Tag Archives: Donors

With Christmas around the corner, there’s almost a guarantee that if you’re not finding it under your own tree, someone you know will likely receive an ancestry DNA test for a gift this year.
The use of at-home DNA kits has soared in the recent years, as they have become a reliable and exciting gift option to give to family and friends for birthdays, Christmas, or just for fun.

You might be wondering why we ask all of our donors to abstain for 3-5 days from any ‘sexual activity’ before donating.  The short answer is that we are looking for the best sample that you can provide and studies suggest that saving your sperm for donation results in superior samples.
Ejaculating only once a day for two days can impact your semen on day of collection as studies have found that this will affect the volume and total sperm count.

Before we get to the compensation, let’s talk briefly about the criteria, because sperm banks in the UK won’t accept just anyone that walks through the door. They have to screen the applicants to be sure they are healthy, without serious genetic conditions and have sufficiently good quality sperm to produce a viable pregnancy. The staff at the London Sperm Bank will look at an applicant’s family history and ascertain if they have any familial genetic conditions that might manifest in potential offspring.

For many men in the UK, donating sperm is an attractive prospect. Our donors’ reasons for donating differ from person to person, but some who come through our doors misinformed can change their minds when they realise that donating sperm isn’t as simple as having a one-time jolly in a tiny room and getting paid for it.

Upon the very mention of the word ‘sperm bank’ there are many who might have a little giggle to themselves. Yet for all the amusing fantasies we conjure in our heads when hearing ‘sperm bank’, not many people have ventured inside and found out what one is really like!

Sperm Morphology! That’s an exciting word right? It’s the kind of word that conjures all sorts of wacky interpretations of transforming, self-combining, mighty-morphin’ super sperms!
So what’s it all about? Other than being a five syllable science marvel that might make good small talk on a dinner date*

Men interested in joining our donor program have to provide a sperm sample for analysis.  We ask that you provide this sample on site after a period of 3-4 days of abstinence from sexual activity.
Some men experience anxiety over the test — and of course later, the results- which is understandable. 

Male infertility can result from many different reasons, from abnormal formation of sperm to failure of sperm – egg interactions. Medically, the definition of infertility is the inability to conceive a child after twelve months of active or regular unprotected sex.

There are many myths surrounding male fertility, which include, ‘If you have more sex, you will exhaust your sperm supply’. While a delay in the time periods between ejaculation may increase the concentration and volume of the next ejaculate, it is unlikely to have a long term effect on the production of sperm. And, a man may lose all sensations and sexual functions due to a spinal cord injury but still have what the World Health Organisation would consider a 'normal' sperm count.

According to Dr Silber, of St Luke's Infertility Hospital in the US, until recently we have had a poor understanding of the effect of ageing on male fertility. As many examples have been offered of older men having babies, the thought of decreased fertility in men was never greatly addressed. "It was assumed that male fertility was relatively immortal because so many elderly men have been able to impregnate their wives," says Dr Silber. "However, there has been previous crude data showing a relative decrease in sperm count, and possibly fertility, in a certain percentage of ageing men. Now, the field of male fertility has come to be mainstream and full of new research, new data and new conclusions."