In the UK, around one in every four couples planning to have a baby will have trouble conceiving, and many will eventually turn to fertility treatments.

Infertility may be down to any number of different causes, often more than one, and for many couples it’s difficult to pinpoint the cause. And although it’s often believed that infertility primarily affects women, in fact the problem is evenly split between men and women, with some research suggesting that men are slightly more likely to experience fertility problems than women.

Am I Infertile?

Before you panic, however, consider this: optimally fertile couples often take up to a year to conceive, and you’re only considered to have fertility problems if you haven’t conceived after a full year of unprotected sex. So for some couples, taking longer to conceive doesn’t necessarily mean you’re infertile, but rather that you have low fertility – which means that you can take steps to improve your fertility by minimising the effects of some common causes of infertility.

Read on to find out more about some of the possible causes of infertility.

Possible Causes of Infertility That Affect Both Men and Women’s Fertility

• Being overweight or obese. Research shows overweight people are 30% less likely to conceive. You’re most at risk if you carry most of your weight around your stomach and waist – “apple shaped”. To find out why, Click Here. 

• Being underweight also affects fertility, although this is especially true for women, for whom being too thin can lead to the body stopping ovulating.

• Smoking. Smoking ages you, and that includes your reproductive system, so you’ll find it harder to conceive. Even secondhand smoke affects fertility dramatically.

• STIs. Several sexually transmitted infections can cause infertility for both men and women, many of them without causing any other symptoms, so it’s important to get tested. Chlamydia, the most common type of STI, damages women’s fallopian tubes so the eggs can’t get to the sperm, and affects men’s fertility too. To find out more about Chlamydia, Click Here.

• Being exposed to toxic chemicals. Both men and women who are exposed to substances like pesticides and metals at work or at home may experience fertility problems.

• Stress. Stress can affect your relationship and reduce your sex drive, so you’ll have sex less often – but severe stress can also lower sperm count among men and stop or disrupt women’s ovulating. To find out more about the physical health risks of stress, Click Here. 

• Excessive alcohol intake. Not only will alcohol reduce your chances of getting pregnant, it could also be very dangerous for your baby if you do fall pregnant and are not yet aware of it – that’s why experts warn women trying for a baby not to exceed 4 units a week. To find out more about the health risks of drinking too much alcohol, Click Here. 

• Long-term medications. Several medications, including taking high doses of anti-inflammatory drugs and everyday painkillers like ibuprofen or aspirin can make it more difficult to conceive.

• Narcotic Drug use. Drugs such as cocaine and marijuana significantly lower fertility for both men and women, affecting sperm quality and count for men, and ovulation and the fallopian tubes for women.

• Excessive caffeine. Research shows drinking more than 3 cups of caffeinated drinks a day could decrease your fertility, but watch out for hidden caffeine in hot chocolate, cola, chocolate and more. 

• Lubricants. Apart from some lubricants containing spermicide, some common lubes including KY decrease the ability of sperm to fertilise the egg by messing with the cervical mucus.

Possible Causes of Infertility For Women

• Age. As women increasingly delay having children until later in life, infertility problems are becoming more widespread. From your mid-30s, your fertility starts to decrease rapidly and your egg quality lessens. In your 20s, you’re on average twice as fertile as you will be in your late 30s.

• Ovulation problems. For women, the most common causes of infertility are linked to the woman’s ovaries producing and releasing eggs, when the body starts releasing eggs less frequently or stops producing them at all – or if the egg quality is poor. Some possible reasons for this include having an overactive or underactive thyroid (which prevents ovulation), ovarian cancer, polycystic ovary syndrome – which hampers the ovaries making eggs – and premature ovarian failure, which is when the ovaries stop working before a woman enters her 40s.

• Hormone imbalances or deficiencies can also lead to irregular ovulation or stop ovulating altogether.

• Serious illnesses like cancer and HIV/AIDS can cause ovulation problems, and chemotherapy can sometimes cause permanent ovarian failure, meaning that your ovaries will no longer produce any eggs.

• Fallopian tube problems. The fallopian tubes are the tubes connecting the ovaries to the womb, so if they are damaged the eggs will have trouble reaching the womb. The tubes can be damaged by surgery, pelvic inflammatory disease, damaged tube ends or endometriosis.

• Uterus problems. The uterus is where the fertilised egg is implanted to grow, and if the uterus is dysfunctional they can’t attach themselves. Non cancerous tumours in the womb’s lining, called fibroids, can prevent fertilised eggs attaching themselves, and both endometriosis and endometritis affect the lining of the uterus too.

• Cervical problems. Problems with the cervical mucus can make it difficult for sperm to survive and fertilise the egg.

• Cervical surgery can cause scarring and make it more difficult to conceive.

• Eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, or having had them in the past, can lower your fertility. To find out more about eating disorders, Click Here.

….And One Thing That Won’t Cause Infertility For Women

• The contraceptive pill. Contrary to popular belief, research shows that your fertility springs back to normal within months of coming off the pill. “It’s a common myth that the Pill will cause infertility and lots of research has shown that it doesn’t,” says Dr Catherine Hood, the Sunday Mirror’s Sex Doctor. “What people often find is that they come off the Pill and suddenly their periods become irregular, and that’s because the Pill actually stops your natural menstrual cycle, and masks the fact that naturally you have an irregular cycle. Bear in mind that as you get older, your natural fertility falls anyway so a lot of women will tend to be on the pill and are only ready to start a family in their mid 30s, and are finding their natural fertility may have fallen by that stage, which has nothing to do with the Pill.” To find out more about the contraceptive pill, Click Here.

Possible Causes of Infertility For Men

• Age. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not just women whose fertility starts falling at 35 – that’s the age when fertility begins dropping for men too. To find out more, Click Here.

• Sperm and semen problems. The majority of cases on infertility among men are caused by abnormal semen. Usually this is down to a low sperm count, meaning that there is a decreased number of sperm in the semen, or even none at all. It can also be a problem if the sperm has less mobility and finds it harder to swim to the egg. It’s also possible for the sperm to be an abnormal shape, making it more difficult to fertilise the egg. These problems sometimes cannot be explained, but there are some common causes. Medicines and drugs are a big preventable cause of low sperm count, and long term use can sometimes cause permanent infertility. Some culprits include steroids, chemotherapy medicines and anti-inflammatories.

• Testicle problems. Since your testicles are where sperm is produced, having damaged testicles can be a major problem and affects sperm count and quality. This can be caused by testicular cancer, testicular infections and surgery.

• Ejaculation problems. There are several reasons men may find it difficult to ejaculate, including stress. It could also be down to a range of physical causes, including blocked ejaculatory ducts, or retrograde ejaculation, which is where men ejaculate into their bladders.

• Epididymis problems. These are the tubes that carry the sperm from the testes, and when blocked the sperm can’t get to the egg. This can often be corrected with surgery.

• Hot baths. Scientists say this is more than a myth – research shows hot baths lower sperm count and decrease sperm mobility. To find out more, Click Here.

• Some childhood diseases and infections, including mumps and varicoceles, although this is controversial

Various alcohol and drug rehab programs are available to treat addiction and substance abuse.

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