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23.03.2018 Health & Fitness

A Woman's Age Has Direct Impact On Fertility. Find Out More From The Expert

By Dr Oyebade Obalola Jerry.
Photo credit - FlickrPhoto credit - Flickr
23.03.2018 LISTEN

As far as fertility goes in women, age is probably the number one factor when it comes to how fertile a woman is and how likely it is for her to get pregnant. This is because a woman’s age and reproductive system in general are tied in together and are closely intertwined. My articles will make you find out more. When a woman is born, she is born with a set number of eggs.

This number will never, ever increase, and in fact, will only decrease as a woman gets older. Every month, once a woman starts getting her menstrual cycle, a single egg will be released every month from her ovaries, and the numbers will continue to go down and down as time goes on. As a woman gets older, the number of eggs in her egg reserves continues to decrease, making it harder to get pregnant with each passing month.

It’s also important to note that the body is very smart. It actually uses up the best and most viable eggs first, leaving behind eggs with defects or chromosomal problems to be used last. While this might just sound like a cool twist of science, it actually means that women are more likely to have a baby with a birth defect or medical problem depending on the later in life that they get pregnant.

Is this just a cool twist of science?
This is why you will notice that women in their twenties have less instances of giving birth to a baby with a birth defect or chromosomal abnormality, and women who have children later in life, after age 40, are more likely to have a baby with a health problem. It’s also the reason after 40, miscarriages are more common, as it’s the body’s natural way to terminate a potentially chromosomal unsound pregnancy. This is the body’s way of using up the best eggs first and saving eggs with potential problems to be used later on.

Getting Pregnant In Your Forties
Most women already know that the prime time, biologically speaking, to get pregnant is when a woman is in her twenties. This is when women are at their youngest, usually their healthiest and strongest, and when all of their eggs are fresh and viable. This is also when most women aren’t thinking a whit about their fertility or starting families.

A woman’s early thirties are also a relatively easy and safe time to become pregnant. Things in a woman’s body during her early thirties are usually much like they are in her twenties, and everything is still working “as it should”.

However, once a woman reaches her mid thirties, around age 35, things with fertility start to change. A woman sees a small, but still significant, drop in fertility around age 35. After age 35, a woman’s fertility continues to decrease, slowly, and still at a minimal rate.

However, it is once a woman hits 40 years of age that we really start to see a dramatic drop in her fertility.

By the time a woman reaches the age of 40, her best and most viable eggs have almost always been used up already, leaving behind eggs that might not be as healthy, and might have defects or chromosomal abnormalities. It’s also really more difficult for a woman to get pregnant after age 40 because, not only are there not very many viable eggs left, the overall number of eggs has usually decreased to a very small amount by this time.

This isn’t to say, however, that it is impossible for a woman to get pregnant over 40.

In fact, getting pregnant over 40 happens all the time. However, it is more unlikely, and it is more likely that if a woman does get pregnant after 40, that there could be potential problems to contend with.

Pregnancy after 45
Although it might sound harsh, it is the reality that once a woman reaches the age of 45, her time of having children is winding down. After age 45, women are very unlikely to become pregnant and the chances of having children after this age are very low.

That’s not to say that in rare, random occasions, it doesn’t happen, only that it is unlikely. However, there are definitely still some important things to know about getting pregnant later on in life, after age 45.

Fertility Supplements
There are so many things that you can do to improve your chances of conceiving before you start to try. It can really go a long way towards boosting your chances of getting pregnant.

One of the easiest and most basic things that you can do to help boost your chances is to start taking a daily prenatal vitamin.

Prenatal vitamins can help to balance out hormones and make sure that women are getting the proper levels of vitamins and minerals in order to maximize their fertility. It is also a great idea for women to start taking a daily folic acid supplement before trying to conceive. Folic acid is vital to fertility, and taking folic acid supplements before getting pregnant can actually reduce the chances of having a baby with neural tube defects such as spina bifida. Definitely take these supplements to boost chances of getting pregnant after age 45.

If over the age of 45, you may want to immediately begin taking Vitamins E or another blend or fertility herbs to help boost your chances from the get-go. You do not have the time to wait, so there’s no time like the present to kickstart your fertility now.

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