Women who have already been pregnant don’t expect to have
problems conceiving again, but in fact as many as a third of all the patients
at fertility clinics will have had a child, or a pregnancy, in the past. This
is known as secondary infertility. Some conditions which affect fertility can
develop after a first pregnancy, and an untreated infection after a delivery
can sometimes cause problems. In other cases, secondary infertility is just
down to age. If a couple have relatively minor fertility problems and start
trying for a first child when they are fairly young, they may still manage to
conceive, but if the minor problems are combined with age, it can make all the
difference. In some cases, secondary infertility will remain unexplained. It is
important not to assume you cannot possibly have a fertility problem just
because you’ve already conceived before. If you’ve been trying unsuccessfully
for another baby for more than a year, it is worth having some basic tests
carried out.
Boosting your fertility naturally
We may be able to influence our fertility, and improve the
chances of success of any fertility treatment, by making some quite simple
changes to our lives. How much attention we pay to what we eat and drink, and
what we do at work and in our spare time can all make a difference.
Smoking
If you are a smoker, giving up is one of the most important
things you can do to help increase your chances of getting pregnant and improve
your fertility. Women who smoke often take longer to conceive, and smoking can
affect your ovarian reserve, reducing egg quality and quantity. Women smokers
are twice as likely to have fertility problems as non-smokers. On average,
women who smoke reach the menopause two years earlier than non-smokers, and
they are more likely to have an early menopause. One study has suggested
smoking can shorten a woman’s reproductive life by ten years. What’s more, it’s
not just your own smoking that can affect your fertility – if your partner
smokes, that can cause problems too. Women who live with a smoker have been
shown to take longer to get pregnant.
Drinking
Moderation here, as in all things, is the key. You should
certainly be drinking less than the recommended upper limit of 14 units a week
for women, and it is often advised that women who are trying to conceive should
give up alcohol altogether. Research suggests that women who drink more than
five units of alcohol a week take longer to get pregnant, and the general
advice if you’re trying to conceive is to limit yourself to one or two units
once or twice a week.
Caffeine
It has been claimed that just one cup of coffee a day can
reduce your fertility by half, but the evidence is not consistent when it comes
to the link between caffeine consumption and infertility. Consuming very large
quantities of caffeine is not a good idea anyway, and the crucial level seems
to be around 300mg a day, which means your caffeine intake could possibly cause
problems if you drink more than three or four cups of coffee, six cups of tea
or eight cans of cola in a day. One study found that women who drink more than
five cups of coffee a day were at greater risk of miscarriage. Despite the
conflicting evidence, it makes sense not to drink too many caffeinated drinks
if you are trying to lead a healthy lifestyle.
Prescription drugs
You should check whether any prescription or
over-the-counter drugs that you use on a regular basis might have an effect on
your fertility. Some non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as Ibuprofen,
can affect ovulation. Thyroid replacement hormones, antidepressants,
tranquilisers and asthma medication have all been linked to
fertility problems.
For men, some antibiotics, anti-histamines, antimalarial drugs, blood-pressure
tablets and arthritis drugs may cause problems. If you, or your partner, are
taking any medication on a regular basis, it is worth checking that it isn’t
going to affect your chances of getting pregnant.
Weight
Female fertility is affected by extremes of weight, but
there is a wide scale in the middle where both slim and curvy women fall within
perfectly healthy weight ranges. However, when a woman has too little body fat,
it can cause her periods to stop and you can’t get pregnant if you aren’t
ovulating. It will also be much harder to conceive if your body is deprived of
vital minerals, vitamins and nutrients.
At the other end of the scale, obesity also has an impact on
ovulation. Fat cells produce oestrogen, and excess weight can lead to raised
oestrogen levels, which may prevent ovulation. Women who are overweight are
also more likely to have polycystic ovary syndrome, which can affect fertility.
If your partner is very overweight, this could reduce his fertility by
affecting his sperm quality.
Exercise
Apparently, most of us don’t get enough exercise. It helps
maintain our bodies in good working order, as well as increasing fitness and
strength. It has just as important a role in keeping us emotionally balanced,
reducing stress and making us feel relaxed. It is often beneficial for those
who suffer from depression, anxiety or insomnia. There are long-term benefits
too, as it can help prevent high blood pressure and heart problems.
As always, you can have too much of a good thing, and women
who do huge amounts of exercise can have problems with ovulation. We are
talking about extremely vigorous exercise here, and it isn’t an excuse to avoid
a brisk walk around the park, as this problem mainly affects female athletes
who are in regular training.
Diet
With diet, as with everything, a balance is essential, You
will come across lots of advice about food and fertility, which may involve
cutting out all kinds of things entirely, from dairy produce and red meat to
sugar and wheat, but for most of us this would not be a particularly enjoyable
experience. What’s more important, we probably wouldn’t stick with it for very
long. It is far better to make less dramatic changes to your diet that you know
you will be able to live with.
The food many of us eat is full of additives, and you may
want to try to cut down the amount of processed convenience foods you consume
and consider using organic produce. If you’re not sure about something, read
the label. Sometimes surprisingly few of the ingredients listed on ready-meals
are actually recognisable as food.
Eating properly means your body gets the fuel it needs to
function at its best. We’re all pretty well versed in the rules of healthy
eating now – a balanced diet with lots of fruit and vegetables, making sure you
have sufficient protein, carbohydrate and unsaturated fat (that’s the sort you
get in olive oil, seeds and fish rather than in meat and dairy products).
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Environmental hazards
Every day we are exposed to chemicals and toxins, but there
is little clear evidence as to how they may affect our reproductive systems.
Part of the problem is that there are just so many potentially damaging
substances in everyday products like household cleaners and pesticides,
solvent-based paints, additives and preservatives. Although individual
chemicals or toxins may have been tested and declared safe, we don’t know the
cumulative effects of being exposed to so many all at once. It is clearly
impossible in the twenty-first century to lead a life free from pollutants and
chemicals, but you can try to limit your exposure by cutting back on your use
of these products in your home.
There may be more specific hazards in the workplace. We know
that exposure to radiation and pesticides can have a harmful effect on the
human reproductive system and there are suggestions that other substances could
inhibit fertility, although there is not always clear scientific evidence. If
you have concerns that chemicals you use at work may be affecting your
fertility, you should talk to your doctor.
