When trying to conceive, couples tend to focus only on the woman’s health, overlooking the man’s. When the man’s health is below optimal state, it has a negative impact on the whole fertility. Poor diet, and poor lifestyle choices both change the genes that get passed on. This may have lasting damaging effects on the offspring’s health. Not only will improving the father-to-be’s health cause him feel better overall, but it will affect the baby’s well-being as well.

Poor lifestyle = Poor Sperm Health

Make sure that your future baby, or babies, will be healthy not just during their early years, but for their lifetime. Start improving your lifestyle and diet. Watch out for these:

Alcohol consumption and smoking. They are both linked to abnormal sperm, and increases the risk of serious health conditions particularly on the baby’s brain and heart.

Stress can get passed on through your sperm. This is a fact. Stress impacts the sperm DNA, so the offspring may have an inability to cope with stress, and make them become easily anxious and/or fearful.

Environmental toxins exposure, whether it’s heavy metals or chemicals, leads to increased free radicals within the body. They damage sperm, and has a great effect on the man’s ability to conceive, even more so making a healthy offspring.

Better Nutrition for the Father and Baby

The quality of the sperm is largely affected by what the father eats. Is he eating enough nutrients? Is he eating mainly processed foods, sugary foods, sugary drinks, sodas, or fast food?

Deficiency in key nutrients increases the risk of negative health outcomes in the offspring. A good example would be insufficient folate intake, on both mum AND dad. It increases the risk of neural tube defects, or in other words, abnormalities of the baby’s brain and spinal cord.

Make sure that your diet consists of the following key nutrients for better sperm quality, healthier conception, and thus a healthier child.

Antioxidants. Vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, and zinc protect the sperm DNA from the damage that free radicals bring. Thus, improving fertility and gene health.

Folate. Involved with the development and quality of sperm and unhealthy genes mutations (MTHFR).

Omega-3 fatty acids. These essential fatty acids can be found in fish and algal oils. They improve sperm count and prevents damage in sperm.

Co-enzyme Q10. Also termed as CoQ10, these enzymes also protect sperm from the free radicals and any future DNA damage, which usually cause miscarriage and birth defects.

Healthier Means Happier Baby

These tips can support the father’s health:

Mediterranean diet. This type of diet is high in vegetables, good fats, lean meat and fish. It is rich in antioxidants and other key nutrients required to make sperm healthy.

Regular exercise. This is necessary to reduce stress and not to mention, get rid of that beer belly and maintain a healthy weight. A minimum of two hours weekly can already improve the father’s fertility. Best would be at least 30 minutes daily.

Avoid exposure to chemicals, heavy metals, and other environmental toxins. Eat food that is organic and drink filtered water as much as possible.

Fathers need to take care of all aspects of their health too — physical, mental, emotional. If you are healthy, so will your baby.