How to Increase Sperm Count After Steroid Use (Methods & Tips)

If you’ve ever used steroids to bulk up, you’re probably used to hearing that they can lower your sperm count and affect your sperm production.

This may not seem like an issue if you aren’t trying to conceive, but sperm production is an important part of sexual and physical health.

Healthy sperm count is associated with healthy erections, semen volume, and overall fertility.

Low sperm count is linked to a variety of negative health conditions and abnormal hormonal levels.

Increasing your sperm count won’t just improve your sexual health, but it can also mitigate some of the long-lasting effects that steroid use can have on your overall physical health.

So, if you’ve used steroids, it may be wise to look at how to increase sperm count after steroid use.

This article will explain all the ways in which steroids affect sperm count and look at methods for increasing sperm production after steroid use.

What this article covers:

How Do Steroids Affect Sperm Count?
How to Increase Sperm Count?

How Do Steroids Affect Sperm Count?

Increased Testosterone

Steroid use often focuses on increasing testosterone levels in men. For this reason, the brain is tricked into thinking that more testosterone is being produced than is actually there.

This reduces the brain’s ability to signal the testicles that sperm needs to be produced, leading to a lower sperm count in men. Sperm production can even become absent with testosterone use.

Decreased Testicular Function

Chronic steroid use can also decrease testicular function over time. This is known as “steroid-induced hypogonadism”.

In these cases, the Leydig cells in the testes, which plays a critical role in the production of sperm, may become permanently impaired due to long-term steroid use.

These results are supported by a study that analyzed testicular function among former steroid users and current steroid users when compared to men who never used steroids.

The results confirmed a long-lasting decrease in testicular function due to prolonged use of steroids.

Hormone Inhibition

The use of anabolic steroids also has an effect on the hormones that regulate the male reproductive system. Specifically, the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH).

Steroids inhibit the secretion of these hormones, leaving the body unable to produce sperm.

This not only leads to a decrease in sperm count but also a decrease in the concentration of the sperm that’s produced, which is a key determinant of fertility and sexual health.

Lower Sperm Quality

Steroid use has also been linked to a decrease in the quality of the sperm that’s produced.

For example, a study that followed users of steroids found that only 17% of men who used anabolic steroids had morphologically normal sperm.

This suggests that the majority of steroid users presented with abnormal sperm.

The morphology of sperm is a key indicator of the quality of the sperm that is produced and is also a key determinant of male fertility.

For this reason, steroid users have also experienced infertility as a long-term negative side effect of steroid use.

Other Side Effects of Steroid Use

Apart from lower sperm count, steroid use has been associated with a variety of other health concerns.

Due to the effects of steroid use on the hormone system, side effects such as enlarged breast tissue, male pattern baldness, testicular cancer, and shrinking testicles have been noted.

It’s also been linked to acne, cysts, and oily skin.

In addition to this, it affects the cardiovascular system and has led to high blood pressure as well as blood clots. It also puts individuals at risk for heart attack and stroke.

There are also some psychiatric side effects such as mania, aggression, and delusions.

How Long Do The Side Effects of Steroid Use Persist?

For the most part, cessation of steroid use can lead to a reversal of some of the associated hormonal and physical changes.

This usually happens about 4 months to a year after discontinuing steroid use, but this varies from person to person.

In some cases, you need to put in additional effort to reverse some of the side effects and increase your sperm count levels after chronic steroid use.

The good news is that you’re constantly regenerating new sperm and it can be replenished naturally. If you look at how many sperm are produced in a day, the healthy range exceeds one billion.

And how long do men produce sperm? Well, it takes about 2 months for sperm to reach full maturity when looking at the normal amount of sperm production, and men have been known to produce sperm well into their twilight years.

So, the body knows how to produce sperm and does so every day without you even knowing.

Sometimes a few minor adjustments can ensure that your sperm production returns to normal.

How to Increase Sperm Count?

Exercise

A healthy lifestyle is the first key factor in boosting sperm quality and quantity. For many overweight people, exercise has been positively associated with an increase in sperm count.

This can vary from moderate cardiovascular exercise or strength training. Aim for about 30 minutes three times a week.

The important thing to remember is that exercise should be used as a supplementary remedy alongside a healthy diet and lifestyle if you want to see positive changes to your sperm production.

These healthy lifestyle changes boost sperm production, but they also have other benefits like making sperm thicker and stronger.

Diet

In conjunction with exercise, a healthy diet has also been promoted as a key factor for increasing sperm count.

A balanced diet includes all key nutrients and emphasizes a healthy balance of fats, proteins, carbohydrates, and green vegetables.

There are certain foods that can increase sperm count that can also be included in your diet like celery, oysters, and other zinc-rich foods.

However, it’s often difficult to get enough supplements through diet alone, which is why some men opt for supplements.

Take Supplements

Supplements are one of the best ways to increase your sperm count naturally.

There’s a variety of natural supplements that have been positively associated with increases in sperm count.

Vitamin D is one vitamin that’s been recommended for better sperm production.

There are also natural remedies such as fenugreek and ashwagandha that have been linked to increased sperm production, semen volume, and sexual health.

Zinc and folic acid are also two supplements that have been linked with better sperm production.

With so many supplements to choose from, it can be hard to find the right balance. Nobody wants to drink a handful of pills each morning.

Luckily, you can choose to opt for a supplement that contains everything you need to promote your sexual health.

This is why we love Semenax, a targeted supplement full of all the extracts you require to improve your sexual health.

You can even buy Semenax online, and with results in as little as two weeks, you would be hard-pressed to find an easier way solution to some of the adverse effects of prolonged steroid use.

Abstain From Alcohol, Drugs, and Smoking

Apart from including more healthy habits in your lifestyle, you should also focus on avoiding some negative habits that may adversely affect your sperm count and sperm quality.

Excessive alcohol consumption, smoking, and the use of marijuana and cocaine have all been linked to decreased sperm production.

So, if you are focused on increasing your sperm production, you want to steer clear of these altogether.

Avoid Medications

There are also a wide array of medications to avoid if you want to increase your sperm health.

This is because many prescribed meds can decrease sperm production, no matter how healthy your lifestyle is.

These medications include certain antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, and opiates.

You also want to stay away from any medication that includes testosterone, as this may affect your sperm production in the same way that anabolic steroids do.

Seek Guidance

Sometimes, it can be hard to reverse the effects of steroid use. In some cases, it can also be difficult to increase sperm count and fertility with the remedies above.

This is because sperm production is dependent on a variety of physical and hormonal interactions and can be linked back to a variety of different causes.

In this case, you may want to consult a physician to hear about fertility treatments.

If you’re unable to increase your sperm production, there are a variety of other fertility treatments that can increase your chances of conceiving.

Of course, increasing your sperm count has many other benefits, apart from fertility.

It’s an important factor in having a healthy sex life, and maintaining healthy erections and is often associated with normal semen volume.

For this reason, you may want to look at some of the ways to increase sperm count, even if the goal isn’t necessarily fertility.

This is because a healthy sperm count can contribute to your overall physical and sexual health all the while boosting your fertility and chances of conceiving as well.

You never know when you may want to start a family in the future and when it comes to sperm count it’s best to address the problem as soon as you can.

Conclusion

So, the good news is that the negative side effects of steroid use are often reversible, especially when it comes to sperm count.

There are many natural ways to increase your sperm count without even having to see a physician.

However, if the goal is to increase fertility, you may want to seek medical counsel.

The important thing to remember is that a healthy sperm count contributes to your overall health and its benefits extend beyond fertility.

For this reason, it’s worthwhile to ensure that it’s within the normal range after prolonged steroid use.

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