title: Physical activity and television watching in relation to semen quality in young men.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Semen quality appears to have declined over the past decades but reasons for this decline are unresolved. The concurrent increase in sedentary behaviour may be a contributing factor. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship of physical activity and television (TV) watching with sperm parameters in a population of young, healthy men.
  
  
  METHODS
  Men aged 18-22 years (n=189) from the Rochester Young Men's Study (2009-2010) participated in this analysis. Physical activity (h/week of moderate and vigorous exercise) and TV watching (h/week of TV, video or DVD watching) over the past 3 months were assessed via questionnaire. Semen quality was assessed by sperm concentration, motility, morphology and total sperm count.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sperm concentration and total sperm count were directly related to physical activity after multivariable adjustment (p-trend=0.01 and 0.04); men in the highest quartile of moderate-to-vigorous activity (≥15 h/week) had 73% (95% CI 15% to 160%) higher sperm concentration than men in the lowest quartile (<5 h/week). TV watching was inversely associated with sperm concentration and total sperm count in multivariable analyses (p-trend=0.05 and 0.06); men in the highest quartile of TV watching (>20 h/week) had 44% (95% CI 15 to 63%) lower sperm concentration than men in the lowest quartile (0 h/week). These measures of physical and leisure time activities were not significantly associated with sperm motility or morphology.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this population of healthy men, higher moderate-to-vigorous activity and less TV watching were significantly associated with higher total sperm count and sperm concentration.
authors: Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors: Audrey Jane
authors: AJ
authors: Gaskins
authors: Division of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Murcia School of Medicine, Murcia, Spain.
authors: Jaime
authors: J
authors: Mendiola
authors: Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors: Myriam
authors: M
authors: Afeiche
authors: University Department of Growth and Reproduction, University of Copenhagen, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors: Niels
authors: N
authors: Jørgensen
authors: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA Department of Preventive Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
authors: Shanna H
authors: SH
authors: Swan
authors: Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors: Jorge E
authors: JE
authors: Chavarro
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008297:Male; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D055101:Semen Analysis; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods; D013076:Sperm Count; D013081:Sperm Motility / Q000502:physiology; D013690:Television; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Epidemiology; Urology
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