Whether you’re trying to lose weight, get fit or conceive, the same advice applies – you have to drink more water. Semen is a fluid so there is inevitably a connection between semen and water intake, but just how much water should a man drink?

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How much water is enough?

This age-old question is one that experts and nutritionists have been trying to answer for decades. There is no definitive amount of water a man should drink, but there are a few signs that you’ve consumed enough. If your urine is a light yellow – you are hydrated. If urine is dark yellow, you need to drink more water. In the morning urine output tends to be darker and may have a stronger smell – this is because the urine has been stored in your bladder all night. Don’t judge hydration by first-morning urine.

A safe measurement to use as a general guide is to drink one cup of water every hour. If your average waking day is 14 to 16 hours you’ll consume enough water to stay hydrated. For every 15 minutes you work out, try adding an additional glass of water to combat water loss from sweating.

How much does water intake affect semen production?

What happens if you don’t add enough water to a cake batter? The cake batter will be too thick to pour and the volume will decrease. The same can be said for semen volume. Drinking too little water has the same effect on semen production. If there is not enough water in the body, semen will be thicker and sperm may have trouble swimming.

Aside from basic water intake, reducing alcohol intake can also affect semen production. Alcohol causes dehydration so drinking more alcohol can reduce fertility not because you are producing less sperm but because you are producing less semen and semen quality drops with excessive intake.