Spermaxxers: Meet the men going to extremes to optimise their sperm count

Ciaran Hannington was 26 when he started his “fertility journey”. He and his wife Jen, 26, had been trying to have a baby for around 18 months. When they were unsuccessful, they visited doctors who spent months testing Jen, who was believed to have what is now known as PMOS – Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome. It was almost a year later that doctors finally tested Ciaran.

That was when he discovered he was effectively infertile. “They told me there wasn’t much they could do for me,” he says, almost 14 years later. “The most frustrating thing was that it took almost a year to think of testing me when I should have been tested straightaway. And unfortunately, that’s still the process with most men today.”

Ciaran is not alone. Studies show that average sperm counts among Western men have more than halved in the past 40 years, while in the UK, around 30 per cent of fertility issues sit purely with the man, according to the British Fertility Society. Meanwhile, new figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have revealed that fertility in England and Wales has dropped to record lows. The provisional total fertility rate, defined as the average number of live children per woman across her childbearing life, has dropped from 1.41 in 2024 to an estimated 1.39 in 2025. The number of babies born in England and Wales last year also fell to the lowest level in almost half a century.

Recently, experts have suggested that the lack of awareness around male infertility – which affects between five and 10 per cent of men in the UK – means couples end up going through unnecessary IVF cycles due to failures to diagnose treatable causes.

Reasons for this decline range from poor diets to inactive lifestyles and environmental pollutants such as those found in everyday plastics and synthetics. Dr Shanna Swan, professor of environmental medicine and public health at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and author of Count Down, a book on the subject of declining sperm counts, points out that “chemicals used in plastics can interfere with hormones, particularly testosterone”, and if current plastic usage continues, she believes most couples will need to use assisted reproduction by 2045.

When Ciaran received his diagnosis, there was less awareness around causes for male infertility and he was not given any medical advice on how to improve his sperm count. He and his wife went through several unsuccessful cycles of ICSI – a specialised form of IVF where a single sperm is injected into a mature egg – before he decided to use his background in sports science along with online research to create his own “lifestyle package”.

For the next 18 months, he changed his lifestyle patterns. That meant cutting down on high-intensity training and the frequency of his exercising, and reducing his workload to lower stress. He began an organic diet, eating as many wholefoods as possible, improved his sleep patterns and drastically cut down his alcohol intake.

By the end of that period, his sperm parameters had gone from 1,500 sperm per millilitre – far below the healthy range of 15 to 20 million sperm per millilitre and less than 1 per cent viability – to four million sperm per millilitre with more than 4 per cent viability. When he and Jen embarked on their final ICSI cycle, they were successful. They now have a 10-year-old son and a healthy five-year-old daughter who was conceived after Ciaran made those same changes again.

“It verifies that lifestyle really does make an impact,” says Ciaran. “I just did the basic things, and it made a huge difference. We still needed treatment, but the quality of my sperm improved drastically.”

Ciaran was an early adopter of sperm count optimisation, where men try to improve the quality and quantity of their sperm through diet, lifestyle and health hacks. The “zero trimester” trend of women trying to improve their pregnancy health before conceiving is now spreading to men.

On TikTok, male influencers are speaking up about trying to get into the best physical shape of their life before trying to have a baby, Reddit forums are dedicated to men’s questions on how lifestyle changes can affect sperm quality,. Companies like NADS sell organic cotton underwear with non-toxic dyes “so you can ensure your boys are in an optimal environment to do what they’re supposed to do”. And fertility supplements are no longer catered just for women.

Osman Khan, 45, founded his company SwimClub earlier this year, selling what he calls “the most comprehensive male fertility supplement,” after his own journey to improve his sperm count four years ago. Back then, he’d spent three years with his wife trying to conceive through IVF. Before their third round, he finally had his sperm count tested – something he believes should have happened earlier – and was told he wasn’t infertile, but it was low.

Sperm health is viewed as a sign of virility – you don’t want to be perceived as having low sperm count. We’ve destigmatised hair loss, erectile dysfunction – this feels like the third pillar that needs to be destigmatised

Osman Khan, founder of male fertility supplement company SwimClub

“We felt that if my wife is going to go through all these shots and treatments, we should do everything we can to improve my sperm count as well,” he explains. Together with his wife, a nurse, he researched supplements and began “stacking” the clinically-dosed ingredients now combined in SwimClub’s capsules: Zinc, selenium, Omega-3s, Vitamins E and D3, and more – along with giving up alcohol. Six months later, they were successful with their last round of IVF and now have a son.

“I can’t believe we didn’t think about doing it for the earlier cycles,” he says now. “We could have maybe saved ourselves heartache.” He believes part of it was down to a blind faith in the medical system which had a disproportionate emphasis on women in the process, but also the stigma linked to men and sperm.

“We don’t talk about it with friends. Sperm health is viewed as a sign of virility – you don’t want to be perceived as being infertile or having low sperm count. We’ve destigmatised hair loss, erectile dysfunction – this feels like the third pillar that needs to be destigmatised.” He now speaks about his own story as much as he can, and hopes that companies like his own will help to normalise sperm health.

The taboo around male fertility is real. For Ciaran, the lack of support he received left him feeling suicidal, questioning his “identity as a man”. It’s why he now co-hosts The Male Fertility Podcast and runs NeXYs Fertility, an organisation providing peer support for men during fertility challenges, so that “no man ever feels alone”.

When it comes to improving sperm count, most men tend to follow general guidance, much like Pete, 36, who found out he had low sperm motility several months after his wife struggled to conceive: “I made really big lifestyle changes including diet - it turns out I’m quite allergic to dairy and was very inflamed - no alcohol or caffeine, lots of walnuts, some quite expensive vitamins and of course no smoking and lots of exercise.” He saw an improvement after just four months, and now has a one-year-old son.

But others take it to more extreme levels – like tech millionaire and biohacker Bryan Johnson, who regularly posts about his sperm count. “I’ve been working on improving my fertility markers for the past two years,” Johnson recently wrote on X. “They are elite for an early 20 something (I'm 48).”

He is part of a new trend of men who are optimising their sperm count not necessarily to have children, but simply because sperm health is a unilateral marker for health – something that is now referred to as “spermmaxxing”.

“Social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok and X have arguably helped turn fertility into something closer to a status signal than a private health concern,” says Dr Nagi Rostom, lead IVF consultant at CREATE Fertility. While he is glad it is coming “out of the shadows and into more open conversations”, he points out that when “influencers frame things like fatigue or stress not just as normal life, but as a possible hormonal deficiency”, it can “lead people to unnecessarily worry about their health or self-diagnose without proper clinical assessment”.

Johnson regularly speaks about his spermmaxxing efforts, from filtering everything he drinks, regularly having dry saunas and cutting out plastic from his environment, whether that’s in tea bags or synthetic clothing, to ultimately remove microplastics from his semen. Online, other spermmaxxers recommend abstaining from ejaculation to improve sperm count, and stacking vitamins supplements – which means taking multiple vitamins together.

The evidence-based protocols remain the most effective: maintaining a healthy BMI, not smoking, avoiding excessive alcohol, and heat avoidance

Dr Nagi Rostom, lead IVF consultant at CREATE Fertility

But experts don’t recommend everything suggested. Dr Rostom points out that excessive heat from saunas can reduce sperm production, and when it comes to sperm retention, “sperm motility and morphology often decline if the ejaculatory interval is too long”. As for stacking, he warns: “Excessive intake may upset normal metabolic balance, compete for absorption pathways, or, in some cases, even contribute to pro-oxidant effects, which can work against the intended goal of improving sperm health.”

His main advice is for people to seek professional advice after a formal semen analysis in a certified laboratory, rather than less thorough at-home kits. “The evidence-based protocols remain the most effective: maintaining a healthy BMI, not smoking, avoiding excessive alcohol, and heat avoidance,” he says. “Beyond these core pillars, most ‘optimisation’ trends lack robust, peer-reviewed validation.”

“The most important thing is to check everything for science-backed evidence,” says Ciaran. “Things are getting better and there’s more awareness. But the problem is male fertility isn’t something you think about until you have to. It’s not taught in schools, and it’s not on the public level as female health is.”

Osman is more optimistic, believing we’re about to hit a tipping point. “With the longevity biohacking world and emotional health world, they’re all creating more awareness of this topic,” he says. “I think we’re still three to six months away from a real uprising with sperm health, but hopefully, we’re on the right side.”

If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email [email protected], or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch

If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call or text 988, or visit 988lifeline.org to access online chat from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you