Stop smoking, cut down on alcohol and lose a bit of weight… sound like familiar get-pregnant advice? Most of us know these factors affect fertility, but there are quite a few surprising things affecting your fertility, without you even realising...
1. Not having a pensionAs well as guaranteeing a financially secure future, there's another reason having a pension is good for you – it boosts your fertility. Research from Japan shows that regardless of salary, fertility rates are significantly higher in people with a pension. Author of the study, Leran Wang from Keio University, says that this could be because people who know they have funds available for later in life are more likely to feel financially secure and raise more children.
2. Male obesityYou probably know that a woman's BMI has a lot to do with her fertility, but did you know a man's fertility can also hampered by his? RH Nguyen at the National Institutes of Health found that overweight men are 20% more likely to be infertile than men with a low to normal BMI, while obese men were 36% more likely to be infertile. The increased infertility rates were down to the increased amount of adipose tissue (aka fat) in overweight and obese men. Having too much fat can lead to biological changes like a decrease in testosterone production, reduced sperm motility and increased sperm DNA fragmentation.
3. Drinking too much coffeeAccording to the latest NICE guidelines, there's no consistent evidence of an association between caffeinated drinks and fertility problems...BUT they do say that women who drink caffeinated drinks have a significantly reduced success rates when using assisted reproduction techniques, such as IVF.
Indeed, a study from the Emory University School of Medicine in the US showed that it may be beneficial for people undergoing IVF to stop drinking coffee beforehand to boost their chances of mature eggs being harvested. Patients who consumed less than 100mg of caffeine a day had a significantly higher number of mature oocytes (eggs) harvested than those who consumed 100mg or more caffeine a day.
4. Not getting enough seleniumYou might have heard about vitamin D's link to fertility, but what about the mineral selenium? A study carried out in Turkey in 2013 showed that women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) – which is known to affect fertility potential – had significantly lower levels of selenium than women without PCOS. The researchers say that this correlation may be related to hyperandrogenism, or excess male hormones, which is a common symptom of PCOS.
"Further studies with larger populations are warranted to establish the relationship between selenium and PCOS," the team wrote in the European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology.
Better safe than sorry, we say: boost your chances and make sure you are following a selenium-rich diet, by stocking up on Brazil nuts, liver, seafood, and fish, such as tuna.
5. Being a surgeon – or having any physically demanding jobSpecific, yes, but worth knowing all the same. A 2014 study from Boston Medical Center found that 32% of female surgeons report difficulties with fertility and most of them – a whopping 84% – use assistive reproductive technologies (ART), including fertility treatment, artificial insemination, IVF and surrogacy to get pregnant. In comparison, only 10.9% of women in the general US population are infertile and only 11% use ART.
Female surgeons also have fewer children than the national average and are older when they have their first child. Previous research carried out by the same team showed that female surgeons are also more likely to have complications in pregnancy.
"As surgeons tend to delay childbirth and have physically demanding careers, these findings were not surprising," the study's authors wrote in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. "In fact, women in non-medical fields who have physically demanding jobs have been shown to carry increased risks for infertility and pregnancy as well."
But this doesn't mean you have to hand in your notice if you want to have a baby. Find ways of relieving stress and tiredness that work for you at the end of a busy day, whether it be catching up with family or friends over the phone, unwinding with your favourite meal or having a long soak in the bath – just make sure you have a stress relief structure in place.
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