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Tips to Safeguard Your Fertility
6 Simple Steps
Ask any mom who's experienced fertility problems and she'll tell you: It's much easier to prevent fertility problems than to treat them when they happen. With that in mind, here are some tips to safeguard your fertility and possibly prevent problems from arising.
- Don't Smoke. Smoking can affect your fertility in several ways: You are at greater risk for pelvic inflammatory disease (which affects fertility); you are at higher risk for miscarriage and delivering premature or low birth weight babies; and studies have shown that smokers are 30 percent less fertile than nonsmokers.
Give birth before age 40. A woman's chance of getting pregnant drops from about 20 percent when under age 30 to five percent when over age 40. Additionally, the risk of miscarriage and birth defects increases with maternal age. - Avoid pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). This term refers to the infection of one of your pelvic organs, including the cervix, uterus, ovaries and fallopian tubes. The primary cause of PID is untreated sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), but it can also be caused by an IUD, douching, abortions, amniocentesis, miscarriage and childbirth. PID can do irreparable damage to your reproductive organs.
- Avoid STDs. They are the primary cause of PID. If you plan to have a baby, practice safe sex and have routine tests done for STDs.
- Control your weight. Being significantly overweight or underweight can be an underlying cause of infertility for many women. A University of South Carolina study found that 90 percent of underweight women who had been unable to conceive became pregnant when they reached their ideal weight, while 76 percent of overweight women conceived once they reached their ideal weight.
- Don't exercise excessively. While moderate exercise won't affect your fertility, being an exercise fanatic will. Excessive amounts of exercise result in irregular periods, irregular ovulation and luteal phase deficiencies, studies have shown.
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