UNHEALTHY HABITS AFFECTING FERTILITY IN BOTH MALE AND FEMALE

Infertility affects about 9% of married women who are of childbearing age, according to a national survey conducted by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. While couples can’t control all of the causes of infertility, they can control their habits.

OBESITY

The first and the foremost thing they can do is to maintain a healthy weight by having a balanced diet. An unhealthy diet leads to obesity in women which may be one of the reasons for miscarriage. On the other hand, obsessed men may lose the level of testosterone which may further result in impaired sperm production.

CONSUMPTION OF TOBACCO

Reasons for consumption are wide-ranging from stress to peer pressure. The noteworthy point here is that either cigarette or tobacco, both contain nicotine and metals like cadmium and lead which harm the density of sperm. Cigarette damages the DNA of sperm whereas chewing tobacco affects the structure of sperm.

 In women, the eggs are depleted prematurely that is, the ovaries age quite early or fallopian tube gets damaged and the blockage leads to trouble in the mating of the egg and the sperm. There are adequate chances of ectopic pregnancy which further may lead to miscarriage.


CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL

 Alcohol consumption is common in fashion but everything worth comes with a payback. A large amount of consumption can lead to hormonal imbalance in women leading to disturbed menstrual cycle which further troubles a couple while conception. 

Similarly, in men, excessive alcohol consumption leads to distorted and weak sperm count and release respectively. That makes the sperm unable to travel the distance till the egg thus closing the mating window.


ENGAGING IN UNSAFE SEX 

Hormonal birth control methods may prevent pregnancy, but they don’t prevent Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD). Therefore, it is suggested to have safe and protected sex using condoms. STD is one of the most common causes of infertility in women whereas there lie very scanty chances in men to become infertile because of this. 

Women carry the infection for longer duration as the symptoms are not visible too early in contrary to the case of men as they are treated almost as early into transmission because of the prevalent symptoms. 

If left untreated as it usually is in women due to lack of early symptoms, the infection wreaks havoc with their reproductive system. Some STDs, including syphilis and herpes, can endanger a pregnancy or the baby at birth. In the worst-case scenario, these STDs can lead to miscarriage or infant death.​

The takeaway therefore can be that habits aren’t easy to change especially the bad ones. So the onus lies on the individual to break the troubling habits into smaller doable changes every day. Not to forget, nothing can be achieved all at once! Remember, one step at a time.