Fertility can be hampered by certain factors. Some particular factors can cause problem in the male partner leading to infertility.

Low sperm production, less motility of sperms, abnormal morphology of sperms lessens the chances of fertility. These in turn may be caused due to different reasons such as:

1. Hormonal imbalance.
2. Difficulties during copulation like erectile dysfunction, painful intercourse, premature ejaculation, retrograde ejaculation where the semen enters urinary bladder instead of emerging out of the penis.
3. Blockages in the tubes delivering the sperm can be the causative factor of male infertility.
4. Injuries to the scrotal and testicular region can lead to defect in sperm production.
5. Undescended testes- Normally the testes descend from the abdominal cavity in the scrotum by the sixth month of fetal life. If the testis/testes remain undescended after birth and also unaddressed by medical intervention the condition can lead to infertility.
6. Varicocele – This is a condition where the normal blood supply to testicular region is altered. This in turn increases the local temperature further affecting sperm production.
7. Mental stress, psychological or relationship issues that interfere with sex can adversely affect fertility.
8. Surgery- Male infertility can sometimes result due to complications of surgery of organs like urinary bladder, prostate, urethra, testes, scrotum and inguinal hernia repair.
9. Mumps after puberty – Contracting mumps after puberty can affect a man’s ability of sperm production.
10. Medical conditions – Some medical conditions like diabetes, testicular cancer, celiac disease, obesity can be the underlying causes of male infertility.
11. Improper lifestyle – this is a prime factor inducing numerous disorders, infertility being one of them. It includes many factors such as improper diet, lack of exercise, indulgence in alcohol, mental stress and more.

 Improper lifestyle hampers the mind and body metabolism at many levels causing numerous disorders, infertility being one of them.

Obesity

Sedentary work profile, wrong food choices and lack of exercise all together lead to obesity. In females obesity can lead to PCOS, diabetes, metabolic syndrome & in turn have negative effects on the ovulatory cycles. There is now emerging evidence that male obesity impacts negatively on male reproductive potential by reducing the sperm quality.

Sleep

Proper sound sleep is absolutely necessary for the overall functioning of mind and body. Sleep also helps regulate our hormones & repair damaged cells. Sleep deprivation due to erratic life style can take its toll on fertility.

Stress

While doctors may not know the exact links between stress & infertility, a series of studies shows the impact is hard to ignore.

The diagnosis of infertility and the treatment schedules together themselves cause a tremendous amount of emotional turmoil in the couples facing infertility.

Most recent research has documented that measures taken to lower the stress factor in infertile couples does show a significant increase in pregnancy rates.

Food habits

Healthy diet and further its proper digestion, absorption and assimilation promotes health and reproductive system is a part of the complete metabolism.The food that we consume affects the health of the sperm and egg and also production of the hormones. Hence wrong food habits like incorrect food choices, irregular timings of diet can hamper the body metabolism and in turn affect fertility.

Exercise

Regular exercise in proper amounts is necessary to keep the body metabolism at normal levels. It also helps to boost fertility. Intense exercise on the contrary can lead to issues such as anovulation.

Man definitely has made super progress since the pre historic period which has helped him achieve great heights at different levels.

With due respect to all the progress in various fields it is so very important to consider the basic fact that humans are an inherent part of nature with a complex biological system within them.

It is obligatory to take care of this biological system for its smooth functioning in the same manner as we do of our machines & equipments such as computers, phones, vehicles, the list being extensive. This care should be taken regularly, per day and hence the importance of appropriate lifestyle.

So basically what we do & how we spend our day, every day make up our lifestyle. It comprises of our daily habits.

Food habits:  A man is what he eats. After consumption of food it has to be properly digested for its absorption in the body. It is then carried to each and every cell of our body for its every day functioning. Our food habits hence impact every organ, every system of our body. It becomes our foremost duty to be extremely watchful about what we eat so as to be good friends with our own system.

How much we eat and when we eat are also equally important factors that influence our everyday functioning.

Regular timings of meal – preferably breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner would be ideal.

Along with the nutrition values of food it is utmost important to consider the digestion factor related to it. By this it means that the food will be able to provide the expected nutrition only when it gets properly digested and absorbed in your body. So it is important to make your food choices considering the nutritional aspect as well as the ‘digestion’ aspect. Hence the importance of fresh, cooked food. Remove junk from your diet and choose health.

At Dyumna Women’s clinic we provide a detail list of Do’s and Don’ts to help you with your food choices. This helps in changing you to a healthier you which a very important step towards achieving your goal of parenthood.

 

Exercise: To boost your fertility you need to boost your metabolism. Regular exercise is a definite tool for it. It helps to balance the hormones in your body. Proper exercise has proved to be efficient in managing PCOS and improve ovulation.

Exercise of course helps to control obesity which can otherwise hamper the quality of sperms.

Very important – Exercise should be regular and adequate. Extensive exercise can inversely affect fertility and has shown to create issues like anovulation.

Yogasanas:   This can be termed as an exercise which benefits the metabolism of body as well as mind. Balancing the body in various postures helps to stimulate the functioning of different organs and promote the normal physiological   function. It also helps to improve the focus of mind and gain self-control. Studies show that regular practice of Yogasanas helps to improve metabolism, boost fertility and in turn acquire good quality of life.

 

Pranayam and meditation

This simply is a boon to mankind! Stress, as we all know has become inherent part of our lives. Stress and negativity affect our physical and mental health at deeper levels than one can imagine. Do we have a solution to this challenge? Yes definitely, in the form of Pranayam and meditation. Pranayam includes different breathing techniques which help to create stability of mind and gradually helps us become and stay calm. It also aids in acquiring normalcy at physiological aspects such as maintaining endocrinological balance. Meditation is the further step of Pranayam which yields finer results. A person shielded with the positive benefits of Pranayam and meditation becomes much more capable of facing the challenges in everyday life, infertility treatment being no exception to it. This in turn helps to facilitate the treatment outcome as well.

 

Sleep:  Proper sound sleep is extremely essential to maintain normal physiology of mind and body including the balance of hormones. Staying away from electronic gadgets and meditating for at least 10-15 minutes before bed time helps to promote sound sleep and a fresh mind to greet the very good morning!

 

Suppression of natural urges:

You might find this new, but Ayurved has efficiently stated the ill effects of suppressing natural urges like hunger, thirst, urination, defecation and more.

Suppressing these natural habits has become a routine due to erratic work timings, sometimes unhygienic conditions or mere laziness.

These habits do take their toll on health anyways. Chronic habit of suppression of hunger, for e. g. affects the digestive metabolism leading to poor cellular metabolism of different body systems.

It has been proved that suppression of urination as a chronic habit can lead to recurrent urinary infections and can lead to serious ailments related to the urinary system.

Timely tending to all calls of nature is a very important part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. This also helps prevent the possible ill effects on the functioning of reproductive system and hence fertility.

Conception, though a natural process, expects certain factors to be at optimum levels. In case of a female partner, ovulation is one of the important factors necessary.

A normal menstrual cycle ranges between about 28 days to 32 days. Your ovary releases an egg every month around 12^th to 16^th day of your menstrual cycle. This release of egg is termed as ovulation.

The egg thus released travels through the respective fallopian tube where it is met by the sperm during the process of conception. The egg lives for 12 -24 hours after leaving the ovary.

The lifespan of a sperm inside the female body after copulation is around 5 days under normal circumstances of female genital tract as well as good health of sperm.

The most fertile day of a woman is the day of ovulation and also about 5 days before the day of ovulation considering the life span of the egg (12-24 hours) and sperm (about 5 days).

This particular period is also known as the ‘Fertility Window’ during which  copulation should occur for conception to take place.

The sperm and ovum meet in the fallopian tube and yes, the miracle occurs – a new life is formed! As simple a process it seems from this one sentence, it is far much different from being simple. The journey of the sperm from the vagina up to the fallopian tube itself is a huge challenge for the sperm. This is an important reason why nature creates millions of them where as only a single sperm is sufficient to actually achieve the goal. After its entry in the vagina at the time of copulation the sperm has to encounter various hurdles to actually become successful.

The race begins- millions of sperms enter the vaginal canal and actually start racing up for life towards the cervix which is the opening of your uterus. But alas- for many of them the race ends even before it has begun. The natural secretions from your vagina are acidic to protect your body from any harmful organisms that can enter via this route.But this natural guarding system at times can also be hazardous for the sperms which need an alkaline environment for their survival. The sperms who are real fast swimmers can race up to the cervix surviving the acidic environment of the vagina.

Once they reach the cervix, they are in a relatively safe zone. The natural secretions of the cervix are meant to be welcoming for the sperm at the time when you are ovulating. So basically your body provides an easier pathway for the sperm during your fertility window. But again in case of unfriendly circumstances such as infections or erosions of the cervix or thick mucous at the cervix, the task of entering the uterus becomes very strenuous for the sperms and many of them end their lives at this stage. So the vitality of the sperms as well as healthy conditions of the cervix count the most at this stage.

By the time the sperms enter your uterus they have significantly reduced in number. Once they have gained access to the uterus the next important task is to proceed to the correct fallopian tube on the side where your ovary will be releasing the egg this month.

How does the sperm know this? The ovum is also eager to meet the sperm and hence sends signals so that the sperm can pick up the right track and move towards the correct fallopian tube. The stronger the abilities of the ovum and sperm to send and to receive the signals, brighter the chances of their meeting. In spite of this, some sperms not capable enough, do loose track and their journey becomes unsuccessful.

Additionally, unfriendly conditions in the uterus such as infections or cells acting against the sperms can further reduce the number of sperms.

Finally, when the sperms reach the correct fallopian tube they are now reduced from millions to tens. They still have to find the ovum in the fallopian tube by pushing themselves through the secretions and motions of tiny hair lining the inner surface of the tube. Healthy secretions and good gentle push by the muscles of your fallopian tube does help them move forward.

Once the winner finally meets the ovum the job is almost done, but not completely done. The sperm needs to break the covering of your ovum with the help of some chemicals it carries on its head. Once this is done, can it actually merge with the ovum and yes, now the miracle has occurred.

The story of the sperm’s endeavour speaks about the importance of vitality of the sperms as well as health and hygiene of your system from vagina to the fallopian tube. These minute factors need to be addressed well to ensure turning your dream to reality.

The joyful journey of your baby begins with the formation of its first cell when the ovum and sperm meet in the fallopian tube. For this to occur the sperm has to successfully traverse the path from the vagina up to the fallopian tube and fuse with the ovum. This path of few centimetres, though seems so very small may not be an easy expedition for the tiny sperm. This is the very reason why millions of sperms are released in the vagina during copulation out of which generally only a single sperm wins the race to actually meet up with the ovum.

After its entry through the vagina, reaching the ovum is not the only goal of the sperm. On its way for it’s date with the ovum, the sperm also has to prepare itself for the date. That is, it has to complete its process of maturation on it’s way so as to be successful in impressing its date, the ovum so that it can actually fuse with it to form the zygote.

So basically, reaching the ovum and completing its own process of maturation are the targets for the sperm after its entry in the vaginal canal.

Its site of entry that is vagina has natural secretions which are acidic in nature for prevention from organisms causing infections. Many sperms end their journey at the very beginning due to these secretions. Any kinds of vaginal infections or more than natural acidic conditions can destroy the sperms in larger quantities.

Second hinderance for the sperms can occur at the cervix, that is the mouth of the uterus. About 5 days before ovulation the mucus secreted at the cervix is highly hydrated to allow proper entry of the sperms for fertilization. Due to some disturbances this mucus can get very thick in the fertile window disallowing the entry of sperms into the uterus & ultimately stopping fertilization.

Sperms which successfully gain access to the uterine cavity are aided by the contractions of uterine walls in their movement towards the fallopian tube. If these contractions are insufficient it may affect the speed of the sperms. It is also important that environment in the cavity of uterus should be hospitable and not hostile for the sperms to survive.

From here the sperms march towards their final destination, the fallopian tube. The crux here is that they should choose the correct tube where the egg will be released. Here the ovum takes a step forward and sends signal towards its prospective date so that the eligible candidates can move in the right direction. So the importance of good quality of ovum is once again marked.

Good environment inside the tubes actually helps the sperms to survive until fertilization and help them to get ready to be able to fuse with the ovum at the time of the much awaited date. Muscular contractions of the fallopian tube also help in the movements of sperms.

So basically the sperms need a very friendly and hospitable environment en route at every junction in female body. At “Dyumna Women’s clinic”, we address these necessities with the aid of specialised procedures and personalised medicines. We try our level best to attend the minute details needed to traverse the ray of hope towards actual sunshine!

Help the Zygote to propel towards uterus for implantation.

After the adventurous journey of the sperm and the complete meeting up of sperm and ovum the miracle has finally took place – conception has occurred, the first cell of your baby has come to life. Now it is time to help this miniature form of your baby which is termed as zygote by the scientific community to take its first step towards survival and growth. This zygote now needs to move forward from the fallopian tube towards the uterus where it will get embedded in the inner lining of uterus for its further growth and maturation. This happens through the placenta which forms in the innermost lining of uterus after implantation of the zygote.

What helps the zygote to move forward from the fallopian tube towards the uterus? The inner lining of the fallopian tube has fine hair like structures called ‘cilia’. The swaying motions of these hair like structures along with the gentle push given by the fallopian tubes through the contraction of its muscles help the zygote to glide towards the uterus for its exciting endeavour.

Along with these movements there is one more way in which the fallopian tube helps the zygote to reach towards its destination. The inner lining of the tube also gives off secretions that help to transport the zygote towards the uterus.

Unfortunately, sometimes it can so occur that the zygote does not receive proper help to move towards its destined place that is uterus. This can happen due to inadequate support from the fallopian tube either in the gliding movement or the secretions provided or both factors being insufficient for the zygote to reach towards its first goal for survival. This can lead to pregnancy loss in spite of successful conception.

How do we address this factor? As for the other minute details, we do consider this aspect as well in our treatment protocol at Dyumna Women’s clinic.

We have designed specialised treatment techniques which aid in rejuvenation of the female genital path. This helps in creating hospitable environment for the sperm and help facilitate the happenings after conception. This includes apt movements of the fallopian tubes and their secretions to help the zygote to achieve its first goal to reach the uterus.

Your dream is precious. Let us take every step possible to make it come true!

Infertility can many a times lead to a lowered self-esteem more than anything else. Conception being a natural phenomenon, the common thought process that starts to build up is, why am I not able to conceive when so many people around me are being successful so easily? Is this destined? May be I don’t deserve it. So on and on.

First and foremost point dear friends is, it is okay to have this kind of difficulty and it’s not a thing to be ashamed of.

So many people have different types of medical conditions where they need to seek help. Infertility also needs to be analysed correctly and right actions taken accordingly do lead to a very good success rate.

It is very important to basically accept the fact that there is some difficulty in conceiving rather than resisting the fact with ‘Why’.

Accepting the situation with an open mind helps to create clarity of thoughts and to approach towards finding solutions with a positive attitude.

This positive attitude itself forms a strong base for the treatment platform lowering the stress factor to a great extent.

To remain calm and stable while confronting difficulties is not an easy task. Specially when it comes to such a sensitive matter as having problem in conceiving a baby, it can come as a huge blow. It sure is a very tough reality to accept. This happens to be the darker side of the coin. Can we make an effort to flip the coin to see the brighter side? Does it help? Beyond a shadow of doubt; it does help!

Basically the diagnosis of infertility brings in lot of negative emotions and this in turn builds up the much unwanted stress. This stress takes its toll by creating negative effects on mind and body mechanism. This can influence the balance of the hormonal cycle as well. In addition to this, the treatment outcomes are also affected by extreme stress.

The prudent approach is to accept the situation in the first place. This itself gives a lot of stability to the mind to seek for the possible solutions.

Your positive approach means a lot! It means a lot not only to yourselves, but to your doctors as well. It not only gives a strong boost towards the consequences of the treatment plan, it also helps to strengthen the bond between you and your partner.

Positivity reflects from your body language. Believe it or not, it certainly helps to deal with the social aspects related to infertility – may it be the exceeding advices or sometimes the disturbing words.

Altogether these aspects aid in improving your confidence and conviction towards conceiving your baby.

So please do take that extra step forward. There ARE ways to create and spread  positivity!