Sperm Life Cycle

Source of image: https://tinyurl.com/yddxt6s7

Many millions of sperm are produced each day in the testicles. Their number one function is to procreate with an egg. Once sperm is formed, it can take anywhere from two to three months to "fully" mature. When first create, they lack the ability to swim or propel themselves forward. 

If a person has a poor lifestyle (poor diet, poor exercise habits, is a smoker and drinks alcohol regularly to the point of excess, etc.) then this can negatively impact the quality of the sperm. Once a person "cleans up" their lifestyle, it can take about three months for the sperm to return to being "top quality" sperm. If the testicles are acutely (shortly) exposed to a very hot environment (hot tub, sauna, very hot weather, etc.) this can also negatively affect the sperm (so having sex in this kind of environment can weaken the quality of sperm that comes out of the body). Different prescriptions can also potentially affect sperm quality and quantity. For this reason, please consult your prescriber about your concerns if this is a concern for you.

A person, once they hit puberty, can produce and ejaculate sperm all their life. However, generally speaking the overall quality of one's sperm tends to go down around age 40-45 (all depends on the individual). For this reason, it is generally not recommended to try to get someone pregnant post this age (if you are the sperm maker/holder) because it increases the risk of birth defects and other issues. 

Once inside a vagina, the sperm itself can survive about 3-5 days if it does not reach the egg and achieve fertilization. If the sperm enters the body orally the sperm may last a few hours at most. There does not seem to be a scientific consensus for how long sperm would survive if it does into the anus. After these time periods, the sperm dies and the body will either dissolve it or be rid of it (for example some white blood cells will literally consume the sperm and dissolve them inside their cellular bodies). 

There are some variations of sperm, most of which indicate unhealthy sperm (please note that these tend to be individual issues to individual sperm cells, there is a large natural variation to the size and shape of sperm cells in a person's own body):

• Macrocephaly (aka "large headed sperm" that can cause too many chromosomes when fertilizing an egg)
• Microcephaly (aka "small headed sperm" that can cause the inability for these specific sperm cells to properly fertilize an egg)
• Headless sperm (since they have no head there is no ability for these specific sperm cells to properly fertilize an egg)
• Two headed sperm (this can cause an issue with fertility since they normally don't swim fast enough to fertilize an egg)
• Multiple tails (this can cause potentially miscarriages or produce problems during pregnancy since multiple tails are often associated with large headed sperm {"macrocephaly"})

It is important to note that of the many sperm produced in a person's testes, about 15% are perfectly healthy. For this reason, having "abnormal" sperm cells are very common. 

To learn more about the life cycle of sperm, please consider taking a look at these links below! (Note: This is also where I found the information to supplement this article).

• "The Life Cycle of Sperm Development": https://www.shadygrovefertility.com/blog/fertility-health/fertility-facts-sperm-regeneration/
• "What's the lifespan of sperm after ejaculation?": https://www.oviahealth.com/guide/183/how-long-do-sperm-live
• "What Happens to Sperm Once They're Inside a Woman?" https://gizmodo.com/what-happens-to-sperm-once-theyre-inside-a-woman-1716992251
• "Sperm Morphology!" https://www.londonspermbank.com/blog/what-the-shape-of-your-sperm-says-about-you/
• "How Age Matters For Your Ferility" https://www.yourfertility.org.au/everyone/age