Infertility is the inability of an individual to contribute towards conception. Statistics show that over 6 million couples are infertile and almost 40% of is due to male infertility. This article explains some of the commonest reasons that contribute towards infertility males.

However, we must note that the above definition of infertility may not be solid enough for one to understand if he is infertile or whether it is just a matter of wrong timing. When looked into the concept more specifically, a man can identify himself as infertile if he is unable to make a fertile woman conceive for a period of 1-1½ years after well-timed, unprotected sexual intercourse with her.

Infertility male is usually due to the lack of healthy sperms in his reproductive track, but there are several other reasons to this too. All of the common infertility male problems can be broken down into three categories for ease the of understanding.

1. Pre testicular factors

These include lack of sex hormones and poor overall health in a man. Smoking, drugs and alcohol are the three leading killers of male sperm. In addition, the condition of hypogonadism, which refers to the malfunctioning of gonads that will interfere with the amounts of hormones released, is also a common cause of infertility male. Since hypogonadism shows highly distinguishable symptoms, one can understand if he suffers from the condition easily. Some of the commonest symptoms of hypogonadism when it comes to infertility males, include, lowered sexual desire, fatigue, inability to have an erection, loss/ gain of weight abnormally, personality problems and mental depression.

Engaging in activities that will cause pressure to be applied on the genital areas, such as excessive bike or horseback riding can also result in male infertility in the long run. Also, heavy doses of medication including steroids and spironolactone, excessive usage of nutritional supplements and long term exposure to chemicals can cause the hormonal levels to change

2. Testicular factors

These are factors that cause infertility males, due to the poor quality of sperm even if adequate hormones are being produced in his body. Age is the number one factor in infertility male and this is indeed unavoidable. In fact, men above 45 years of age are very much unlikely to produce healthy babies. Abnormality in his genes, conditions such as seminoma, acrosomal defects in the sperm such as their inability to penetrate the egg, diseases like malaria and some traumatic experience he have had that result in malfunctioning of his sperm ducts are other testicular factors for infertility males.

3. Post-testicular factors

Post testicular factors include defects of the male genital system. This may result in the inability to ejaculate due to numerous reasons. Infections in the reproductive system, impotence, problems in the ejaculatory ducts, lack of Vas Deferens and having anti-sperm antibodies in the body are some of the common post testicular factors that cause infertility in males.