Being medically well, following a good diet and lifestyle are prerequisites for fertility. Considered to be the basic checks, if you have managed to maintain good health, follow up on treatments and medications, do ample exercise and practice consistent care and hygiene, you are fertile.
Peak male fertility is around 25-29 years old. Sperm quality begins to decline at 30. At 45, men begin to experience a significant decrease in semen volume. Older men can also take longer to conceive a child.
A trained expert checks your sperm count, their shape, movement, and other characteristics. In general, if you have a higher number of normal-shaped sperm, it means you have higher fertility. But there are plenty of exceptions to this. A lot of guys with low sperm counts or abnormal semen are still fertile.
For healthy semen samples collected between 5:00am and 7:30am were found to exhibit a statistically higher sperm concentration, total sperm count and a higher percentage of normally shaped sperm, compared to samples produced later in the day. Sperm motility was not influenced by the time of sample production.
There's no test for egg quality. The only way to know if an egg is chromosomally normal is to attempt to fertilize it, and, if fertilization is successful, to perform a genetic test on the embryo.
For example, a woman at 30 often has around 100,000-150,000 eggs in reserve. By 35, that number is likely around 80,000. Late into the thirties, that number could be 25,000, 10,000, or fewer.
There are two good ways to measure egg count: an antral follicle count and an AMH (anti-Müllerian hormone) test. During an antral follicle count, a doctor uses ultrasound to count the visible follicles.
A number of lifestyle factors affect fertility in women, in men, or in both. These include but are not limited to nutrition, weight, and exercise; physical and psychological stress; environmental and occupational exposures; substance and drug use and abuse; and medications.
Marriage and the Age at Which Females Have a First Child
When women marry earlier in life, they tend to have children at an earlier age, and more children over their lifetime. This increases total fertility rates.
Women's age and fertility
A woman is born with all the eggs she is going to have in her lifetime. Her eggs age with her, decreasing in quality and quantity. Age is the single most important factor affecting a woman 's fertility.
The study published by the University of St. Andrews and Edinburgh University in Scotland found that women have lost 90 percent of their eggs by the time they are 30 years old, and only have about 3 percent remaining by the time they are 40.
By age 30, fertility (the ability to get pregnant) starts to decline. This decline happens faster once you reach your mid-30s. By 45, fertility has declined so much that getting pregnant naturally is unlikely.
A woman is born with all her eggs. Once she starts her periods, 1 egg develops and is released during each menstrual cycle.
Other than age, causes such as endometriosis, ovarian cysts, some immunological disorders, obesity, chemotherapy, drug use, smoking, alcohol and caffeine consumption may also lead to decreased egg quality.
A: It's still possible to conceive naturally with poor egg quality, but it may be more challenging. In some cases, fertility treatments such as IVF may be recommended to improve the chances of conception.
In addition to its well-established role in neural tube defect prevention, research suggests folate plays an important role in promoting egg quality, maturation and implantation.
You won't run out of sperm cells, no matter how often you ejaculate. A number of studies have looked at semen samples from men who ejaculated several times a day. They found that while the sperm count lowered with each successive sample, it didn't fall beneath what experts consider to be a healthy sperm count.
For men with normal sperm counts, studies find that semen volume and sperm count/concentration increase after two days of abstinence. However, sperm quality—the motility (movement) and morphology (shape) of sperm—decrease after two days of abstinence, with a significant impact seen after 7–10 days.