An army is only as good as its recruits, so not surprisingly, the main causes of male fertility problems are problems with sperm. The main way these problems manifest themselves are as follows:

• motility: speed and movement
• morphology: shape and quality
• number: how many recruits in the army

Compatibility with the partner is another one. This is more than toilet seat up/toilet seat down type of thing. It has to do with immune issues, and, interestingly, two people with too similar immune types can cause problems for each other. It's very complex, and so we'll start with some of the easier ones.

The environment of the sperm factory is very important. Everyone knows heat is not good for it. In this area, for instance, boxers vs. briefs becomes more than a fashion statement (more later). Most people have caught on to the hot tub and sauna thing (in case you haven't: don't).

But what about this?

Is this you?

Who ever thought to put the LAP into LAPtop? Obviously, someone not too concerned with motility, morphology, and number. Sitting with that thing warming your lap is not the best idea. The BBC has all these studies to back it up if you don't believe me:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4078895.stm

And...it's also been shown that people whose occupations involve a lot of constant vibrations to the posterior (hmmmm, you wonder, what could that possibly be?) are at risk for damaged sperm. It's actually pretty common, think: pilots, farm tractor drivers, long haul truckers, male belly dancers...

Unfortunately, for these men (except the male belly dancer), they are also sitting on their "guys" all day long. And add the problem of pesticides for the guy driving the tractor on the farm (more later), then it might not be that unusual to encounter fertility problems. There are probably a lot of things you do all day that you might not think about: heated car seats, long bike rides, Speedo swimsuits. Take some time to think about it, make sure you aren't sitting on the hot seat...