do i have to wear a rubber? i've been sitting in my hot tub for hours every week 
September 18, 2007
Really?
The Claim: Regular Use of Hot Tubs Can Hurt Fertility in Men
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR
THE FACTS
For years, doctors have warned men having trouble conceiving to stay away from hot baths and whirlpool tubs, saying there was reason to suspect that long exposure to hot water could worsen their problems.
Much of that was based on speculation. But earlier this year, a team of urologists at the University of California, San Francisco, conducted a study to measure and document the extent, if any, of this effect. The researchers did confirm the link, and then they discovered something surprising.
The study looked at a group of men who were regularly exposed to high water temperatures, meaning for about 30 minutes a week, through hot tubs or hot baths.
All the men showed signs of infertility, with impaired sperm production and motility.
What was unexpected was how quickly this infertility could be reversed. The researchers found that after the men stopped their exposure to wet heat, half had “a mean increase in total motile sperm counts of 491 percent after three to six months.”
Among the men who did not see such a reversal, the researchers speculated that tobacco use, a known “gonadotoxic” habit, was to blame. Most of those men were chronic smokers.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Regular exposure to hot tubs can hurt male fertility, though the effects can be reversed.
