Age and fertility
‘Am I too old to have a baby and am I running out of time?’
The truth about age and fertility - according to statistics
A person assigned female at birth is born with all the eggs she will ever have, about 1-2million eggs within the ovary at birth. Over time these run out: Starting puberty with about 500,000 eggs, reduced to 300,000 at the start of reproductive years and about 1000 when a woman enters perimenopause. Once the final egg has been released, a woman is post-menopausal. Though these numbers seem high, a woman only ovulates about 400 eggs throughout her lifetime with the remaining eggs never reaching maturity and being ‘discarded’. It takes about three months for an egg cell to mature, however they have been lying dormant within the females body throughout her childhood, early teenage years, and reproductive years. All these years, external influences such as diet, stress, lifestyle choices (smoking, vaping, recreational drugs, alcohol), and environmental toxins, are affecting the egg quality and quantity.
In contrast, a man produces about 200-300million sperm per day which then take about 90 days to mature and exit the body through ejaculation. Men are NOT born with all their sperm cells like women, thus their sperm count, and quality is largely influenced by the external factors present in the previous three months.
Taking all this into account, the best chances of conception for a woman are in her early to mid-20s, with chances of getting pregnant exponentially reducing after age 37 due to the reduction in egg quantity and the remaining eggs quality having been influenced throughout a lifetime.
What about those miracle pregnancies you hear off?
Simply put, statistics are NOT the hard and fast answer! Why? Because you are able to influence your egg and sperm quality and quantity through lifestyle, even at age 37, 38, 39, 40, and beyond! Improving the quality of eggs and sperm, as well as the environment in which the baby will grow (uterus), increases your chances of getting pregnant at any age whether naturally or through IVF treatment.
How to increase your chances of getting pregnant beyond age 37
Statistically, time is not on your side, so your time to focus on egg and sperm quality is now! The basic principles to improving egg and sperm quality are:
Reduce environmental toxins
Eat a diet high in antioxidants, including plenty of vegetables and fruit
Reduce inflammation in your body by reducing processed foods, sugar, and stress
Prioritize your sleep
Exercise regularly
Reducing environmental toxins
When thinking of environmental toxins, think broad and what is within your control. If you do currently smoke, vape, use recreational drugs, and consume alcohol, think about how you can reduce these. Ask for support from your healthcare team, a coach, or an agency to help you achieve this. Other things to think about is your use of plastics, avoiding them as much as possible, swapping your non-stick (teflon) cookware to steel or cast iron cookware, saying no to receipts as these contain harmful BPA, and being mindful of the products you use on your skin.
Nutrition
To increase your egg and sperm quality eat a diet high in antioxidants. Foods high in antioxidants include vegetables and fruit, fish, nuts and seeds. For more info on what to eat when trying to conceive, read my blog ‘What food increases fertility?’
Reducing inflammation
When talking about inflammation in regard to egg and sperm quality, we are talking about chronic inflammation. This is the type of inflammation that is constantly within our body rather than the inflammation that occurs when you injure yourself. There are many factors that influence inflammation, these include your diet, whether you sleep enough, how much you exercise, and the amount of stress you experience daily. To reduce inflammation maintain a healthy diet, ensure you are getting enough sleep, exercise regularly but not too much, and reflect on how you could reduce your stress levels. One strategy for reducing stress is to have some dedicated electronics-free time, getting into nature, and doing some conscious breathing.
Prioritize your sleep
Sleep is one of the most under-rated tools to improve fertility, egg and sperm quality, and your overall health. When you sleep, your body restores, resets, and rebalances. Sleep is crucial for hormonal health, mental health, and reproduction. Aim for 7-9 hours of good quality sleep each night. As an (in)fertility coach I most often see people jeopardise their sleep through the use of their phone, having it readily accessible on their bedside table, engaging in hours of scrolling, and overloading their brain with information. Moving your phone away from your bed, outside of easy reach, can make a tremendous difference to your sleep quantity and quality.
Exercise regularly
Personally, I prefer the word movement. When thinking about movement and fertility, aim for 30minutes of active movement at least five times a week. This could be a walk, doing housework, dancing, visiting the gym, going for a bike ride or swim. Make this movement something you genuinely enjoy! A word of caution when it comes to exercise: Yes there is such thing as over-exercising. This is usually the case when someone engages on high impact exercise multiple times a week, in combination with undereating. In these cases women will experience a change in their menstrual cycle such as anovulation and missing periods.
Getting pregnant beyond 37 is possible!
I want you to know that even though your odds of conceiving at an ‘older’ age are less, there are many things you can do to increase your odds, reduce the chances of complications, and achieve your dream of having a family. The key is to start implementing little changes now and engaging with professional support such as an (in)fertility coach early.
