Q: I am a 35 years old male having some doubts regarding sperms. I once heard that sperms die when we give them for testing. Is it true? I usually have intercourse after a week or two. So, do the sperms in the body die during the abstinence period? Also, if the intercourse frequency is decreased, does the sperm production decrease as well? Further, does low sperm count result in the birth of baby girl?

A:You seem to have a lot of misconceptions about sperms and semen. Sperm motility and viability keeps on going down outside the body but remains unaffected during storage. Since sperm formation and transportation takes time, the desired quality is usually seen with abstinence of couple of days. A semen analysis after a short abstinence would show poor results. Frequency of ejaculation does not govern sperm production. Sex of the child is determined by one particular sperm involved in fertilization.