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Men are Always Fertile
- A boy achieves his reproductive capability with puberty around age 14, on average.
- At puberty the testicles produce sperm cells under the influence of the hormone
testosterone.
- Barring injury to his reproductive system or illness, a normally healthy man continues
to produce sperm cells throughout his entire life.
- Approximately 50,000 new sperm cells are produced each minute, with as many as
100 million produced each day.
- There are between 300 million and 500 million sperm cells in a normal ejaculation
of seminal fluid.
- In other words, the man's reproductive component is in abundant supply.
- If it were up to the man, pregnancy would result with every act of intercourse.
- Men are always fertile.
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Women are at Most Times Infertile
- Girls achieve reproductive capability earlier than boys, on average around age
12.
- The ovum, egg, is the woman's component to fertility, stored in the two ovaries.
- All the eggs a woman will ever have are present at her birth, approximately 200,000
in number.
- With puberty menstrual cycles begin, usually quite irregularly.
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True Fertility is Combined Fertility
The link between the constant male fertility and periodic female fertility is provided
by the role of the cervix. The cervix is the neck of the uterus which includes a passage, the cervical canal, into
and out of the uterus.
- Approximately 100 cervical "crypts" line the cervical canal.
- The cervical crypts contain cells which are sensitive to the fluctuations of the
ovarian hormones over the course of the menstrual cycle.
- The crypt cells produce different types of mucus.
- Most of the time the cervix produces a thick mucus which effectively seals the
uterus from any outside contamination, and the woman observes dryness, or no mucus discharge.
- When estrogen is high, a mucus high in water content is produced which flows from
the cervix, down the vagina, and becomes an easily observable discharge by the woman in the course of her ordinary
bathroom visits.
- The mucus discharge preceeds ovulation by several days. Intercourse on these "mucus
days" will result in pregnancy because the mucus keeps sperm cells alive for up to five days and allows them
to pass through the cervix, into the uterus, and out to the fallopian tube to meet the egg once ovulated.
- Additionally, the mucus filters out abnormal sperm cells, optimizing the chances
for conception.
- In other words, there are three elements to fertility: Sperm from the man, ovulation
in the woman, and cervical mucus which allows the sperm and egg to join. If any of these elements is missing or
abnormal, low fertility or infertility will result.
- True fertility is combined fertility.
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