While there are sometimes underlying medical problems that may lead to infertility and require intervention, not every infertility cause is outside your control. There are five major areas within each person’s approach to life that can be managed to eliminate a potential infertility cause. If you have been trying to conceive without success, consider addressing these factors before investing in medical intervention, especially if a few hits a chord as a potential infertility cause — it might be all that is needed to get you on your way to having a baby.
1. Alcohol and drugs – Consuming a large amount of alcohol can result in menstrual irregularities and ovulation abnormalities in women and be an infertility cause. Continuing to drink while carrying a child increase the danger of miscarriage and adversely affect the development of the fetus. Recreational drugs like weed, heroin, ecstasy and cocaine all can interfere with menstruation cycles and ovulation in women, as can some prescribed medicines. Men who drink heavily may have lower sperm density, poor sperm motility, aberrant sperm shape and even impotence, any of which can be an infertility cause. Men who take anabolic steroids could find that sperm production stops altogether. Recreational drugs as well as some prescribed medicines can cause low sperm count, decrease sperm motility and aberrant sperm shape. Any medicines taken by either partner in a couple trying to conceive should be disclosed to a doctor to determine whether a medicine could be an infertility cause, and if that is the case, what alternative treatments could be available.
2. Smoking – Females that smoke have an increased chance of miscarriage and their eggs have more genetic afflictions. Guys that smoke have low sperm count and poor quality sperm. There is no doubt that smoking can be an infertility cause, and quitting the habit is critical for your general fitness also.
3. Exercise and diet – If you’re a female, what you eat everyday may influence your hormonal balance, monthly cycle and ovulation. Try to have a well balanced nutritional diet to keep your body healthy to better prep yourself for pregnancy and avoid any nutritional deficit that might be an infertility cause. Also, keep exercise moderately as frequent strenuous exercise may lead to women to experience irregular or no monthly cycle. Finally, excess weight gain or weight control may lead to irregular menstrual cycle in women. Particularly, obesity is firmly linked with many cases of PCOS, a leading infertility cause, and sometimes getting to a good weight is all that’s needed to revisit reproductive health. For men, a good diet with key nutrient elements like vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, zinc, calcium and vitamin D helps ensure you are making healthy sperm. If you are a male with high blood pressure, this may be an infertility cause. Regularly obesity is behind problems like high blood pressure and cardiac health, and because all your body’s systems are under pressure when you are obese, it is reasonable to consider that it can be an infertility cause also.
4. Environment – Exposure to noxious substances, radiation and probably stress can have negative effect on the fertility of females. With respect to men, while these aren’t proved to impact on fertility it is hypothesized that raised temperatures in the scrotal area is an infertility cause. It cannot hurt to keep away from hot tubs or steam rooms and closely fitting pants or underclothes while trying to conceive.
5. Sexual Practice – If you and your companion enjoy lubricants as an element of your sex life, ensure the product you use is not damaging to sperm, as the spermicidal affect of many popular lubricants are an infertility cause. It is also hypothesized that if a woman’s uterine muscle contractions are weak, sperm might have trouble being pushed up through the cervix after intercourse, in which case having sex with a pillow underneath your hips might increase the possibility of fertilization. Further, if you are having sex daily round the time of suspected ovulation, you could be reducing the quantity of sperm you are able to produce during each act of intercourse, a possible infertility cause that is simple to remedy. Try every couple of days instead.
Once these life-style factors have been addressed, if you’re still struggling with conceiving it may be time to look farther into a probable medical infertility cause in one or both partners.
Anna Short has developed experience on infertility through a mix of private experience and thorough research. Anna Short has developed experience on infertility thru a mix of personal experience and inclusive research. For more of her articles on infertility causes, visit her website at www.infertility-options-info.com. Check out her free email course while you are there.