Research Suggests a Link Between Fertility and Longevity

Recent Declines in Fertility is Concerning…

But new research suggests we may have more to worry about than meets the eye. Over the past decades, fertility rates have declined, and this has been linked to poorer health outcomes for both women and men.

The causes of recent declines in fertility are mostly unknown but have been linked to a few common factors including the age at which a person first attempts to become pregnant, diet, the incidence of smoking or alcohol consumption, body weight, and if a person exercises or not. Up to about 15% of couples experience infertility, defined as taking more than a year to conceive.

A recent research study looked a data collected from 14,000 participants in two studies of twins. Just over half of the participants were women. The study revealed information about time to conception among other pregnancy-related information.

Researchers found those who took longer to become pregnant had a higher mortality rate, particularly for women. Those women who took over 18 months to conceive had an increase in overall mortality by around 46% as compared to those who took two months to become pregnant.

Longer time to pregnancy was associated with many diseases in women including obesity, heart disease, pneumonia, and other hormonal disorders. Men were not spared either.

The researcher discovered that in women, environmental factors accounted for about 2/3 of the variation in time to pregnancy, and nearly 96% in men. That means that the factors that can mostly be controlled (environmental factors) play a much bigger role in a person’s fertility (and the associated increase in mortality) in both men and women, but particularly in men. Yes, genetics plays a role, larger in women than in men, but this information should empower people to take control of their fertility and their overall health.

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Total Wellness Staff