most people that
listen to Reset are really high achievers and when they set
themselves a goal that whether it's career or fitness or
(10:56):
whatever it might be, they'll run 1,000,000 miles an hour
towards it and they'll smash that goal.
So I think fertility should be treated in the same way.
I don't know if it always is from a male perspective.
So I think this conversation is really important to have.
But why do you think as a society we're still putting so
(11:16):
much pressure on ourselves as women?
And I think even the traditionalhealthcare system is also
putting that pressure on women to look at, well, why can't we
conceive yet? Or what supplements are you
taking? Or how do you sort of set
yourself up for success to be the best potential, like
(11:37):
breeding ground for a baby? Why are men still getting
missed? That's such a good question, and
it's honestly something that I think about quite a lot because
I'm constantly thinking, how canwe change this narrative, right?
I think it stems from many different factors.
I think it stems from the fact that, you know, up until Sammy
(11:58):
recently, even within the medical world, you know, female
sub fertility or infertility or sorry, infertility, sub
fertility was always put down tothe female side of it where it's
only kind of semi in the last, you know, decade, 2 decades,
that there's more and more research around the true impact
(12:18):
that male fertility does have onthe whole fertility journey.
Obviously then that is more at amedical level.
I think in a societal level, up until probably recently, there
was also this kind of narrative that if a man was struggling to
conceive that it was a, because you know, that their manhood and
their testosterone, it was this and this.
(12:40):
And there was so much, I guess ego wrapped up in that
conversation as well. And I think the way that this is
kind of stemming through to where we are today is that the
pitfalls that I find that most people are falling through is
that one male fertility is just tested too late.
So it's not until a couple has been trying to conceive for 12
(13:01):
months that they will even run asemen analysis, where I prefer
to do it much earlier than that because we always take a
preventative approach and a proactive approach, but it isn't
run until later. And typically even within that
conversation, it's like, let's look at what's going on with the
female 1st and if we can't find anything, then we'll look at the
(13:21):
male side where we know that's obviously not the right approach
to be able to support success within the journey or the health
of the baby anyway. And then once the levels of
testing do come back, they are incredibly low.
What is deemed normal? You know, without getting into
it too much, essentially these normal ranges change over time
(13:42):
and they reflect the health of the population over time.
They're not to say that this is a good level for fertility or a
good level that is going to helpyou make a beautiful baby.
They're saying actually you're within 95% of the population,
which we know that there's a bigdifference between that and
optimal health. And then even if something is
kind of brought up as being on the lower side, which is very
(14:05):
low, very little of the conversation is stemmed around,
OK, well, how can someone support that improving?
What are the next steps? What are the potential reasons
why it could be lower? And what do we do about this
number? It's almost like this is what it
is. So you're either in this
category of it's low, which is very low and this is what it is,
(14:26):
or it's low but you're inside the normal realm and then this
hallway pass is given where it'sOK.
Well, let's let's chat around the female again and what's
going on with them. So I think that is the main
pitfalls that I see. Yeah, that's so interesting and
makes total sense when you explain it like that.
(14:46):
And I think none of us would want to settle for being average
in other areas of our lives. So it makes, yeah, it's kind of
confusing why there's still so much complacency with wanting to
show up and create life and not put your best foot forward.
It is interesting and I would say that it's it's not just the
(15:09):
fact that maybe this is the man's position on it.
I would say that sometimes it islike this is the level of
information that they're being given and therefore they're
being told to be complacent. Like they're told that it's OK
where a lot of the men that I work with with, you know, that
they are in it with their partners.
They, they, they want it to happen.
(15:29):
And also they're watching their partner go through incredibly
invasive tests, you know, a lot of a lot of heartache along that
journey. And they did do want to be more
involved. It's almost like they're not
being supported to be able to dothat.
What advice would you give to someone who's listening in as a
male or as a female who has a partner that's a male?
(15:51):
And they do want to take that really proactive team approach
from the start. I know you said start planning
maybe six months in advance, three months in advance at a
minimum. If they're going to their GP and
asking for certain tests and they're saying don't worry about
it, we don't test guys for 12 months.
That's sort of very traditional backwards approach.
(16:13):
Should they be looking for additional support?
Should they be speaking to someone else?
How do they go about that ratherthan just accepting that is the
norm? I mean to be to begin with that
is the same approach that females have to go through.
So it is that push of you know you.
It has to be very self LED like the same way a woman would have
(16:37):
to approach this as well. But it is running the same
baseline testing which you know everyone should be getting at a
yearly basis anyway. Like maybe not the hormone a
panel, maybe not your semen analysis, but just your baseline
health. Everyone should be checking on a
yearly basis and then it is being there through the entire
(16:57):
process, you know, making the dietary changes like walking
into it with the right attitude of I want to optimize my health
as much as possible. Like looking at the ways that
you can support your lifetime to, to be able to facilitate
this. You know, looking at
implementing exercise, like getting good quality sleep, like
working on your health. And then if you are, I mean, as
(17:20):
I said, I prefer to test throughstatement analysis after around
six months of trying to conceive.
And if your doctor isn't willingto do that, which often there
can be flexibility around that, it's potentially looking at
doing it privately as well. But taking the same approach
that women do where it is about like optimizing your health.
And to a degree, there's no end step to that, right?
(17:42):
Like we're constantly striving to be the best.
We was constantly striving to bethe the healthiest and the
happiest versions of ours. And so we take the same approach
with male fertility too. Yeah, I love that.
What role do drugs and alcohol play on male fertility?
Yeah, they do play a big role onit.
I mean, obviously, right, Like they do, they are detrimental to
(18:03):
our health. They do impact many different
factors and it's the same with male fertility as well.
So they can drive inflammation, they can impact or increase
oxidative stress and damage, which as we kind of spoke about
isn't a major factor for sub male fertility.
And obviously if someone's kind of partaking in those
activities, again, the other ways in which they care for
(18:26):
themselves is generally reduced as well.
So generally, you see, like dietchange is happening, you know,
sleep quality going down, exercise going down, all of
these different things. Yeah, if anyone is looking for
just like a quick take away checklist of what to do.
I want to have a baby in the future.
(18:47):
How can I be the best version ofmyself?
What kind of takeaways do you want to leave them with today?
Yeah, I mean, I actually have a checklist that I can share with
you that they can download just.For free.
OK, we'll put that in the show. That's.
Step through it, but it is goingto be making sure that you're
getting enough good quality proteins and fat so you can
(19:07):
actually support testosterone being made.
It is trying to do a couple of walks a couple of times a week
combined with some weight training, weightlifting,
exercise, getting good quality sleep, making sure that you're
making your micronutrient needs really decreasing to minimal
(19:27):
alcohol and obviously no kind ofsmoking or drug use within that.
And then just trying to reduce exposure to endocrine disrupting
chemicals as well. And you mentioned right at the
start that male fertility on a total population level is kind
of decreasing over time. Do we know why?
(19:48):
Oh, there's so many different factors that would play into
this. I think the just the change in
lifestyle that we see or have seen in the last 20 years.
So obviously lifestyle now is more sedentary where before, you
know, men were getting out and it was more physical forms of
work, I guess would be increasedalcohol, drug use, steroid use
(20:11):
as well, overheating of the testicles.
So even like underwear choices? And how they've changed over the
last however long, just a decrease in overall health.
Yes, Saunas. Many, many different factors,
yeah. Yeah, so interesting.
And so I think for anyone who does go through the tests and
does find that maybe their spermhealth is not optimal, I think
(20:37):
that's a nice thing to kind of close this out with that it's
okay. Like it doesn't demasculate in
you. It is something that
unfortunately is becoming more and more common.
But there are things that we cando about it, which is really the
key message, right? Yeah, 100% anything.
(20:57):
Sometimes it's just like switching the narrative a little
bit from into like this is a problem and more of around that
proactive approach of actually this is something that I can
really make changes to better support.
And as I said, because firm regenerates every 72 to 80 days,
like that is a beautiful window of opportunity to change and
(21:19):
say, I'm going to be a little bit more committed to my health.
I'm going to go back to those foundations and if you've run a
semen and test before and it wasn't great, you get to run
another one in four months time and you can see those numbers
increase. And that is so motivating.
Yeah. So like, you get to see that
change and it's really tangible.And to be honest, if you are
(21:43):
consciously wanting to bring a baby into the world to show up
as your best self for four months, like you can do that.
100 percent, 100%. And I guess then we go back to
the very start of the conversation of it's not just
about conceiving. Like I get that that is the
forefront of the conversation ineveryone's mind.
(22:05):
But male fertility has the male fertility genes help to grow the
placenta, which will then impactespecially that first trimester
development as well. And there is an increased risk
of miscarriage which comes from male factor.
Things like preclamps, yeah, also impacted by male fertility.
(22:28):
And then the child's health through their life, their risk
factor for developing diseases as well through their life,
especially lifestyle impacted diseases will be increased
depending on male factor too. Grace, thank you.
It's always so insightful havingyou here on the couch with me
(22:48):
and I think people are going to go away learning a lot today.
If anyone's looking for tailoredadvice and wants to work with
you on their fertility journey, how can they get in touch?
Yeah, definitely. So best place to reach me is
probably just through Instagram,which I'm sure you can share
that as well, but just reach out.
I love a conversation, but just let me know where you're at with
(23:09):
everything and then we can chat through what those next steps
could look like. Beautiful Grace.
Thank you again. Perfect.
Thank you so much.
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