More and more couples experience issues with fertility in the modern world, especially in the Western hemisphere. It is a tragedy that has been studied and unfortunately there is only a few explanations that are just assumptions, and not proven causation relationships.
In 2017 the World Health Organization described current knowledge of male infertility as “very low”, a relative ignorance that has since been acknowledged by many medical bodies throughout the world.
The topic of infertility that would lead the humankind to extinction has become the mainstay of dystopian science fiction. Our world is afflicted by widespread infertility and childless civilizations are left hovering on the brink of collapse. Children of Men and The Handmaid’s Tale provide perfect examples of these unsettling narratives.
Important Things to Know
The top 3 reasons believed to explain why infertility is on the rise are:
- We are having children later in life
In 2015, the average age of all women who had babies was 30.3 years, up from 29.7 a decade earlier. In addition there has been a slide in women under 25 giving birth, and an increase in women over 35 giving birth.
Over the same 10-year period, the average age of first-time mothers also increased by almost a year, to 28.9 years.
This is a complex, societal trend, and not as straight forward as women simply choosing to have children later as is often reported in the media.
Both men and women are staying in formal education for longer periods, are more burdened by debt, are entering marriage and partnerships later, and in turn are starting families later too.
While some women choose to have children later, in my experience it’s often not the women’s choice at all, but rather a societal expectation that women now can, or should, have children later.
There has been a change in society’s expectations of women, and a lack of support for women to become mothers earlier in life.
Male partners can often delay the decision to have children because there’s a lack of urgency for them – I often see women staying in relationships with men who aren’t ready for children, and may not be aware of the difficulties they will face when they finally are ready.
While the age at which people are having children is increasing, the biology of conception hasn’t changed, and the chances of conception for women decrease quickly after 35.
By the age of 43 the chances of a woman conceiving with her own eggs is about 5%, and by 45 that chance decreases to 1%.
- The environment is decreasing fertility
It’s not all about women. Male fertility deteriorates later in life too, with older men less likely to conceive, and some studies showing that the quality of sperm after 40 can contribute to genetic mutations. A recently released 38-year study also showed that sperm count has declined significantly since the 1970s, which suggests both environmental and lifestyle factors. The decline is ongoing with an average rate of decline of 1.4% every year.
We are also becoming increasingly aware of other environmental factors such as men using laptops, overheating and environmental factors including plastics, but these are harder to quantify and more research is needed to fully understand their impact.
- Lifestyle factors are having an impact
In addition to age and environmental factors, the western lifestyle is also reducing the general fertility rates. Smoking and being either over-weight or significantly under-weight are known to have the biggest impact on fertility and the chances of conception. Poor nutrition, increased BMI, smoking and excessive alcohol and drug use are also major factors contributing to infertility that have been researched in the last decade.
The good news: these factors are controllable, and we see many patients every year, who are able to conceive with very little assistance once they have made lifestyle modifications.
Get the Care You Deserve
Here, at the Family Naturopathic Clinic, we approach infertility from multiple angles: we use acupuncture to rebalance the flow of energy through the meridians. We employ herbs (medicinal tinctures) to help and replenish the hormonal system. We add some supplements that we think the couple should be on for a few months. We tweak the diet so the couple can have the best chance possible with a clean, nourishing diet.