Obesity significantly diminishes female fertility, even without leading to ovulatory dysfunction. Obesity disrupts the delicate hormonal equilibrium that regulates ovulation and fertility.
Women who are obese face three times greater odds of infertility than those at healthy weight, with pregnancy rates dropping approximately four percent per BMI unit above 29. For men, being overweight significantly decreases both sperm count and quality.
Increased Estrogen Levels
Estrogen is a hormone produced by both males and females alike, but most widely recognized for its role alongside progesterone in reproductive systems. Additionally, estrogen contributes to cognitive function, bone health and other body systems as well as having numerous medical applications; an estrogen test can measure this in the blood.
Your levels of estrogen fluctuate throughout your life. While it’s natural for them to increase during puberty and perimenopause before receding with approaching menopause, rising levels could also indicate an underlying medical condition which should be addressed immediately by healthcare providers.
High estrogen levels may be caused by hyperthyroidism, an overactive thyroid condition. PCOS patients also often exhibit high estrogen levels; anorexia/bulimia may reduce ovulation. Other contributing factors could include lack of exercise, anorexia/bulimia that leads to reduced ovulation rates, as well as pituitary gland disorders like hypopituitarism/hyperpituitarism which cause too little/too much production of ovulation-stimulating hormones respectively.
Studies have linked obesity and elevated estrogen levels, making conception more challenging. Weight loss can help restore balance to your reproductive system and enhance fertility – even just 5-10% weight loss can promote ovulation and boost sperm count! If you are trying to conceive, eating less fat and sugar is especially vital.
Irregular Ovulation
Women usually ovulate every month when one of her ovaries releases a mature egg down her fallopian tube to her uterus where it will be fertilized by sperm to form an embryo that becomes their baby. Unfortunately, PCOS and hormonal imbalances can interfere with this natural process and cause irregular periods – this condition is known as annovulation and it makes conception harder.
Unregular ovulation may also be caused by other health conditions, including thyroid disorders, diabetes, endometriosis, eating disorders and excessive exercise – as well as high levels of stress and weight gain or loss which impacts hormones directly.
Obesity is an established risk factor for fertility issues in older women and those who have been trying to conceive for an extended period. Obesity causes ovaries to become dysfunctional, decreasing healthy maturing oocytes. Excess fat cells may produce chemicals that disrupt the normal function of major hormones involved in ovulation, leading to poor oocyte development, impaired meiosis and abnormal embryo preimplantation. Underlying causes for this issue lie with inflammation in the ovaries, including impairment to follicle growth, corpus luteum function, early embryo development, and endometrial receptivity. Thus it takes longer for obese women to conceive while miscarriage rates remain higher.
Irregular Menstrual Cycle
An irregular menstrual cycle may be a telltale sign of hormonal imbalances that impede normal ovulation processes, often caused by Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), thyroid disorders, extreme weight fluctuations or eating disorders.
Amenorrhea refers to periods that do not appear, or do not ovulate as scheduled, so your body hasn’t produced eggs as normal. If your periods become irregular, visit your physician immediately so a treatment plan can be put into action.
Menorrhagia refers to menstrual bleeding that exceeds normal. Heavy menstrual blood loss indicates anemia, making conception more challenging.
Women who are overweight tend to experience light periods, which is an indicator that they aren’t ovulating. Without being able to ovulate, pregnancy becomes impossible; studies have even demonstrated that when obese individuals do ovulate, the chances of becoming pregnant decrease by about 5% for every additional BMI unit above 29 due to excess fat interfering with normal hormonal regulation, including estrogen and progesterone ovulation hormones needed to ovulate and become pregnant.
Low Sperm Count
Un healthy sperm count is essential to the conception process, making conception less likely with low counts. Achieving optimal fertility depends on hormone production by both the hypothalamus and pituitary gland which stimulates testicles to produce more sperm which are then transported via small tubes before being expelled from the penis and released out.
Attributing low sperm counts can be tricky, though. One potential culprit may be excess weight – which alters hormone levels and adds estrogen, thus interfering with production of sperm. Furthermore, extra fat around male reproductive organs may increase heat and thus further impede production. Smoking and stress have also been linked with lower sperm counts.
Environmental chemicals known as endocrine disruptors could also play a part in sperm counts dwindling; these chemical exposures can pass from mother to baby and result in irreparable harm that leads to infertility.
If your sperm count drops significantly, your healthcare provider will attempt to identify its root cause. This may involve conducting an examination of your genital area as well as gathering information regarding any chronic health problems, illnesses or injuries that could have an effect on fertility. You should also share any family histories that could contribute to infertility – such as genetic conditions that might contribute. If the cause can’t be resolved medically, assisted reproductive techniques might be suggested by healthcare professionals as a solution in order to increase chances of having children.
