Hot Tubs and Male Fertility Problems

Last week I confessed how I had finally succumbed to the ultimate California hedonism of the hot tub. The Jacuzzi is, as most of us now know, a great instrument for comfort and even pleasure, in both the bodily and psychic sense.

My tone was jocular, but I’d like to turn serious here to offer one caveat as to who should to be in a spa, and who shouldn’t. Medical researchers recently discovered that a single hourlong hot tub immersion may temporarily impair male fertility for as long as six weeks.

The media has focused so much attention on contraception lately that we tend to forget that millions of married couples have put all that behind them.

Marriage is likely to offer few more joyously intimate moments than a couple’s decision to create new life. But it’s always a painful, shocking question mark when it doesn’t happen right away. Fertility, it turns out, can be quite a complicated matter; one in six couples will have serious problems.

Dr. Richard Paulson, who leads a team of researchers at the USC department of obstetrics and gynecology, asked: Wouldn’t it be unfortunate if one simple aspect of the California life style was hindering conception efforts of otherwise normal couples?

Paulson, who reported his research in a June issue of OB. GYN. News, put a group of male volunteers with proven fertility in a hot tub for 60 minutes. The temperature was reasonably comfortable (102.4 degrees F.). “Some health clubs and hotels are 104 or more,” he says.

Male fertility depends on three elements: the number of sperm, the motility or energy in which the sperm attempt to find a female egg, and, finally, their ability to penetrate the egg.

The volunteers were tested 36 hours later, and in each case sperm were seriously damaged, in varying ways. Two of the men showed a zero penetration rate. None of the men got in the tub again, but damage persisted, indicating that both mature and immature sperm had been affected.

The entire panel was not totally restored to normal fertility until the seventh week.

The men’s bodies reached 102 average peak oral temperature at the end of the hour. What if they hadn’t stayed in the tub that long? Would 10 minutes be safe, for example?

Paulson’s team has no current plans to refine the hot tub tests. “Men’s sexuality and fertility is fragile in many areas,” he says, “and it varies a good deal. What might be safe for one man could hurt another.”

What about saunas? “We’ve seen some studies in Finland, but they didn’t do the penetration test, so we can’t be sure. Any prolonged exposure to extreme heat in any form will be a fertility risk for some men.”

But the folk wisdom that Jockey shorts are a danger to male potency has been largely discounted, Paulson said. Would-be-fathers don’t have to go back to boxer shorts. (An article in View last August quoted a number of fertility experts who concur, although several recommended Jockey-type shorts made of cotton rather than nylon.)

These days women who hope to become mothers are prepared for some stringent changes in life style to safeguard the baby, but in this small area, at least, they get a break. The heat of a spa or sauna will not impair a female’s ability to conceive, Paulson says. (After pregnancy occurs, it’s not a good idea--consult your doctor.)

Let’s be clear about this: A hot tub or sauna does not necessarily diminish a man’s desire or ability to have sex--only his capacity to impregnate. Just about now a number of males who don’t want to raise a family right away are going to get a bright idea. Isn’t this a pretty neat way to achieve natural contraceptions?

“Don’t believe it,” Paulson warns. “Every man is different, and every sexual encounter produces literally millions of sperm. One of them may be more macho than you think. It only takes one.”