For many couples, infertility-causing problems are of serious nature. There are many reasons that inhibit couples from being able to conceive. Daily life habits of couples may result in infertility. Start exploring today whether your difficulty to conceive is related to risky daily life habits and behaviors.
1. Not sleeping enough: If you are unable to get enough sleep because your lifestyle and stress at work keep you awake until late at night, then work stress and insufficient sleep can impede the normal functions of reproductive system hormones, resulting in irregularities and imbalances in your reproductive system and give rise to conditions like irregular menstruation, low ovulation in females and poor semen quality in males to the point where both male and female become infertile. So, couples desiring to conceive have to take utmost care of their physical health and should life habits and behaviors that result in increased stress.
2. Mood related eating habits: People who resort to binge eating and eating unhealthy foods because they want to release their frustrations from life’s problems run the risk of gaining weight. It is important the couples maintain balanced body weight and BMI because being overweight may lead to obesity which has a negative effect on the reproductive system, especially male reproductive system, such as decrease in sperm count.
3. Exercising too intensely: You can reduce stress and improve your health by doing the right amount of exercise. Couples who exercise regularly and at an optimum level become pregnant more easily than those who don’t exercise. However, it should be also be noted that exercising too intensely can result in irregularities in our anatomical systems such as muscles, brain, or pituitary gland. These can further affect hormones and may cause ovarian malfunctions in females as well as abnormal ovulation and irregular menstruation which can adversely affect fertility and pregnancy.
4. Affinity to drinking coffee: Coffee contains caffeine which stimulates brain activity. If you’re feeling tired, then drinking coffee may help but couples planning to have children should avoid drinking coffee. Research data shows that caffeine in coffee results in less ejaculation in males and reduces the possibility of conception in females. Also, females who are coffee drinkers have more chances of miscarriage than non-coffee drinkers.
5. Smoking regularly: Regular smokers are exposed to toxic substances like lead and cadmium in high amounts. Many studies have found that people who smoke regularly have abnormally high levels of lead in their blood. This in turn adversely effects the reproductive system, resulting in lower levels of sperm quality in males. Also, regular female smokers are continually exposed to cigarette smoke which causes problems in their reproductive system, resulting in less production of eggs and decreased ability to conceive.
6. Drinking too much alcohol: It is common knowledge that alcohol is harmful for people who are trying to conceive. For example, in males, alcohol lowers nutrient absorption which is necessary to produce good quality sperm and maintain sperm strength. Also, if females who are pregnant consume four or more alcoholic drinks per week, it increases their risk of miscarriage.
It can thus be seen that regularly mixing and matching the above-mentioned behaviors can increase risk of troublesome conception. Therefore, if you want to conceive, please prepare yourself early.
Written by
Dr.Pokpong Pansrikaew
Obstetrician and Gynecologist, Reproductive Medicine