Topic : Surprising facts about fertility
SURPRISING FACTS ABOUT FERTILITY
We
have a wholesome idea of what fertility and infertility is. However, in
present-day, where there are so many opinions about everything, fertility is
not excluded from the list. There are many misconceptions linked to our
fertility and its factors. You might be overthinking about some of them.
1) Healthy Lifestyle does not
ensure fertility
Despite
being free from the factors contributing to infertility, (medical health,
smoking and drugs, alcoholism, weight) some couples face problems in
conceiving.
This
can be a result of various factors related to male as well as female or even
combined unexplained reasons in both. Surprisingly, your AGE controls major part of the infertility reasons. Your graph of
fertility declines with increasing age as a natural physiological process.
Fertility reaches its peak when you are in your 20s (accurately around 24-29)
and it starts to fall in your 30s gradually.
Those
who try to conceive after 35 years of age, often face infertility issues.
Couples after the age of 37, should not wait any longer if they cannot conceive
after 3 months of unprotected intercourse. 1 in 10 healthy couples of reproductive age
will face fertility problems.
2) Smoking cigarettes have a
big impact on parenthood
"Smoking
can, in effect, add 10 years to reproductive age, so that a 25-year-old smoker
is as fertile as a 35-year-old non-smoker,"
Smoking
cigarettes has literally zero benefits. It is one of the biggest factors
influencing infertility in both male and female. Smoking causes the loss of
eggs and sperms in female and male respectively. 'Once the eggs die, they cannot regenerate or be replaced'. Women,
who smoke, face menopause 1-4 years earlier as compared to women who do not
smoke. Men suffer from decreased quality and quantity of sperm. Sperm
morphology and motility is also affected due to smoking.
All
these factors related to cigarette smoking will lead you closer to infertility
at a very high rate.
3) Weight affects your
ability to conceive
12% of all
infertility cases are associated with weight issues.
Being
overweight or underweight, both can affect your fertility. If you are
over-exercising or genetically undernourished, it affects your menstrual cycle.
A minimum of 22% of body fat is
necessary for normal ovulation and reproductive capability.
On
the other hand, weight gain above the normal level causes problems in ovulation
and alteration of hormones. Even after conceiving, your weight is a threat to a
healthy pregnancy. Overweight women develop a risk of pregnancy-related high
blood pressure and diabetes. The underweight women tend to deliver an
undernourished low birth weight baby.
The
good news is, by attaining the normal Body Mass Index (BMI); the weight-related
issue is eradicated.
4) Women’s body
does not regenerate eggs
Women
are born with 1-2 million eggs, and this is the total number of eggs found in
women. Also, this number falls with increase in age. The condition of natural
decline of the count of eggs in women is called Ovarian follicle atresia. The
number of eggs reaches 300,000 by the time a female hits her puberty.
Every
month, the ovary releases the best quality egg and the quality of this egg
decreases gradually as the women reach menopause. This is the reason; older
women face difficulties conceiving with their eggs.
5) Getting
pregnant is not as easy as you think!
Even
in a healthy and fertile couple, the chances of conceiving each month are 20%.
If you are not getting pregnant after practising unprotected intercourse for a
few months, you need not worry. It is not a sign of infertility.
6) Birth control
pills do not necessarily cause infertility
There
is a myth associated with birth control pills. Women who are on the pills for a
long time experience irregular menstrual cycle or even missed menses for a
period. In some women, birth control pills delay ovulation but it gets normal
after a few months. Some women become fertile immediately after taking the
pill.
7) Secondary
Infertility is becoming common
You
can cause also face infertility after giving birth. Cases of secondary
infertility are a frequent scenario now. 50% of the infertility is a result of
secondary infertility. The condition causes infertility after your successful
pregnancies. Couples are affected by secondary infertility due to many reasons
like complications in previous pregnancy causing damages or other issues.
Negligence
of factors causes worsening conditions. Consultation at the right time can
save you from the worse.
