How Bad Is It to Use a Hot Tub While Trying to Conceive?

How detrimental is it for a male and female couple to sit in a hot tub (likely just once) close to the time they are trying to conceive?
—Kim

For some reason, this brings up a lot of thoughts about sex ed for me. I have memories of two stories from high school. One was that you could get pregnant in a hot tub even if you were not having sex (I guess the idea is the sperm could swim?) and the other is that you couldn’t get pregnant having sex in a hot tub. Actually, neither of those is true. Sperm wouldn’t survive swimming around in the hot tub, but if you have unprotected sex, you could get pregnant.

I digress.

In terms of your question, the worry about hot tub exposure for women is during, not before, pregnancy, with possible risks related to neural tube defects. So using a hot tub prior to pregnancy would not be a concern. For men, the concern is that heat could kill sperm. If your partner has a low sperm count, it may be good to avoid regular hot tub exposure during the time you are trying to conceive (also, he should wear loose underwear in general). If sperm count isn’t a concern, then this isn’t something to worry about.