Healthytalk8 There are many reasons for not getting pregnant or certain things that can make it hard to get pregnant.
Pregnancy, also known as gestation, is the time during which one or more baby develops inside a woman’s womb.
It is estimated that 1 in 8 couples (or 12% of married women) have trouble getting pregnant (1).
Not getting pregnant can happen due to medical issues, or some non-medical conditions.
Here are the top 10 unexpected reasons why you are not getting pregnant.
Stress
Contents
Research has shown that stress is one of the factors that can affect being pregnant.
However, 2019 in the moderate stress study showed no negative effect on women when they try to conceive.
To reduce stress doing lifestyle changes, consult with a doctor, eat healthily, if you are overweight, then lose weight, etc.
Research has shown that mind/body therapy has been proven a successful way to reduce stress and increase pregnancy rates (2)
Another study found that women with high levels of perceived stress experienced lower levels of fertility than those with less stress (3).
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Age
Fertility naturally declines with age, and having a baby later in life can increase the risk for pregnancy complications.
Age affects both male and women infertility were in men, low sperm quantity and quality, and in women number of eggs decreases occur.
Women have a fixed number of eggs in their ovaries, and this number of eggs decreases as women get older.
Also, the remaining eggs in older women are more likely to have abnormal chromosomes (4).
A women’s idle reproductive years are b/w the late teens and late 20s, and by the age of 30 fertility starts to decline, and after 45 there is no possibility does not exist.
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Medical conditions
Many women around the world have medical conditions that may affect their ability to become pregnant (5).
There are some medical conditions that can hinder you from getting pregnant including:
- polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
- endometriosis
- primary ovarian insufficiency (POI)
The study showed that this condition may also be allied with pregnancy-related complications such as miscarriage, early birth, and preeclampsia.
A study where women with medical conditions were included shows that it may affect fertility, allied with pregnancy-related issues (6).
Sperm related
The quality of sperm is directly linked to his health, there are many factors that affect a man’s sperm including:
- Obesity
- alcohol
- smoking
- stress
- type of underpants he wears
- poor diet
- live with pollution like in factories, traffic police, etc
Researchers indicated a link between high levels of sperm DNA fragmentation and recurrent miscarriage (7).
Research has shown that recurrent miscarriages seem to involve the male having a high incidence of normal chromosomes in his sperm.
Men’s low count, insufficient motility, and unusual shape sperm can be the reason for recurrent miscarriage (8).
So make sure to consult your doctor, they may consider your lifestyle changes, and if is medical issues, they may recommend other treatment.
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Endometriosis
It is estimated that endometriosis has been affecting up to 10–15% of reproductive-aged women (9).
Endometriosis is a condition where the lining of the uterus is present outside the uterus (10).
It can be in the tubes in the ovary, in the other parts of the intestine, pelvis, etc.
One of the dangerous signs of endometriosis in infertility up to 40% of women have difficulty conceiving if they have endometriosis. Dr. Shefali says.
Research has shown that women with mild endometriosis have been shown to have a significantly lower probability of pregnancy over 3 years than women with unexplained fertility.
But even though, a 2014 study showed that 2 to 10% of couples with endometriosis succeeded in becoming pregnant.
Ovulation Issues
It is a process where the mature egg is released from the ovary.
After it’s released, the egg moves down the fallopian tube and stays there for 12 to 24 hours, where it can be fertilized (11).
Ovulation problems can happen because of hormonal imbalances like hyperprolactinemia or sometimes the woman may not release the egg despite the egg growing normally and the egg doesn’t get released.
If you are not ovulating it is nearly very hard to become pregnant, in this case, you need to talk to the fertility specialist
Lifestyle factors
Poor lifestyle can affect both men’s and women’s fertility which leads to low sperm count in men, and in women may lead to other issues.
Unhealthy lifestyles, due to which you are facing difficulty in getting pregnant such as:
- Poor diet
- lack of exercise
- smoking
- emotional disturb
- obesity or underweight
If you fall for these reasons then you should do hard work on your body and habits, like reducing overweight, stopping smoking, etc.
In addition, living with chronic stress, experiencing trauma, or having insomnia and other sleep issues can reduce fertility (12).
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Blockage of fallopian Tubes
A tubal blockage is one of the most important factors for female infertility (13).
The fallopian tube is the passage for sperm to get to the eggs, as well as the path back to the uterus for the fertilized egg.
Research has shown that blocking fallopian tubes won’t affect fertility, because an egg can still go to the unaffected fallopian tube.
But if both tubes are fully blocked, pregnancy without treatment will be impossible (14).
The most common cause of tubal blockage is an infection, scar tissue, fibroids, and pelvic adhesions (15).
Cancer or past treatment
Women who receive abdominal or directed pelvic radiation therapy at high doses are at a greater risk of infertility (16).
Cancer is a group of cells involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body (17).
Many other studies have shown that pelvic radiation can permanently damage the uterine, this may increase the risk of miscarriage, pregnancy loss, early birth, etc.
Cancer treatment can affect both men’s and women’s fertility, even permanently according to the cancer org.
Chemotherapy can affect the ovaries, causing them to stop releasing eggs and estrogen, this condition is called primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) (18).
Despite these reasons how do get pregnant?
All these possible reasons can come under medical conditions or may be a reason for your unhealthy lifestyle.
Doctors will first diagnose what causes of not getting pregnant whether it is male or female is a reason.
Once the reason is found then medical treatment or surgical approach is applied for the correction of the problem.
If a couple falls in the category of unexplained infertility so the doctor may ask them to wait and try for a couple of months.
If it doesn’t work then a specialist would suggest going for IVF which will really help them to get pregnant in this condition.
BOTTOM LINE
If your month keep going and you are not getting pregnant, then you should consult a fertility specialist, which will tell you a solution.
Not only women are the reasons for infertility, but 40% of infertile couples, but there’s also a problem with men along with women.
If there are no medical causes for not getting pregnant, then a specialist can tell you to adopt a healthy lifestyle, like do exercise, a healthy diet, etc
