FActs! for your fertility!

What is fertility?

• This is the ability to conceive a baby.

What is infertility?

• We talk about infertility when trying for a baby for 12 months with no success. Infertility can also be diagnosed without trying for a baby if there are specific medical conditions.

Women: Women are born with all their eggs. The quality and quantity of eggs decrease with age – there is a sharp drop after 35 and an even sharper one after 40 years of age.

Men: Male fertility is also affected by age. The sperm quality and motility start to decrease after 40 years of age.

In men, alcohol can lower testosterone levels and decrease sperm counts. In women, alcohol can prevent conception and is linked to early pregnancy loss.
In men, smoking and vaping damage sperm and decrease sperm count and motility. In women, smoking and vaping damage eggs and decrease their quality.

Sexually transmitted infections (STI) can damage the human reproductive organs. STI are spread through sex, usually if a condom is not used. If these diseases are diagnosed and treated early, the permanent damage to fertility can be avoided. However, any delay might lead to irreversible damage.

How do I know if I have a STI? If you are in doubt, you should get tested. The best way to protect yourself is to always use a condom.

Obesity in men can lead to poor sperm quality. In women it can lead to ovulations (and, as a result, menstrual periods) occurring less frequently or stopping altogether. Severely underweight women can experience the same problems as women with obesity, such as ovulations and menstrual periods occurring less frequently or stopping altogether.

Excessive physical exercise is not good for the body. In women this can lead to a longer menstrual cycle and even a stop in periods. There are indications that intense physical exercise might be bad for sperm quality in men.

Narcotic drugs can suppress ovulation in women. Marijuana causes low sperm count, damage sperm motility and quality in men. Even occasional use of cocaine permanently damages the sperm quantity and quality. If your doctor has prescribed you a medicine with similar effect, it is good to discuss the effect of the medicine with them.

Anabolic steroids taken to increase muscle mass lower the production of testosterone and can cause infertility in men. While this effect is usually reversible,in some cases the damage may be irreversible.

Infertility may be very stressful for the couple, but just relaxing or taking vitamins will not treat it. The way to diagnose the causes of infertility and to treat this condition is to seek help from a fertility doctor.

The couple should seek medical help after trying for 1 year without success. If the woman is older than 35 years, the couple is recommended to see a fertility specialist already after 6 months of trying to conceive. If there are some known medical conditions, it’s better to see a doctor even sooner. Same sex couples and single women may seek medical help when they want to have children.

In about 30% of infertility cases the cause is female-related, in about 30% of cases it is male-related and in the remaining 30% of cases there are both female and male causes for infertility. 15 to 20% of people of reproductive age in Europe experience infertility.