Research has shown that watching TV more than five hours daily could affect a man’s fertility as it can reduce the sperm count by one-third.

The researchers from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, studied 1,200 “healthy” young men. Some of the participants were instructed to watch TV for at least five hours every day, while the others were told to abstain from TV or reduce how much of it they watched. The record of their sperm counts were taken before and after the study.

According to the findings of the study, published on American Journal of Epidemiology, those who watched TV for more than five hours had average sperm count of 37 million per millilitre of fluid, while those who hardly watched TV had 52 million per millilitre of fluid.

Normal sperm count is said to be between 40 million and 300 million per millilitre.

“Furthermore, decreases in testosterone were detected in men watching many hours of television, the researchers added. The hormone testosterone plays a key role in the development of male reproductive tissues such as the testis and prostate, as well as promoting secondary sexual characteristics such as increased muscle and bone mass, and the growth of body hair.”

The researchers concluded that watching too much TV could make men less fertile, given the findings of their study.

In another study by researchers from Harvard School of Public Health, it was also found that watching TV may likely affect sperm count.