Why fertility decreases generation by generation?

saran27 · Mar 7, 2013

Why fertility decreases generation by generation? I used to ask this question myself when i see more fertility clinics and couples struggle to achieve pregnancy,2 generation back my grand mom she had 5 kids, she got married when she was 19 years and had all her kids within 27,when i ask about to her regarding her reproduction health she says she never missed her periods unless if she is pregnant, she has not taken any vitamin supplements before or after pregnancy, all she has done is taking only 2 meals in day, morning sharp 11 my grandma and grand dad used to have their lunch cum breakfast which include 2 vegs,then around 3 in evening 1 cup coffee, and night sharp 7 she used to finish dinner, now my grandma is 73 and granddad is 81 still following same timing for food. next generation is my mom, my mom and her 4 brothers no body had fertility issues all has 2 kids, when it comes to our generation we struggle to get pregnant and stay pregnant ,now my question is what u IL ‘s think the gap between our generation and our previous generations inters of fertility?
My studies and observations are
1)our previous generation ladies never bother about TTC, they just blindly do IC and got pregnant, but we on the other hand stress more about TTC
2)food, we don t follow a strict diet and food timings that our previous generation has followed
3) Another main thing is physical work, yes we are so mechanical and use machines for everything, but i still remember my mom and my grandma used to wash vessels and clean home, and used to use hand grinder to make batters, chutneys etc
4)Apart from everything they had very much positive about life by having more spiritual belief

Now i want to start a thread in which i want to know various good lifestyle factors that our moms and grand moms has followed and kept their reproductive years stress free, hope this thread will get more response and from the input we can modify our lifestyle too and let to hold our LO ‘s soon.:cheers

vsharma · Mar 7, 2013

Hi Saran,

Nice thread. You missed one point in your observation Age factor also matters in fertility. Those days they get early marriage and now anyone getting married at age below 20 is shock. As per me most of the Women getting married after 25 and then couple takes time or postpones for few reasons. When they actually want baby the women is already 27-28. This is just my point of view.

All the best to all to Hold your LO's soon

ssm014 · Mar 7, 2013

1) another point is lack of nutrition in our current meals and amt of junk & packaged food..eg even juices have preservatives, fruits like apple have some coating on them & so on
plus our grains & other produce are pesticide rich

2) no use of tv, laptop, ipod etc so early to bed and IC was regular, even frequent within the same day....but in this generation with both spouses working, late night tv, late dinner, tiredness, IC becomes a task

3) lifestyle things like sitting on bike, shorts rather than old time dhoti/ pyjama and legging/ capri i/o saree etc hamper quality of biological things

4 )even sitting on leather/ choir sofa vis-a-vis they sitting on floor / wooden plan for meals, work etc hampers fertility by increasing heat in pvt regions
5) they used to use river/ well water fresh for bath, while we use hot shower/ tub/ Jacuzzi etc thereby hampering body heat

6) overall stress to stay in rat race

vini31 · Mar 7, 2013

I beg to differ here,
1)can u think of getting married at an age <19 would u by norms finish your education, be mature enuf to find a partner for your self by 19 ??

2)with the present quality of food and loads of adulteration, do u think you get required nutrients to combat the infection n pollution with just 2 plain meals ??

3)since the rich/salaried ppl go to infertility clinics u know they have an issue , again it may not be an issue too do u think those who live in rural/villages do not have infertility issues despite doing good amount of physical work ??

4)can u manage with an income of simple single earning (10 to 4) govt job?? (most upper middle classes cannot , they do hv EMIs Ed Loans I can be wrong here if you are handed down a heirloom)

I know of many couples who are retired and may be in their 70s who do not have children
Infertility always existed n no doubt miracles also existed

it would not be wrong to mention that nature also knows the changes that happens in you so she ensures you do adapt
it is just matter of time ....though I have not succeeded as yet but i am not willing to blame my lifestyle for it

and how can u explain that road side beggars who booze, use dope, smoke, dont get 2 square meals a day getting pregnant and delivering normally too

cedantseq · Mar 7, 2013

well stress, late marriages, tension, no exercise and unhealthy food are some of the reason for the fertility to degeneratate generation by generation. external temperatures, pollution, and small families also contribute to this cause. genetic defects also cannot be ruled out.

Vasumathy · Mar 7, 2013

saran27 said: ↑

Why fertility decreases generation by generation?
my question is what u IL ‘s think the gap between our generation and our previous generations inters of fertility?
My studies and observations are
1)our previous generation ladies never bother about TTC, they just blindly do IC and got pregnant, but we on the other hand stress more about TTC
2)food, we don t follow a strict diet and food timings that our previous generation has followed
3) Another main thing is physical work, yes we are so mechanical and use machines for everything, but i still remember my mom and my grandma used to wash vessels and clean home, and used to use hand grinder to make batters, chutneys etc
4)Apart from everything they had very much positive about life by having more spiritual belief
Now i want to start a thread in which i want to know various good lifestyle factors that our moms and grand moms has followed and kept their reproductive years stress free, hope this thread will get more response and from the input we can modify our lifestyle too and let to hold our LO ‘s soon.:cheers
Click to expand...

This question used to come into my mind...
There are many factor which has been mentioned by you & the rest of the member that cause infertility troubles as the generation grows. They are true. Its hard to get back to those good stuffs. But we can give it a try to get healthy food, little physical exercises at least & good peace of mind. Hope we all can help the next generation to improve in this!
But we can't deny that those people too suffered infertility troubles. My MIL was born after close to 11 years after her mom got married, there are many stories like which reached my ears. Those generations too suffered with these troubles, but were not very popular like this day. Also not in greater counts. There were not much gynec those days and less focus on solving those troubles. They used to go for second marriage or other ways to solve this problem or will wait for TIME to solve the trouble! Those were hidden along with time! :-( We forgot to recollect those. I remember many old short stories in DD which helped to educate the people on "Women are not the only cause for infertility, male too can be a reason!" and so on. Lets not forget those!

We are going to celebrate Women's day on March 8, Lets promise to get good health & active life in all aspects!

kooldivya · Mar 7, 2013

stress, processed food , sedentary lifestyle and many more

manjubashini · Mar 7, 2013

Change of lifestyle......................................................adopting Western countries fashions and foods..

Vasumathy · Mar 7, 2013

vini31 said: ↑

I beg to differ here,
1)can u think of getting married at an age <19 would u by norms finish your education, be mature enuf to find a partner for your self by 19 ??
2)with the present quality of food and loads of adulteration, do u think you get required nutrients to combat the infection n pollution with just 2 plain meals ??
3)since the rich/salaried ppl go to infertility clinics u know they have an issue , again it may not be an issue too do u think those who live in rural/villages do not have infertility issues despite doing good amount of physical work ??
4)can u manage with an income of simple single earning (10 to 4) govt job?? (most upper middle classes cannot , they do hv EMIs Ed Loans I can be wrong here if you are handed down a heirloom)
I know of many couples who are retired and may be in their 70s who do not have children
Infertility always existed n no doubt miracles also existed
it would not be wrong to mention that nature also knows the changes that happens in you so she ensures you do adapt
it is just matter of time ....though I have not succeeded as yet but i am not willing to blame my lifestyle for it
Click to expand...

In those generations they used to marry early & they never bothered about individual income or any such money factors. Mostly those marriages were based on respect or trust on other family members/elders or the family background.
Whatever we talk about healthy food, still we are lagging with the healthy food intake which our elder got 10 years before. We(Not everyone) fail to realize the importance of several forms of foods. Fails to take proper food/water with our meals. How many of us drink more than 4 glasses of water a day?
We all are more educated in terms of degrees(certificates) than the elder generation, but where do we use them? We all read about healthy foods in our younger age classes, do we put them in the right place? Do we eat the right? Do we exercise right? Do all of us have healthy frame of mind in almost all the time?
We lack in them. Lets hope we all do the good to us and to the rest of the humanity!

JGVR · Mar 7, 2013

In today's world

1. Chemicals and preservatives are coated on almost everything we eat.They either alter the woman's hormones or bring in other diseases.You can search about estrogen dominance in woman and what causes them.Everything from shampoo,soap,detergent causes estrogen dominance.Specify a single day when you can live without using them?

2. The utensils we used to cook today-They are coated with variety of coating and gets advertised that they do a good job.But actually they are also chemicals.When you go for fertility treatments using naturopathy,they ask you cook with mud/wood/aluminium vessels which were used in olden days.

3.Stress with work.Sedentary Lifestyle .Stress and lifestyle not only affects a woman.It affects a man in such a way that either his sperm count decreases or sperm quality degenerates.

4.Processed foods.My grandma used to know about chips/biscuits only when her first son joined college ie nearly around 40 years of her life.That means for nearly 40 years she knew only rice,veggies,fruits and certain deep fried snacks that too made only once a year due to poverty.

5.My grandma used to eat neer agaram(fermented rice with chilli) almost everyday and this is totally forgotten by today's generation.There is another thread in ILwhich talks about the health benefits of this food.You can search for it or google about it.