Numerous lifestyle factors, including obesity, smoking, alcohol consumption, stress, faulty eating habits, certain medications, drug abuse, strenuous exercise, and caffeine intake, adversely affect fertility. Following a healthy lifestyle is essential to promote male and female fertility, allowing couples to conceive without encountering further issues. Infertility is defined as a couple’s failure to achieve pregnancy after a year of regular intercourse. Several factors can harm fertility, with poor lifestyle choices impacting overall health in both men and women.
Major lifestyle contributors to infertility include smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, obesity, stress, career-oriented women delaying marriage, couples planning parenthood at a later age, and late working hours. Conditions such as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, premature ovarian failure, congenital problems related to hormones like luteinising hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), as well as issues with organs such as the uterus, tubes, and ovaries, can also lead to early infertility. It is crucial to raise awareness about lifestyle risk factors that increase the likelihood of infertility and to seek timely intervention.