All Men Should Consider Sperm Freezing. Here’s Why.

How Does Sperm Freezing Work?

Sperm freezing involves a few steps. The first is to get a blood test to check for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), which can damage sperm health. 

Then comes the money shot: collecting a sample. Masturbating at fertility clinics usually mirrors Kteily’s experience, with time limits, dogeared magazines, and a private but sterile mood. 

Or, you can go through an at-home cryobank like Legacy, and collect your sample at home, then send it off to the lab for analysis. 

Lab techs (they’re called Sperm Spinners at Legacy) conduct a full semen analysis to check sperm motility (i.e. are your sperm actually swimming) and morphology (the correct size and shape). 

If your swimmers are healthy, they’ll be locked up in cryostorage until you need them. Typically,  scientists add a cryoprotectant to prevent cold damage before plunging sperm into liquid nitrogen at a brisk -196 degrees Celsius. Wim Hof would be proud.

When you’re ready to use your sperm, you can request to withdraw your vials and have them sent to a fertility clinic of your choice. If you’re using Legacy, it takes about two weeks for your sample to be delivered to your doctor. Then your provider will help you choose between conception options like intrauterine insemination (IUI), in vitro fertilization (IVF), or IVF with intracytoplasmic sperm injection. 

Why Should You Freeze Your Sperm?

Sperm quality declines with age

Celebrities like Robert De Niro are still having kids at 79. But that doesn’t mean impregnating your partner will be easy if you wait to have kids. 

Sperm quality peaks around age 30 to 35, and starts to rapidly decline after 40, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This dip makes it harder to get your partner pregnant, and could also affect the health of your offspring.

“We think that men don’t have to worry about all of the stuff because we’re just going around, you know, popping sperm off left, right and center. But the reality is quite different,” Kteily told Alam. “Advanced paternal age, which is older dads, is associated with higher rates of infertility, higher rates of miscarriage, and just not being able to conceive with your partner for so much longer.”

Global sperm levels are dropping—fast

Global sperm counts have declined over 60 percent in the past 50 years (1)—a trend that doesn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon.

Chemicals like BPAs and phthalates, which are found in common household items like laundry detergent, may be slashing sperm counts, according to a review published in 2022 in the American Journal of Men’s Health (2). Studies on mice also found a potential link between long-term microplastic exposure and reduced testosterone levels and sexual dysfunction (3). 

“There is no question about the trend line, and whether sperm counts are going down. This is affecting people’s ability to have kids,” Kteily says, pointing to evidence that suggests that the prevalence of microplastics like BPAs and phthalates could play a role.

You want to start TRT 

Testosterone replacement therapy can boost your sex life by increasing libido and endurance, but TRT can hamper fertility  (4).

“When you think about it, you think about testosterone and vitality, and how it makes you feel, you would assume that [TRT will] increase your sperm count and quality,” says Alam. “The reality is the total opposite.”

When you detect a decline in testosterone levels, it signals the pituitary gland to release two hormones: luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). This sends your testes a signal to start making sperm.

When you start TRT, this process gets disrupted. Your brain senses an abundance of testosterone and no longer sends the signals that start the chain of events needed to make sperm.

If you plan on having kids, it’s a good idea to bank your sperm before starting TRT.