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Quick Fact: It
takes approximately 72-90 days to produce mature sperm. Sperm
is produced 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
There are many
factors that can decrease or cease sperm production. Here are
a few:
-
Illness
-
Excessive
Caffeine
-
Stress
-
Street and
certain Prescription Drugs
-
Some over the
counter medications
-
Injury to the
testicles
-
Blockage in
the Vas Deferens
-
Varicocele
-
Excessive
Heat
-
Vitamin
Deficiencies
There also
natural ways to increase sperm count and quality. Normal semen
values outlined below:
|
PARAMETER |
MINIMUM VALUE
|
|
Volume (mL) |
2.0
|
|
Sperm
Concentration (million/mL) |
20
|
|
Motility
(%) |
50
|
|
Forward
Progression (0-4) |
3
|
|
Normal
Morphology (%) (WHO) |
30
|
|
Normal
Morphology (%) (Strict) |
14
|
|
Total
Sperm Count (million) |
40
|
|
Total
Motile Sperm (million) |
20
|
|
Total
Functional Sperm (million) |
6
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Impotency:
Impotence is
the inability of a man either to have an erection or to keep
the penis erect long enough to have sexual intercourse. This
is a common problem affecting as many as 10 million men in the
United States. By the time most men are 40 they have already
experienced impotence at some time in their lives.
When just a
single incident occurs, the best thing to do is forget about
it. Problems arise when this difficulty starts occurring
regularly.
According to an
article published in early 1993 (review: Morley, 1993),
approximately 10 million men in the U.S. have problems with
impotence.
Men afflicted
with repeated impotence tend to be middle-aged and older, with
such a condition most common in men 60 years of age and older.
Regardless of the age, however, many men who have this problem
can be treated successfully.
Impotence can
result from a wide variety of problems. As with any other
ailment, when a person begins having this problem repeatedly,
he needs to see a doctor. The doctor will want to rule out the
possibility of disease, injury, or side effects from medicine.
For example,
cardiovascular problems, diabetes, injuries to the spinal
column, and side effects from high blood pressure medicine are
among the physical conditions that can lead to impotence. An
erection occurs when the nervous system activates a rapid
increase in blood flow. The vascular muscle in the spongy area
becomes engorged with blood and outflow of blood is cutoff.
Erection can be elicited by the so-called reflex erection as
we see in spinal cord patients, or can be caused by
psychogenic stimulation. Numerous sexual stimuli are processed
by the brain and transmitted to the penis via the nervous
system. In order to get an erection, the blood flow must
increase and, at the same time, the blood has to be prevented
from leaving the penis.
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