By Sola Ogundipe

Nigerian couples, as well as men and women challenged by infertility, have been admonished to adopt healthy lifestyles that will not only boost their fertility but preserve it. Warning against unhealthy lifestyles such as smoking cigarettes, alcohol consumption, abnormal weight gain or loss, use of illegal drugs, environmental and social risks, and other factors, an experienced gynecologist and fertility expert, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, has said it is important for men and women to lead a healthy lifestyle, ensuring a balanced diet and regular exercise.

Giving the admonition in a chat, Ajayi, who is the Medical Director of Nordica Fertility Centre, Lagos, said that lifestyle decisions such as stress, cigarette smoking, hard exercise, the age at which one starts a family, what one eats, exposure to chemicals, and excessive consumption of alcohol, caffeine, and certain drugs, among other things, have a significant impact on both male and female fertility. About 1 in 4 Nigerian couples are infertile, and the causes are due to male and female factors.

“When we talk about lifestyle, we are talking about how people live or the choices that they make. Unfortunately, many people do not know that the choices they make affect their fertility, both male and female. We know that age is related to the potential fertility of men and women,”, Ajayi told Good Health Weekly.

Ajayi said the age at which a woman starts a family also impacts her chances of becoming a mother. “Women over 40 have about a five per cent chance of becoming pregnant in any given ovulation cycle, compared to a 25 per cent chance for women in their 20s and early 30s. Studies show that being overweight is linked to ovarian dysfunction and infertility in women while obesty is linked to decreased sperm count and quality in males.

“When a man is over 45, there are changes in his sperm that are not healthy for reproduction. Although he can continue to impregnate women, he is not playing with his best sperm. What we eat affects our fertility, both in men and women; closely related is our weight.

We did a study that showed that age is one of the factors that is responsible for sperm DNA fragmentation, so apart from the fact that the sperm undergoes some changes in quality and quantity, the DNA fragmentation increases with age and weight.”

Ajayi  warned that excessive activity has an adverse effect on ovulation  and that sperm count is depleted by vigorous exercise. “You don’t need strenuous exercise to stay healthy, keeping healthy is the major objective of fertility. Walking about 25 minutes daily is good while working out in the gym is useless if you can’t control your nutrition.”

On drug abuse, Ajayi said both men and women may experience decreased fertility if they smoke tobacco, use marijuana, drink alcohol excessively, or utilize drugs of addiction. “Using some blood pressure medications can have an impact on the quality of sperm, thereby decreasing fertility. Women who smoke are known to reach menopause early and are at higher risk of infertility.”

He said infertility can also be triggered in both males and females by exposure to radiation therapy, chemicals, and chemotherapy. He cautioned that smoking, the use of marijuana, drinking excessively, or using illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine may result in lower fertility.