Sperm may have become as lazy as the men who produce them, boffins have found.
Academics had believed counts were dropping across the planet resulting in a birth rate slow down. But new research shows levels may not have dropped.
Instead – like many of the blokes who produce them – sperm just cannot be bothered to move. Experts blame “changes in working patterns, diet and levels of physical activity” since lockdown for sperm stopping swimming.
That means they are simply not trying as hard to fertilise eggs. Researchers analysed data from 6,758 Danish men applying to be donors at the world’s largest sperm bank Cryos International.
The study – by the universities of Manchester and Queen’s in Kingston, Canada, published in the journal Human Reproduction – showed the average sperm concentration has not significantly changed in the past six years.
But their motility, ability to swim, has dropped. Co-author Professor Robert Montgomerie said: “The decline in measures of sperm motility between 2019 and 2022 was an unexpected finding.
