Cause of Not getting Pregnant

2. Smoking And Drinking

That some of your habits or addictions are called vices should give you a heads-up on their potential effect on your body. Many studies have proven repeatedly that smoking and drinking too much coffee or tea and alcohol can delay conception in women.

A study conducted on 4,000 couples aged between 24 and 44 advises women who have difficulty conceiving to reduce if not stop smoking altogether to increase their chances of becoming a mother.3 Women who smoked were found to have about half the fertility of non-smokers, and it delayed their times to conceive by 6 months to a year.

3. Use Of Commercial Lubricants

Once you have decided to have a baby, you may find that personal lubricants become almost a necessity because of the more than frequent lovemaking. But make sure they don’t come in the way of your efforts. According to a study, commercial lubricants were found to inhibit sperms from reaching the uterus and slowing them down by 60 percent.

This was seconded by another study, which added damage to sperm DNA as an effect of commercial vaginal lubricants. Both studies recommend using a natural lubricant like canola oil if you needed to use any.

4. Unhealthy Body Weight

Studies say that being underweight or overweight can reduce your chances of conceiving or delay pregnancy. In underweight women, there’s damage or irregularities in the hypothalamus. This leads to problems in the functioning of organs that are controlled by the pituitary gland – most important here being the ovary – which might manifest as amenorrhoea or lack of menstruation.

In obese women, this delay is often associated with the inability of estradiol, an estrogen, to bind to a protein called sex-hormone binding globulin. Only in this combined form can it be transported to the part of the brain that controls the reproductive organs and to other sex hormone receptor cells throughout the body. It’s been found that weight loss could bring about an 80 percent improvement in the menstrual function in obese women.

5. Lack Of Vitamin D In Winter

Yes, your chances of conception during winter may be going down because you are not getting enough of the sunshine vitamin, vitamin D. Almost 41.6 percent of Americans don’t get enough of this vitamin, which plays a crucial role in stimulating and balancing sex hormones. Your vitamin D deficiency may mean that you take longer to conceive or it could even expose you to a higher risk of miscarriage.

6. Stress

When it comes to fertility issues, stress can be both a cause and/or an effect of infertility. The pressure to have a baby at a certain age and the pressure that accompanies the possibility of infertility come crashing down upon the woman, and this sets off a vicious cycle.

A 2006 study reported finding an excessive amount of cortisol, the stress hormone, in the brain fluids of women who did not ovulate. Of the 16 women who were studied, 8 were given basic cognitive behavioral therapy and the rest no treatment at all. In 20 weeks, 80 percent of those who underwent therapy started ovulating again and 2 months later, 2 of them became pregnant.