Fertility changes with age, both males and females become fertile in their teens following puberty. For girls, the beginning of their reproductive years is marked by the onset of ovulation and menstruation. It is commonly understood that after menopause women are no longer able to become pregnant. Generally, reproductive potential decreases as women get older, and fertility can be expected to end 5 to 10 years before menopause.
In today’s society, age-related infertility is becoming more common because, for a variety of reasons. many women wait until their 30s to begin their families. Even though women today are healthier and taking better care of themselves than ever before, improved health in later life does not offset the natural age-related decline in fertility. It is important to understand that fertility declines as a woman ages due to the normal age-related decrease in the number of eggs that remain in her ovaries. This decline may take place much sooner than most women expect. Aging factors may affect fertility from different ways:
Late Family Desire
In present time, most of the youths want to live their life fully, independent and free from any responsibility. Some of them are very keen and indulge in focusing on their career. These reasons tend them to opt for marriage in their late youth. Even some couples after marriage want to give time to themselves rather than planning for family. Sometimes if they take long time to think about family planning, they may lose their best time to conceive baby. Thus, a late marriage or late family desire may lead to infertility in either or both the partners.
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Ovulation and the Menstrual Cycle
A woman’s cycles will remain regular, 26 to 35 days, until her late 30s to early 40s when she may notice that her cycles become shorter. As time passes, she will begin to skip ovulation resulting in missed periods. Ultimately, periods become increasingly infrequent until they cease completely. When a woman has not had a menstrual period for 1 full year, she is said to be in menopause.
Fertility in The Aging Female
A woman’s best reproductive years are in her 20s. Fertility gradually declines in the 30s, particularly after age 35. Each month that she tries, a healthy, fertile 30-year-old woman has 20% more chances of getting pregnant. That means that for every 100 fertile 30-year-old women trying to get pregnant in 1 cycle, 20 will be successful and the other 80 will have to try again. By the age 40, a woman’s chance to conceive is less than 5% per cycle.In short, women do not remain fertile until menopause.
Egg Quality
A woman less likely to become pregnant and more likely to have miscarriages because egg quality decreases as the number of remaining eggs dwindle in number. These changes are most noted as she reaches her mid-to-late 30s. Therefore, a woman’s age is the most accurate test of egg quality.
Egg Quantity
Eggs stimulation gets decrease in females with age. The decreasing quantity of egg containing follicles in the ovaries is called “loss of ovarian reserve.” Women begin to lose ovarian reserve before they become infertile and before they stop having regular periods.
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