Why Can't I Get Pregnant?

There are other factors that will effect how successful you are at conceiving, so let's have a brief look at each of these, and how they contribute to the factor of conceiving.

Late Planning

The trend today is for women to complete their education and establish their careers before they think of settling down and starting a family. However, for a woman over the age of 35, conceiving becomes a problem. Infertility increases with age. Fertility peaks for both sexes in their mid-twenties and then appears to decline steadily in women over thirty and men over forty. Tubal infections, fibroid tumors and endometriosis are more common in older women and are a common cause for infertility.

The Male Sperm Count

Naturally, if your partner has a low sperm count, the chances of falling pregnant are going to be much lower than if your partner has a high sperm count. There are several factors that may cause your partner to have a low sperm count.

• Your partner's age: Younger men tend to have a higher sperm count than that of older men. Men generally tend to reach their sexual peak between the ages of 18 and 30.
  
• Loose fitting clothes: Loose fitting underwear or clothes will increase your partner's sperm count. This is because the testicles will be allowed to be further away from his body and help keep them at a cooler, more optimum temperature.
  
• Drugs and smoking affect sperm and may impair male fertility
  
• Stress is also one of the leading factors in a low sperm count
  

If you or your partner are concerned about sperm count, a good place to start is a home screening test. This can determine whether your sperm concentration is above or below 20 million sperm cells per milliliter.

Polycystic Ovaries

Cysts are formed when the follicle fails to rupture at the time of ovulation and begins to grow instead. This condition occurs due to hormonal imbalance and is marked by absent or infrequent menstruation. Women having this condition have a chronic tendency to have their periods at intervals ranging from every six weeks to six months.

Living a Healthy Lifestyle

Naturally, the type of lifestyle you lead will also have an effect of the chances of successfully falling pregnant. Eating the correct foods is one of the ways to ensure that your body is healthy. Drugs, alcohol, smoking and caffeine affect your body in many ways that will prevent you from falling pregnant. Let's take a brief look at how each of these affect your chances of falling pregnant, and how they can affect your pregnancy.

Alcohol