Is Your Lifestyle Preventing You From Having Kids

Lifestyle has a lot to do without being able to conceive. Couples who can't conceive are just starting to get a grip on this important fact.
The factors that are known to increase the risk of both male and female infertility include many other lifestyle related matters such as smoking, drinking alcohol to excess, stress, poor diet, excessive athletic training and being overweight or underweight.
Now, in the same way that a couple can decide that they are willing to give up materialistic wealth in order to have a child at a younger age, they can also make lifestyle decisions to change or remove some of these factors which make it less likely that trying to have a baby will be successful.
For example, as reported by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, there is evidence that smoking damages a woman’s ovaries and the amount that she smokes will have a direct effect on the amount of damage being done. Furthermore, smoking accelerates the loss of eggs brought on by the advancing years, whilst 'Smoking is strongly associated with an increased risk of spontaneous miscarriage and possibly ectopic pregnancy as well.'
Consequently, it is obvious that doing something as simple as giving up smoking would significantly increase the chances of having a baby. And of course, improving your nutrition levels, giving up alcohol and maintaining a well-balanced body weight will all help as well.
Then there is the question of sexual hygiene, because it is also true that one of the major causes of infertility are sexually transmitted infections or STI's, and these are far more prevalent than most people realize.
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease is a major cause of infertility in women, and one of the biggest causes of PID is Chlamydia, which according to this site affects 1 in 10 of young British people under the age of 25.
Twenty percent of Americans have herpes are over the age of twelve. Eighty percent of people with this problem have no idea they have a STD at all.
Basically, sexually transmitted infections and diseases (many of which are not even apparent, with the carrier completely unaware that they are in fact a carrier) are one of the major causes of infertility, so monogamy and practicing safe sex is an absolute must for anyone who is serious about having a baby.
For both men and women who believe that they are infertile, making these lifestyle changes can make a huge difference to their ability to have a baby.
Whether it is giving up smoking or drinking or whether you simply need to lose or gain weight, it is a fact that changing your life can significantly influence your ability to conceive.
Consequently, for anyone who believes themselves to be infertile, making these changes should be nothing more than basic common sense.

Infertility is Not Always the Woman’s Fault

Infertility is a problem that affects millions of couples all over the world every year as they vainly struggle to create the baby for whom they are so desperate. Infertility is also a problem that can affect both partners as it is not something that is restricted to one gender or the other either.
Indeed, it's a total myth that infertility or the inability of a couple to have a baby is always a ‘woman's problem' as studies indicate that at least half of all situations where a couple have been trying for a baby and failed are in some way connected to male reproductive problems.
A further complication for couples who are trying to have a baby without success is that it is often difficult to understand why they should be failing to achieve their dreams. It is not always completely straightforward to establish that one or the other partner has a genuine infertility problem without seeking medical attention, and given that there is perhaps a degree of embarrassment attached to doing so, this does not always happen.
On the other hand, as you will discover later, the number of couples who do seek medical attention for fertility problems that then conceive almost immediately is surprising high. Being embarrassed is clearly not the only possible reaction to having to seek medical attention for infertility!
In fact, according to the US statistics, approximately one third of infertility problems are caused by female difficulties, whilst another one third can be ‘blamed' on the man.
Nevertheless, even though men and women are about equally responsible for infertility problems, it is estimated that approximately 10% of women in the USA (just over 6 million people) do have fertility problems according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) section of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
The percentages of infertility problems that can be ascribed to one partner or the other vary from one country to country too. For example, in the UK, 25% of the problems are caused by male difficulties, 50% are caused by female difficulties with 25% having no known cause. And unlike the US figures, the percentage of infertile couples who both suffered difficulties is only 10% in Sweden, so statistics do vary from country to country.
However, on a worldwide basis, it is believed that around one in every seven couples has difficulties conceiving with data from most countries indicating that irrespective of development levels and the standard of living, the ratio seems to hold fairly stable.
In approximately 20% of cases where infertility is a problem, both the male and female have reproductive system difficulties whilst in the final 10% of apparent infertility situations, there is no cause that can be found. Age increases the possibility of infertility as well, so this is another factor that needs to be taken into account.
So there goes that myth!