Infertility issues have been on the rise for years, especially in developed countries. Over 1 in 6 adults globally are now affected by infertility. To make this worse, this issues is expected to increase further in the future.
Infertility is the inability to conceive after one year of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse or to be unable to carry a pregnancy to term, which can result from various factors.
But why is infertility on the rise?
There are many factors involved in fertility, these range from :
- Hormonal imbalances: Irregularities in hormone levels can disrupt ovulation in women and sperm production in men.
- Reproductive system disorders: Conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or endometriosis can affect fertility in women.
- Age: Advanced maternal or paternal age can decrease fertility due to declining egg and sperm quality.
- Genetic factors: Inherited conditions or genetic abnormalities can impact fertility in both men and women.
- Lifestyle factors: Smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, drug use, poor diet, and obesity can all negatively affect fertility.
- Environmental factors: Exposure to toxins, pollutants, radiation, and certain chemicals can impair reproductive function.
- Stress: High levels of stress can disrupt hormonal balance and interfere with ovulation and sperm production.
- Medical conditions: Chronic illnesses such as diabetes, cancer, or autoimmune disorders can affect fertility.
- Medications: Some medications, including certain antidepressants, antipsychotics, and chemotherapy drugs, can impair fertility.
- Infections: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as chlamydia or gonorrhoea can cause inflammation or damage to the reproductive organs, leading to infertility.
This is just some of the factors, there are many more. Unfortunately there are rare cases where women can even become allergic to sperm which produces an allergic response preventing conception.
The causes of infertility can often be hard to uncover, as it can be formed through a complex interplay of various issues. The core issue might be hidden by other knock on effects, so solving just one health issue might not necessarily improve fertility even though it’s necessary to.
The rise of obesity, sedentary lifestyles, depression, stress, plastic in our environment and other modern factors are all contributing to this rise in infertility.
Especially in developed countries, where couples are increasingly marrying when they are older, and delaying starting a family because of the modern work system. It’s now almost a requirement for both parents to work in many countries, just to be able to afford one child.
Children are simply unaffordable to many due to not only the rising costs but the imbalance in wages to living cost. Often the cost of childcare is more than one parent can even afford on their own salary. Whilst this system has given advantages to women specifically in entering the workforce and being able to reach more equality in areas. We’re now in a situation that due to capitalism’s drive towards endless profit, that the system doesn’t benefit couples in society anymore, it only benefits shareholders.
How to solve infertility
There are various ways to tackle this health issue. But first you definitely need to have things ruled out by a doctor. Blood panels and sperm analysis of men are needed. Ultrasounds, urine and blood panels for women are also needed to rule out various causes.
Some issues can be immediately evident, such as obesity, stress, poor diet and being sedentary. Other issues might not be obvious to all, for example men need to make sure they don’t take hot baths or any heat treatments that might kill off the sperm they produce in the testicles.
It takes the testicles 2-3 months to produce healthy sperm, and even though this process is ongoing, lifestyle changes need this time to make an impact.
Both men and women can take conception supplements, to help maintain the right nutrients needed to aid conception. Low levels of some nutrients can be hard to identify in blood tests, so a conception supplement can be a good addition to cover these issues if they remain hidden.
Sometimes it’s a matter of there just being a low chance to get pregnant. Even healthy couples only have a 20% chance each month to cause pregnancy. Various factors can dent this chance to make it very low, and you can simply continue to be unlucky.
The timing of intercourse each period cycle is of course very important. There is only a small window for women during ovulation where they can get pregnant, typically 6 days, where only 12-24 hours are the actual window for sperm to fertilize eggs, so women need to calculate this time period each month to ensure they are engaging in intercourse at the best possible time to cause conception. Due to sperm being able to remain viable for a few days, the fertility window is stretched to accommodate their chance to succeed, but then this plays into how healthy the man’s sperm is, which can be deduced from multiple sperm analysis tests.
It is basically just general health tips that everyone knows they need but often struggle to attain that improves fertility. Ensuring you have a good diet, a good level of fitness, low levels of stress, a healthy body and mind and an environment free from toxins and pollutants is the aim for everyone.
It can be easy to say these simple tips, but much harder to implement in your life, especially if your work life is damaging your health. Everyone would love to be making good money at a job that treats their physical and mental health well, but these jobs rarely exist.
Thanks for the article, struggling with the problem at the moment.