These can all have adverse effects on your fertility, and make you more likely to miscarry or to have problems with the pregnancy when you conceive. If you are a smoker, try to give up, and if your partner smokes, get him to stop too. Smoking, and even passive smoking, has been clearly linked with reduced fertility. Heavy alcohol consumption, binge drinking and recreational drugs can all have an impact on your fertility too.
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| Woman Trying To Get Pregnant |
Do you lead a healthy lifestyle?
Eating healthily and taking regular exercise will help keep your body in good physical condition, which will maximize your chances of conceiving. You don't have to sign yourself up for a punishing fitness regime to reap the benefits of exercise, particularly if you tend to be a bit of a couch potato. All you need is regular gentle exercise to increase your physical strength and stamina, and it can also improve your general well-being. Trying to ensure you have a healthy diet is often difficult when you lead a busy life, but if you can manage to eat healthily you are more likely to be getting the essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals that help your reproductive system to work properly.
How old was your mother at her menopause?
If you know that your mother had a very early or late menopause this may have a bearing on your own fertility. It is believed that there is often a genetic link when it comes to the biological clock, and that your own menopause may be early or late depending on your mother's experience.
Home testing
You can now buy tests, from a pharmacy or online, that aim to help you assess your own fertility. They check your hormone levels to try to give you an idea of the quality and quantity of eggs remaining in your ovaries, known as the ovarian reserve. Some use a simple urine test that can be done in the privacy of your own home, and give an instant result. Others involve a blood test that has to be sent away to a laboratory for analysis.
The tests work by measuring your levels of FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone), which is an indicator of the ovarian reserve. When the ovaries are full of good quality eggs, your body doesn't have to work particularly hard to ripen and release them, but as the eggs get older and their numbers decline, the body has to produce higher levels of FSH to help them on their way. Some tests also measure inhibin B and anti-Mullerian hormone, (AMH) as low levels of these hormones may suggest a poor ovarian reserve.
Although these hormone levels can give some indication of ovarian reserve, they often fluctuate from cycle to cycle. One test alone may not give a particularly accurate picture of what is happening in your ovaries, and for this reason some of these products include two tests so that you can check your initial findings. The tests can be expensive, and if you are really worried that you may be approaching the menopause, you may be better off going to see your doctor and having tests done professionally.
It is also important to remember that a test result indicating a good ovarian reserve doesn't give you the green light to assume that you will get pregnant if you wait another two, or three, or five years before you try to have a baby. Although they may be useful at alerting you to a problem with your eggs, the tests can't assess other aspects of your fertility. It is quite possible to have a good outcome and yet to find that there may be other factors that could make it difficult for you to get pregnant naturally. To find out more, you can check out Woman Trying To Get Pregnant.
