If you are also facing trouble in conceiving then you must be pondering upon the question “Why women become infertile”. There are a number of reasons for infertility in women. We will discuss the 8 major reasons which affect a women’s fertility.
Let’s start off on this with some major facts:
- According to WHO every 1/4 couple developing countries were affected by infertility.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 6.7% of married women, age around 15-44 in the U.S are infertile.
- Pollutants, pesticides, and industrial chemical compounds can decrease the conceiving ability of women up to 29%.
Infertility means incapable of reproducing or trying to get pregnant with no success.
CDC estimated that 10% of women have difficulty getting pregnant or staying pregnant.
Infertility is one of the toughest medical issues for women as there are many causes behind it, like about 30% of infertility cases are caused by an ovulation cycle disorder.
There are many causes of infertility, which can affect women’s odds of having a healthy baby like;
8 Reasons Why Women Become Infertile
You came here for your answer to “Why women become infertile”, here are 8 reasons that we found impact the most.
1. Overweight and Underweight:
WHO estimated normal BMI is 18.5 -24 kg/m2, greater than 25 kg/m2 considered as overweight and greater than 30 kg/m2 is considered as obesity and less than 18 kg/m2 is considered as underweight.
Obesity is the world’s important health issue that connects with many social, psychological, demographic and health problems. Obesity plays an important role in reproductive women associated with inoculation, miscarriage, menstrual disorder, infertility, and adverse pregnancy outcome.
Obesity causes hormone imbalance, which can lead to insulin resistance that opens the road of diabetes and infertility, causes abnormal menstrual cycle or lead to inoculation, and miscarriages.
As compared to overweight, being underweight is more problematic because an unhealthy body can not make enough estrogen and causes irregular menstrual cycle.
So, being overweight and underweight also contributes to the reason why women become infertile.
2. Age:
Age-related infertility becomes more common in today’s society because men and women both are running on the future making roads.
Reproductive potential decreases with the age in women. Time and biology to get pregnant are best in early puberty till the late twenties. fertility started a decline in the 30s, in fact, older women are harder to get pregnant, even after all medical intervention.
This is not to say you should rush to get pregnant in your 20s or you can not conceive in the 30s, but the thing is egg quality declines with the age, which often leads to difficulty in conceiving, abnormal childbirth and higher chances of miscarriages.
Although some older women are still able to conceive even in a much older age, but this is not the case for everyone. There are a number of factors which can also effect this as well. Like for example in some regions of this world probability of conceiving still remains higher. Age is also a growing factor on why women become infertile in our societies today.
3. Family history:
Family history of infertility is not the biggest factor but in some cases, it plays an effective role.
Ovulation disorder and polycystic ovarian syndrome (POCS) are two main higher inherited infertility problems, as POCS can prevent women’s ability to conceive and does tend to run in families.
If your mom faced these infertility problems then you should see a reproductive endocrinologist.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) explain infertility as the inability to get pregnant after one year of unprotected sexual intercourse for women under 35 age, and not to get conceived within six months for women over 35 age.
4. Chemicals and radiations:
According to the Environmental Health Perspectives study, Pollutant, pesticides and industrial chemical compounds can decrease the conceiving ability of women up to 29%.
The researchers are quite confident that metals and chemicals in the air, water, food and health- and- beauty products are containing toxicants like PCBs, pesticides, plastics (phthalates found in nail polish and perfumes) and byproducts of industries combustion causing women’s infertility problems.
I know what your thinking, how does chemical radiation impacts on why women become infertile. This is because radiations from medical diagnostic machines (X-ray, CT scan, MRI) and mobile rays have an impact on fertility if you expose excessively. Ionizing radiation causes gonadotoxic action with a long-term effect which includes ovarian insufficiency, pubertal arrest, and subsequent infertility.
5. Smoking and Alcohol:
According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, Smoking causes 13% infertility cases in women, which also affects genetic fertility too.
Smoke contains nicotine, cyanide, and carbon monoxide which are also found in cigarettes. It increases the loss of eggs and the infertility problems with the increasing number of cigarettes you smoked. Because smoking destructs genetic material in egg and sperms and also increases the off-spring birth defect rate, unhealthy pregnancy, miscarriage, and ectopic pregnancy.
It is still unknown how alcohol causes infertility but doctors caution against drinking alcohol reduces the chances of getting pregnant and increases the time of conceiving or having a healthy baby and maximizes ovulation disorder.
6. Excessive Exercise:
Daily Express warned that “Excessive Gym workout can hit pregnancy hope.”
The research study found that high-intensity workout had a lower rate of fertility and also concluded that women who were active most days of the week were 3.2 times more likely to be infertile than the lazy women.
Normally, the progesterone level is high in the luteal phase to allow fertilized egg for attachment to the uterine wall. Low levels of progesterone due to excessive exercise can interfere with fertilized egg implantation, which can be the cause of infertility.
Irregular periods and impair ovulation is mostly seen in super-active women rather than normal healthy and lazy women.
7. Thyroid disease:
The study published by The Obstetrician and Gynecologist proposed that Thyroid disorder can contribute to ovulation and pregnancy problems, and recommend that women having trouble conceiving be tested for an over-or underactive thyroid.
Hypothyroidism can cause an irregular menstrual cycle and oligomenorrhea and other problems. It is also studied that hypothyroidism can cause cyst forming in ovaries, which can interfere with fertility problems.
8. Medical conditions:
There are many reasons that make couples to have difficulty in conceiving a child, like;
- Endometriosis: It is a condition in which the innermost lining of the uterus grows and functions outside the uterus. It may be one of the causes of painful menstrual and infertility.
- Reproductive tract infection: STDs are becoming the leading cause of infertility in women and men. Chlamydia and N.gonorrhoeae are common STDs infection, which is treatable but carelessness can lead to infertility.
- Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID): STDs is also the common cause of the PID, It is an infection of women’s upper reproductive system which involves fallopian tube, uterus, and ovaries. A single episode of PID can cause approximately 15% risk of infertility.
- Ovulation disorder: It is a group of different disorders like POCS, Hypothalamic dysfunction, Premature ovarian failure, and excessive prolactin.
Q. Can anxiety and stress stop you from getting pregnant?
There is no evidence found that anxiety and stress cause infertility. Infertility itself stress and women who have trouble conceiving often believe that their own stress is making it harder to conceive.
Q. What are the common signs of infertility?
Symptoms include;
- Pain during sex.
- Heavy and painful menses.
- Dark or pale menstrual blood.
- Irregular period cycle.
- Gaining weight.
- Any medical condition.
These signs may also include many medical conditions, so take it seriously and see good doctor.
Takeaway:
Infertility is a common and serious problem that affects every 12-13 couples out of 100. Female fertility causes can be hard to diagnose and many alternative treatments are available, which stand on hope.