Submitted by Shelby D Burns Wed 09/26/2012
It’s true that smoking marijuana makes sperm less fertile – whether it’s the man or the woman who is doing the smoking. A study of college age marijuana smoking men found that not only did the men get high, but so did their sperm. Stoned sperm jump the gun “Marijuana-smoking men’s sperm are hyper. They are way out there,” Lani J. Burkman, PhD, director of andrology at the University of buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. “They already have begun the vigorous swimming called hyperactivation. Sperm should be quiet at first. They should be waiting to be washed into the cervix and approach the egg before they start hyperactivation.” Don’t think of it as a head start “It is not a heard start. They are going to blow it,” Burkman continued. “They’re too fast, too early. Each individual sperm can maintain this swimming only so long, only several hours. Then it poops out. If it has run out of hyperactivation before it gets close t the egg, it will not fertilize. These sperm are going to burn out.” Timing is everything and it has to be perfect “The reason men have millions of sperm is because the fertility process is more difficult than people think,” said Celia E. Dominguez, MD, of the Center for Reproductive Medicine at Emory University. “The whole process of ascending up the tract to the fallopian tubes and gen finding the egg is delicately balanced.” Tired sperm don’t have a chance. Females smokers provide a contact high THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, can be found in the vaginal fluids of women who smoke. This means sperm achieve a contact high while trying to make it to their target. If you are looking to get pregnant, both men and women need to avoid marijuana use.
