There are many reasons for infertility in both men and women. Unless there are more obvious reasons, a woman will generally seek medical help when she has failed to fall pregnant after having unprotected sex for six to twelve months. Doctors label it infertility after a couple has been trying to have a baby for at least twelve months.

Men have two main reasons for infertility; low sperm count and sperm mobility problems. These conditions are not obvious, as they can only be diagnosed by testing the actual sperm, although sexual dysfunction can be a symptom of infertility in men. These conditions may be temporary, caused by medication or illness, or they may be a more permanent condition. Lifestyle choices like smoking, illicit drugs, excessive drinking can affect a man’s sperm count.

Women may have several reasons for infertility, the main one being a problem with ovulation. This condition is often indicated by an irregular or ‘abnormal’ menstrual cycle. Other factors which impact a woman’s fertility include her age, stress, disease, medications, smoking, excessive alcohol and problems with her reproductive organs.

Possible problems with a woman’s reproductive organs include blocked fallopian tubes, fibroids in the uterus and polycystic ovarian syndrome. Age is a big factor with fertility in women; after the age of thirty, a woman has only a 20% chance of getting pregnant in a single cycle and this number declines further with increased age.

When twelve months have passed without falling pregnant, the first step is to determine where the problem lies, so both partners need to seek medical advice. Many reasons for infertility can be address and corrected, so it is a good idea to investigate the problem as soon as you suspect there may be something wrong.

For women who are older than 40, there are added factors to be considered. Until the last twenty years or so, a girl married in her early twenties and then had children soon after; this is the most fertile time of a woman’s life. These days, many women choose to build a career, travel or pursue other interests before taking the step into motherhood, so there are growing numbers of older women wanting to get pregnant.

While the role of women in society has changed, their biological systems have not. The human body was designed for reproduction in the late teens and early twenties, and as more women decide to have their babies later, more cases of infertility are being seen by the medical fraternity.

At birth, every female has all the eggs she will ever have. One egg is shed during every menstrual cycle, so there are obviously fewer eggs available for fertilization every year of her life. The eggs age at the same rate as the body, and in an older woman, there is more chance of the eggs having defects. This increases the likelihood of miscarriage to 33%, and the possibility of genetic disorders, such as Downs Syndrome, also increases.

The chances of getting pregnant after age 40 drop to 5%; after the age of 45, it drops to just 1%. Hormonal changes, thinning of the endometriosis, weight increases and irregular menstrual cycles further add to the possibility of infertility in older women.