An English scientist has wagged a warning finger at modern Europeans for stonewalling the issue of starting a family, while still in their youth. Prof. Bill Ledger, from the University of Sheffield, points out that it is a trend among young Europeans to postpone starting a family until a later age. This propensity to procastinate is, however, not without its share of sorrows. 

Having babies is low on the list of priorities of several Europeans. Many are busy targeting financial stability while others choose to revitalize their fledgling careers. This conscious choice more or less incapacitates them from having babies the natural way.

Infertility is technically defined as a state when a woman fails to conceive after a year of unprotected coitus. This could be due to a defect in the male or the female partner. Statistics reveal that at present one couple among seven is infertile. Ledger predicts ruefully that this estimate is expected to rise to one in three, if the present trend persists.

It is well acknowledged fact that women are at their fertile best while young and nubile, that is, when they are in their late teens and early twenties. Nature ordained it to be so. But with more and more women prioritizing career over establishing the family tree, there is an overall decrease in the fertility rate. While this trend is very acute in developed countries, it is rearing its ugly head in developing countries too especially in the cities.

Some Asian countries, such as India, have seen a spurt of economic growth lately. This runs parallel with improved opportunities for women’s education and career. Although it is predominantly an urban scenario, the increasing number of women choosing to ride the ‘success wave’, is, indeed, worrying. This, in effect, means that women prepare to start a family only when they feel financially secure. This could mean that many of them are well past their optimal reproductive age when they consider starting a family.

Reasons galore

There are other reasons as well that might ‘add fat to the raging fire ’. Obesity is one of them. That obesity is on the rise, pan globally, is widely acknowledged. This is not surprising considering the ‘growth and spread’ of junk foodies! There are currently about 1.6 billion people in the world who are overweight and there are another 400 million who suffer from obesity. 155 million children are overweight and 30 to 45 million are obese.

What has obesity got to do with infertility, one may ask, and the answer to that is ‘A lot’! It is an established fact that medical conditions associated with obesity, such as the Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), considerably reduces a woman’s chances to conceive and bear a child. Although not many studies are available on men, research suggests that a 20-pound increase in men’s weight may elevate their chances of infertility by about 10 percent. Needless to say, obesity also affects the ‘performance’ ability of an individual.

Cigarette smoking and alcohol intake are the other factors that are reported to adversely affect infertility by reducing the sperm count and quality and also by bringing about impotence in men.