Male fertility depends on producing sufficient number of sperm which must be healthy and mobile enough to travel to the woman's egg and penetrate it. This doesn't mean that if a man is fertile his partner will immediately become pregnant; infertility in one or both partners is not diagnosed until a couple has failed to become pregnant after a year of unprotected sex.
Identification
Male fertility is measured by performing sperm counts and observing sperm motility, or movement and vigor, over a period of time. Because short-term environmental considerations such as running a fever may affect your sperm count and motility, and because the life cycle of sperm is typically between 74 and 76 days long, measure your male fertility over time instead of judging your ability to reproduce with just one sperm sample.
Expert Insight
Some of the criteria for "normal" male fertility include an ejaculate of between 2 to 6 milliliters in volume, more than 20 million sperm per milliliter of ejaculate, more than half of those sperm still mobile between one two three hours of ejaculation and 60 percent or more of those sperm being of normal shape and form. The lower thresholds for a fertile male are subject to great debate; however it's known that a man can still father a child with sperm concentrations of 10 or 15 million per milliliter of ejaculate.
Potential
When being evaluated for your fertility, you'll be asked to participate in a physical exam, give a detailed medical and sexual history, and to provide a sperm sample--usually at least two, separated by a wait period--for clinical analysis. The sperm sample can be collected by masturbating into a provided container at the doctor's office or at home, or by using a specially designed condom to collect the sperm during sexual intercourse.
Considerations
Certain behaviors or lifestyle changes may help a man increase his fertility. These include taking nutrients like antioxidants, vitamins C and E, zinc, selenium and L-carnitine. Wearing loose underwear and protecting your testes from the excessive heat of long hot baths or excessive time in hot tubs can also help promote higher counts of healthy, active sperm. While there are a wide variety of nutritional supplements marketed to enhance male fertility, there's no scientific proof that they work.
Home Analysis
Sperm home analysis kits are available from companies like Kokopelli Technologies (see Resources) that allow you to perform a semen analysis in the comfort and privacy of your own home. While these aren't a substitute for a doctor's trained analysis, they do provide an economical way to observe your own fertility and semen trends over an extended time period, without the embarrassment of having to provide a sample to someone else.
