You may be prescribed medication for your thyroid even though you do not show any symptoms. The thyroid gland provides signals to your body to produce TSH or thyroid stimulating hormones. If your thyroid production is high TSH is suppressed. If your thyroid production is low TSH is increased to boost production. Hyper- and hypothyroidism are associated with infertility.

If you are overweight, it can affect your ability to get pregnant. As per an American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) study, nearly 6% of women strain to conceive because of their obesity.

For women, excess weight drives hormonal changes which affects brain metabolism to impair fertility. Fatty tissue increases estrogen levels, which impair ovulation and lead to irregular cycles. Please note that PCOS can lead to excessive weight gain for women. Also, excess weight especially around the stomach increases ovulation difficulties and the risk of gestational diabetes

For men, excess weight increases body temperatures around the testes leading to poor quality sperm and low production. It also increases estrogen levels which decreases sperm count, concentration, and motility.

If excess weight is the underlying cause of your reduced fertility, this needs to be solved before commencing fertility treatments. Talk to us today about how your body weight may be affecting your fertility.