Daily sex for a week can increase conception chances

DAILY sex keeps a man’s sperm spry and is recommended for couples wanting a baby, research has shown.

Having regular sex clears sperm from the testicles and prevents the natural build-up of DNA damage, scientists have found.

The Australian experts said would-be fathers should have sex once a day for a week before their partner is ready to conceive.

Overdoing the advice and having sex more often risked the man’s sperm count falling too far.

Fertility doctors disagree about whether or not men should refrain from sex for a few days before their partner ovulates.

Men undergoing in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment are routinely told to stop having sex.

The reason for abstinence is that frequent sex causes a drop in sperm count – the number of sperm produced in each ejaculation.

But the new research suggests that daily sex can increase the chance of conception.

DNA damage lessened in the sperm of men having daily sex as “old” sperm was cleared away.

Daily sex also seemed to make the sperm more active, or motile – which is known to improve fertility.

Damage to sperm DNA is mainly due to destructive oxygen molecules generated naturally by cells in the body.

Dr David Greening, from the Sydney IVF clinic in Wollongong, said: “Keeping the river flowing means the sperm doesn’t hang around so long and become damaged.

“We advise couples to try to work out when the woman’s ovulating and have lots of sex.”

Dr Greening’s team studied 118 men who had higher than normal DNA damage to their sperm, as assessed by the DNA Fragmentation Index (DFI).

Men who had more than 15% of their sperm damaged were eligible for the trial.

At the Sydney clinic, a DFI of less than 15% is defined as “excellent quality” sperm, while 15% to 24% is rated as “good”, 25% to 29% “fair” and more than 29% “poor”.

Levels of DNA damage among the study participants ranged between 15% and 98% at the start of the trial, averaging at 34%.

The men were instructed to ejaculate daily for seven days and recommended no other treatments or lifestyle changes.

On the seventh day, 96 men (81%) were found to have experienced an average 12% decrease in sperm DNA damage.

A minority of 22 men, or 19%, suffered an almost 10% increase in damage. However, average DFI for the whole group had dropped to 26%.