by Marisa Cohen

 

You’re panicked at the idea of having kids right now and panicked at the idea of not having them later. We know you’re curious: Here’s what really effs with your fertility…and what you can totally let slide.

Fertility-Killers:

1. Unsafe Sex: Chlamydia is rampant, and if left untreated, it (and less-common gonorrhea) can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, which scars the fallopian tubes so your eggs can’t get to the uterus. Docs in Canada have also seen superbug gonorrhea that many antibiotics can’t cure. Ask your guy to be tested for all STDs before going latex-free.

2.Cigarettes: Every time you take a drag of a cigarette, your eggs die a little faster. In fact, smokers can start menopause up to four years earlier than nonsmokers and, if they do get pregnant, have more miscarriages and underweight babies. If you want kids and quit now, you can be back to prime baby-making status in about a year.

3.Weight Issues: Hormones that tell your ovaries to send out the eggs get stored in body fat. When you have too little fat (a BMI under 18.5), you may not ovulate at all. Too much fat (a BMI above 29) and the overload of insulin and estrogen can throw off the whole process. Lose or gain even 5 percent of your weight and you can kick ovulation right back into gear.

4. Crappy Food: A Harvard study found that women who follow four eating rules—regardless of their weight—have better fertility than unhealthier eaters. The rules: 1. Eat whole grains instead of white ones. 2. Nix food made with trans fats. 3. Cook with plenty of monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil. 4. Get most of your protein from plants (beans and nuts), not animals.

5. Chemicals: When scientists looked at levels of BPA (an estrogen-like chemical found in some plastics and food packaging) in the urine of women undergoing IVF, they found that women who had the highest levels of BPA had 24 percent fewer eggs retrieved than those with the lowest levels. It wouldn’t hurt to switch to BPA-free products.

Stuff that really doesn’t:

1. Birth Control: No matter what method you use, hormonal birth control affects your fertility only while you use it and for a few weeks after you quit (longer for Depo-Provera). In fact, a study found that women who had been on the Pill for 10-plus years were 25 percent more likely to get pregnant each cycle than women who used it for two years or less.

2. Caffeine: Your skinny latte will not spoil your eggs. A recent Boston University study found that drinking up to three cups of coffee a day has no effect on the time it takes to get pregnant. Women who drink caffeinated tea are actually a little more fertile. There may be a link to miscarriage though, so talk with your doctor.

3.Termination: In the old days, complications, like an infection, from botched back-room abortions could sometimes affect a woman’s ability to carry a baby to term. But when performed by a trained medical provider in a professional health center, abortion is now extremely safe. Infections occur less than 1 percent of the time.

4. Stress: Could worrying about fertility actually make you less fertile? Thankfully, no. A recent study in the journal BMJ (British Medical Journal) that examined several studies about the stress levels among women undergoing IVF treatment found no connection between their emotional state and how long it takes to conceive.

5.Routine Tests: The relatively small doses of radiation in occasional imaging tests, like MRIs, X-rays, and mammograms, won’t damage your ovarian reserve (much less the focused heat emitted during your bikini-line laser hair removal). Chemo and radiation are tougher stuff however—definitely ask your doc about how to preserve your fertility before undergoing either treatment.

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Read this article in Cosmopolitan

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.