It’s long been suspected that the underwear men use and the positions they hold their bodies in can affect sperm quality, and now new research has backed up the notion that men should be free and unfettered in the interest of having children.

According to a recent study, men who wore boxer shorts during the day and nothing to bed had significantly lower levels of damaged DNA in their sperm compared to those who wore tight underpants during the day and at night.

“Among men in the general population attempting pregnancy, type of underwear worn during the day and to bed is associated with semen quality,”said lead researcher Katherine Sapra of the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. “Reducing exposure for bed decreases DNA fragmentation; better semen quality parameters are observed in men wearing boxers during the day and none to bed.”

The study tracked 500 men over the course of a year, taking note of the underwear choices they made and the quality of their sperm.

The researchers found that those who slept naked and wore loose-fitting boxers during the day experienced 25 percent less DNA fragmentation than those who opted for tight underwear like briefs. Although the sample size in the study was relatively small, it’s further evidence that adopting a more liberal approach when it comes to undergarments could pose considerable health benefits for men’s fertility.

“We have known for some time that men who increase the temperature of their testicles, either through the heat exposure at work or by wearing tight underwear, have poorer semen quality compared to men whose testicles are cooler,” said Allan Pacey, a male fertility expert at Sheffield University in the UK, who was not involved with the study. “What has never adequately been shown is whether men can improve things by changing the choice of their underwear, but this study – although quite small – goes some way to suggest that is true.”

Beyond merely analysing sperm quality, however, future research would offer even more valuable insight if it focused on quantifying the effects of a man’s underwear choice. “What we really need to see is whether switching to looser underwear makes their partners get pregnant more often or quicker than they would have done had the men continued to wear tight underwear,” he said.

But in the meantime, prospective dads – or men who simply want to look after the health of their sperm – have nothing to lose by adopting more flexible garb (or even going without entirely), knowing that in doing so, they may well be protecting their power to procreate.

“[S]witching underwear is hardly a risky thing to do,” said Pacey, “so buying some looser pants might be good advice for would-be fathers.”

Not everybody enjoys sleeping in their birthday suit, but perhaps more would partake if they knew some of the amazing benefits can accompany the practice. Sleeping entirely naked cannot only be extremely comfortable once you get used to it, but it can also greatly improve your health among other things. Following are five of the more lesser-known beneficial effects that sleeping naked can have for you.

1. Self-esteem boost. Sleeping in the nude can help you feel more comfortable with your body and have a subtle yet positive impact on your self-esteem, in turn offering an improvement to your mental health. This can in turn lead to an improved sense of confidence within your day-to-day life and even allow you to feel happier overall.

2. Improved skin health. One of the more obvious benefits to sleeping naked is on the skin, which is essentially freed from the confines of your clothing and allowed to breathe freely as you sleep. This can improve the overall health of your skin, and is particularly helpful for those that suffer from some form of body acne who may experience the most relief of their condition from sleeping naked in addition to medications and other forms of treatment.

3. Relationship boost with your partner. Skin-to-skin contact allows for the release of the hormone oxytocin, which can have a huge impact on your relationship with your partner. Among the relationship and other health-related benefits of oxytocin release are counteraction against depression and stress along with reduction in blood pressure and intestinal inflammation. As oxytocin is only released through skin-to-skin contact, failing to sleep naked can hinder your ability to reap its benefits.

4. Anti-aging effects. Sleeping clothed keeps your body temperature a lot warmer, which has the unfortunate effect of failing to allow your body to properly release growth hormones that work to repair skin damage. By sleeping naked and allowing your body temperature to drop while you sleep, your skin can repair itself much more efficiently and therefore potentially prevent wrinkling and other effects of aging.

5. Preventative effects against disease. Perhaps one of the most surprising benefits of sleeping naked is the fact that it can help prevent the onset of some serious diseases. One of these happens to be Type 2 Diabetes, has science has come to show that a lowered body temperature during sleep can lessen the risk of acquiring the disease. This is primarily backed up through the scientific journal Diabetes, which found through its study that sleeping naked in combination with allowing for a cooler room temperature during sleep provided this preventative effect.