Moderation here, as in all things, is the key. You should certainly be drinking less than the recommended upper limit of 14 units a week for women, and it is often advised that women who are trying to conceive should give up alcohol altogether. This may be a good idea. but for some women it is not an entirely realistic proposition, particularly if it ends up taking some years to get pregnant. Most of us enjoy an occasional social drink with friends or a glass of wine with a meal, and if you can restrict yourself to this, it is not likely to damage your fertility. Research suggests that women who drink more than five units of alcohol a week take longer to get pregnant, and the general advice if you're trying to conceive is to limit yourself to one or two units once or twice a week.
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| Caffeine And Infertility |
It is clear that excess and binge drinking have a negative effect on female fertility, and can lead to irregular periods or anovulatory menstruation (which means you still have periods but you are not actually ovulating). It is not just the alcohol itself that causes problems, but also the impact it has on your overall health. Women who drink too much often don't sleep or eat properly, and it can affect your sex life. If your partner is drinking more than three units a day, this can reduce his sperm quality too.
When you're trying to work out whether you may be drinking too much, you should be clear exactly what constitutes a unit of alcohol. Generally a unit is one level of spirits, a half-pint of beer or a glass of wine. However, many bars and restaurants now serve wine in large glasses, and these usually contain at least two units.
Alcohol can also increase the risk of miscarriage once you get pregnant, and one of the biggest dangers to the baby if the mother drinks during pregnancy is foetal alcohol syndrome, which can cause mental handicap.
Caffeine
It has been claimed that just one cup of coffee a day can reduce your fertility by half, but the evidence is not consistent when it comes to the link between caffeine consumption and infertility. Consuming very large quantities of caffeine is not a good idea anyway, and the crucial level seems to be around 300mg a day, which means your caffeine intake could possibly cause problems if you drink more than three or four cups of coffee, six cups of tea or eight cans of cola in a day. One study found that women who drink more than five cups of coffee a day were at greater risk of miscarriage. Despite the conflicting evidence, it makes sense not to drink too many caffeinated drinks if you are trying to lead a healthy lifestyle.
Recreational drugs
You wouldn't if you were pregnant, so don't if you're trying. Recreational drugs may be a part of many women's social lives nowadays, but they can reduce your fertility and increase your chances of miscarriage. Marijuana, often seen as the acceptable face of recreational drugs, can be particularly damaging to both male and female fertility.
It is worth noting here that if your male partner uses anabotic steroids, he may be seriously impairing his chances of having a child. Anabolic steroids can have some pretty horrid effects on the male reproductive organs,
causing testicles to shrink and sperm production to be reduced or to come to a complete halt. Although these effects can usually be reversed once the drugs are stopped, this is not always the case if high doses of anabolic steroids have been taken for some time.
Prescription drugs
You should check whether any prescription or over-the-counter drugs that you use on a regular basis might have an effect on your fertility. Some non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as Ibuprofen, can affect ovulation. Thyroid replacement hormones, antidepressants, tranquilizers and asthma medication have all been linked to fertility problems. For men, some antibiotics, antihistamines, antimalarial drugs, blood-pressure treatments and arthritis drugs may cause problems. If you, or your partner, are taking any medication on a regular basis, it is worth checking that it isn't going to affect your chances of getting pregnant. To find out more, you can check out Caffeine And Infertility.
