Infertility Levels Rising
People who are struggling with infertility at the moment know that you wouldn’t want to wish infertility on your worst enemy – but there are people who see increasing infertility as positive news for an already overpopulated planet. Because peoplewith impaired fertility are breeding (pardon the crass nature of the word), their offspring are susceptible to also experiencing fertility problems. If it were left up to nature, those who had problems conceiving wouldn’t have children, and those with fewer fertility problems would have a great number of children, thus increasing fertility levels all round. And of course this only concerns fertility problems that are passed on from generation to generation. Tight underwear, for instance, is not genetic. in all fairness, the fact that women are having babies later in life, combined with the prevalence of STDs, will most likely have more of an impact on fertility than IVF treatments.
You can also speak about infertility levels in terms of individuals, rather than about the infertility levels of groups of people. Each individual’s own fertility levels are different, dependant on their lifestyle (and other factors).
According to some researchers in Utah, a woman’s build can tell you something about her level of fertility. We often hear ladies complain about their wide hips. Tell her she’s lucky to have those hips – she’s statistically less likely to be infertile. There are various links between wide-hips and decreased likelihood of infertility. If you have an apple or rectangle figure rather than an hourglass shape it means you carry your weight around your middle and apparently men are more attracted to hourglass shapes. Also, rectangular or apple shapes are linked to hormone problems. Check it out in the Current Anthropology journal (Decemeber 2008) if you’re still not convinced.
Let me offer a list of symptoms before we consider the links between stress and infertility: depression, insecurity, fatigue, insomnia, impotence or frigidity, concentration problems and emotional withdrawal. Chronic stress can trigger all of these symptoms. I’m sure you’ll agree with me when I say that it is quite difficult to have a healthy sex life if you are living with these symptoms. To make things worse, as I mentioned previously, stress also affects your hormones and you might stop ovulating if you’re under excessive stress. So I think there is a rather substantial connection between stress and infertility and (in my humble opinion) the rise in general stress levels could lead to an increase in infertility levels.
There are so many things that affect infertility levels at every level of society. If you are the one battling to get pregnant this probably means very little to you but just keep in mind that if infertility levels are on the rise then there will be more money and more research going in to treating it, which is definitely good news for couples who are desperate to have babies of their own.
Here is more information on Infertility Statistics. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Infertility.